Month: March 2024

Interview with PG Brandon Ricketts of Kali Ilustrisimo conducted by Dean Franco. 1.) Please tell us about the early years of training with your father GM Ricketts and what he instilled in you as far as training. I was exposed to martial arts at the age of 2 years old. [Read More]

Leveraging Modern Gaming Strategies to Maximize Your School’s Curriculum Gamification of Personal Interactions I attended a Martial Arts seminar where the Lecturer mentioned how he had updated his school’s curriculum to create new Sparring Games or Martial Arts Games to provide more entertainment to the students, or as he put [Read More]

(Editors Note, Age should never be a factor in martial arts training. Regardless of when you start your training perseverance is the key.)   A 75-year-old grandmother has earned her black belt in Taekwondo seven years after her grandson asked her to take him to classes – and she decided [Read More]

  I have written about the Talibong, the Gununting, the Karambit, and a few other blades of the Philippines.  This article will introduce a few more of the more influential blades of the islands. The Philippines is a nation known for its rich cultural diversity, beautiful landscapes, and a history [Read More]

A Sensei by Any Other Name Martial Arts Teachers and Their Titles Chris Himmel   Martial arts instructors have long had a variety of titles associated with them. Depending on the school, style, and country of origin words like Sensei, Tashi, Shihan, Kyoshi, Hanshi, Sifu, Laoshi, and Sigung could be [Read More]

Being a Mom in the Martial Arts I give credit to Larry Davis for first sparking my interest in training martial arts. His show ‘n’ tell in fourth grade was his karate picture (he was doing a full center split!). Wow, did I think that was so cool! Of course, [Read More]

Martial Arts Associations & Legitimacy Formal Introductions I had been training in Shotokan Karate for well over 20 years when I received an invitation to attend a small dojo in the suburbs of Vancouver, Canada. It was the early 1990 ’s and I had just returned from Japan, having trained at [Read More]