Pase redondo, or rolling the stick around and around. It really means riding around in a cart, horse, car or some other contrivance, but we Escrimadors are fond of twisting words at our convenience. Angel Cabales really didnt like double stick rolls. He must have found them to be bad habits, or easy to deal with, but he was beyond my skill level and I like to use them to teach flow, because they are so very important to learn how to do correctly. Stick up, or stick down is pretty much the two general ways that we can deal with most incoming blows from another stick. A lot of Serrada people like to cross block (block with our sticks down), blows that are coming in toward our left side. We can block high, medium and low blows in this way, that are coming at us, toward our left side. Stick up (or backhand blocks/strikes) are usually used to deal with blows that are coming at us from our right side. In either case we start from a cross and end with a backhand, or start with a backhand and end in cross. We really are rolling our blows either way. Understanding this, we can cross block all blows coming from our right as well and backhand all blows coming in from our left. Confusing? Its not. Crosses are soft blocks, they are accepting blocks and backhands are hard blocks/strikes. So without much movement you can cross block left side and right side attacks without moving the weapon out of position. You can also backhand attacks from either side repeatedly. You can mix crosses and backhands at will. You would really then be going from soft to hard and back to soft and then back to hard again. Strike, roll the weapon and strike again are backhands. Roll (cross block), strike/backhand with the weapon and then roll again are our crossblocks. I know! More video! But listen..., put your stick tip down and let successive blows come toward you from a friend. Leave the stick tip down. He stabs, parry it stick down and leave it down. He then tries to hit your right side. Block it stick down and leave it down. He then tries to hit your left neck, accept the hit stick down and leave it down. He then tries to hit your right neck, put your stick up (still stick down) and roll the power of his weapon over to your left while leaving the stick down. Without hardly moving, you will have blocked four blows. You can then do the same practice with your backhands. Its good practice. Its what you can at least do when hurt, or frozen in fear. This practice will allow you to survive long enough, before you can get back into the survival game. Strong and repeated blows can be dealt with in this way. It works, because you arent doing much, it lessens confusion. They are doing the hitting, so it wont work forever, but if stunned the minimal movement can help keep you going, before you can get back into the hitting game. Simple can overcome complex, but just not for very long. This is survival mode training in the extreme. With a buddy you can kick up the level of hitting until the sticks start to scream. Ive broken the typical store bought Escrima sticks within five hits. The rattan was burning and the smell filled the air around us, but please start slow and make sure that your insurance is paid up. One of these types of hits could send someone to the hospital very quickly, but you quickly learn how to overcome any fear of hard hits. This practice really is the sparring drills of Serrada Escrima. I like to start this way, because it is a simple and effective way to teach flow sparring and defending against power hits as well. Well, the ball and chain just got up and is looking at me on the computer. I can see a honey do coming my way. So off the computer I go. From Ground Zero/ Stockton, Ca. Me.
Posted on: Sun, 30 Mar 2014 22:54:15 +0000
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