The 3rd Annual Cacoy Doce Pares World Federation 2006 World Titles were held in Cebu, Philippines late November. Athletes representing teams from six countries participated in the event. 

This year Indonesia fielded a team for the first time. The team consisted of seven athletes who won a total of ten medals including two Gold, five Silver, and three Bronze. The debuting Indonesian team placed third in the overall team medal count along with the team from the University of Cebu. The team comprised both Indonesian and expatriates who had lived in Indonesia for many years. Team members competed in senior men’s, men’s, women’s and junior sparring divisions. Although some of the team members were experienced martial artists the majority were novices in this particular type of fighting.

In the Single Stick Sparring Divisions Maharani won Bronze in the Women’s Lightweight Division, Maharani is the first Indonesian national and woman to place in the medal tally in this sport at the World championships; Nick Sabatucci won Silver in the Boy’s Division (12-17yrs old – over 60 kg); Tyler Benson won Silver in the Men’s Heavyweight Division; John Brindley won Bronze in the Senior Men’s Middleweight (above 50 years); and team captain Glen Gardiner won Silver in the Senior Men’s Middleweight Division. 

In the Double Stick Sparring Divisions Drew Lambert won Silver in the Men’s Super Middleweight Division, Glen Gardiner and Alan Nairn won Gold and Silver respectively in the Senior Men’s Middleweight Division, and John Brindley won Gold in the Senior Men’s Middleweight (above 50 years) Division.

In the Master Edgar Cañete “Kulata” Challenge (no body armor) Division Glen Gardiner won Bronze in the Senior Men’s Open weight Division. 

This being many of the Indonesian team members’ first competition, the result was quite unexpected except by the team’s captain and instructor Glen Gardiner who has over 23 years experience in the sport who said: 

“I realized that we only had limited time before the titles and our focus on strategy needed to be on competent yet basic skills with a high level of work towards physical fitness, strength, endurance, and aggression. The team trained exceptionally hard, with over 20 hours of training each week that peaked with over 200 rounds of sparring every week for three months prior to the titles. The Indonesian team was an unknown quantity, and we were not considered a potential contender to do as well as we did. The Indonesian team’s style of fighting was in-close and very aggressive where fitness and endurance were essential in that style of fighting which was very much in-your-face.” 

While competing, the team was supported by Team Manager Andreas Stokowy and support personnel Paul and Celeste Morneault, Rick and Michelle Dyer, Dr Eric Guite, and Kyu-Bin Im. The athletes greatly appreciated the support personnel’s tireless efforts including medical, administrative, and logistic support ensuring that the competitors were maintained throughout the competition. 

The team received a massive shot in the arm from 8th Dan black belt in the Cacoy Doce Pares system and multiple world champion, Australian Vince Palumbo who visited the Combined Martial Arts Academy (CMAA), the club that fielded the team in July 2006 to run a stickfighting seminar in Jakarta. Vince’s visit was a turning point in the training program and was a definite contribution to the team’s performance in the World Titles motivating the team to achieve what they did. 

In addition to the team’s achievement the Cacoy Doce Pares World Federation governing body chose Jakarta, Indonesia over Los Angeles, USA, to host the next World Titles from 6th to 9th September 2007. The Federation is expecting over 250 competitors to attend next year’s event from over twelve countries to include the USA, Canada, Mexico, England, Poland, Germany, Holland, France, Spain, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, and the Philippines. 

The Indonesian team would like to thank the following sponsors: Global Assistance and Healthcare, the Sari Pan Pacific Hotel, Chieftains Table, O-Clinic, Eastern Promise, Wendy’s, and Concord Consulting. The team would like to especially thank Adidas, the team’s main sponsor for providing the team’s apparel. 

The team members took a week off after the event before returning to normal training in Jakarta at the Combined Martial Arts Academy in preparation for next year’s titles.