Two of my instructors, a senior student and myself attended the Lameco Escrima & Knife Combat Workshop run by Damian Halforty and Rahneer Fabi of Bakbakan Int. at Damian’s gym in Howick Auckland.
The seminar was run over the weekend of the 3rd and 4th of December with the Knife Combat phase being run on the Saturday and the Stick Fighting on the Sunday. Rahneer a Senior Instructor in Bakbakan Int. had come over from Australia to help run the seminar and instruct.
Due to prior commitments in my part time security job I was only able to attend the Saturdays class on the Knife Combat so can only comment on that aspect of the Seminar.
I was very interested in the knife on knife part of the training as this is totally new to me having only done knife self defence in the past and this only being what I had been able to pick up over the years plus my own ideas on the subject.
I have been looking to plug this hole in my syllabus with a proper well thought out knife fighting and self defence system that would be part of my Black Belt curriculum.
I had long realised that the Filipinos with their stick and knife fighting systems were probably the way to go and have been looking around for a suitable school that also meets the fighting principles, methods and style of training that I believe are important.
Knife Combat Seminar Participants
I was very favorably impressed with Damian, his students and his school.
Damian’s credentials are impeccable and he is also an ex South African Police Officer with plenty of real world experience and is an ESI alumni member.
The principles shown in the use of the knife very closely follow those of the Kempo I teach and it was fairly easy to adapt to their system. It was the knife combat drills that most interested me and the ones taught by both Damian and Rahneer were good and effective.
We spent four hours on the knife and it was time well spent. This of course was just a taste of what the system has to offer but even so I will find it hard to retain all that was shown and taught to us in that four hours, hence the need for more tuition.
Indeed I was so impressed that I asked Damian if he would instruct Bakbakan and in particular Knife Combatives at our Dojo, which he has agreed to do. This will be every Saturday from 12.00 noon – 1.00pm. This is a separate art to the Kempo I teach and it will also be graded and certified.
I have long since stopped wondering why more people don’t avail themselves of the opportunity of training under visiting Masters and Senior Instructors like Rahneer, (who personally trained under the late Master Edgar Sulite), but for those who would like to explore this side of the Martial Arts which also of course includes empty hand training, I have no hesitation in both endorsing and recommending Damian as an Instructor, and his school ‘Bakbakan NZ’ as a place to learn.
For those who want to contact Damian I would refer you to him under the Authors Index of this publication or at the web site www.bakbakan.com or you can phone him direct on his mobile on 021 2646216.
For those of you in West Auckland that want to take advantage of Damian coming over here to teach every Saturday then you can contact me, also through the Authors Index, or directly on 027 4289161.
Bryan Goldthorpe
Head Instructor
Fudoshin Ryu Bujutsu Inc.
