Filipino Martial Arts (FMA) is a style of martial arts that originates in the Philippines, a place where Spanish, Japanese, Chinese, and traditional Filipino arts melded into an extremely effective fighting system. In FMA, weapons are often taught first before the open hand. Understanding how to handle a force multiplier (a weapon) gives one a firm grasp of what is most effective in a self defense situation. Techniques are based on physics not mysticism or based on a cooperative opponent.

These techniques have been proven on the field of battle. When we train FMA, we train with control and focus on flow not force, so it can feel more like ‘patty cake’ than full force sparing found in other arts. This is just the way that we break down a complex task into parts and insure that both partners remain safe. As the training advances, more and more ‘guard rails’ are removed until flow drills begin to look more and more like actual combat as the student gets closer to mastery.

Our club studies Presas Style Arnis/Kali/Escrima. Daniel Quest studied directly with Great Grandmaster Ernesto Presas (creator of Kombatan) when he was alive and with his son Grandmaster Presas. Daniel also studied with Guru Julius Melegrito (blackbelt magazine weapons instructor of the year, and PMAA founder). Master Melegrito traveled the world with Great Grandmaster Presas spreading the art for many years. Great Grandmaster was the younger brother of Remy Presas, the founder of Modern Arnis.