Wholistic Fitness

Noble WF Warriors-

This report was written and sent in by WF Teacher Joseph Sheader in regard

to his son, Kerry, who performed so brilliantly at the World Eskrima Championship.

Special thanks to WholisticFitness.com webmaster, Noble Student John Kuhlman in preparing this piece.

Finally, thank ALL of you who answered my gong to send much needed $ to Joseph and Kerryto get them to the Worlds. Those of you who sent their money, your karmic merit is assured…enjoy the report…

from the humble helm,

your feeble coach ilg

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“The Way of the Warrior cannot be encompassed by words or in letters: Grasp

the essence and move on toward realization!

The purpose of training is to tighten up the slack, toughen the body, and

polish the spirit.”

-Morihei Ueshiba. Founder of Aikido

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Beautiful fitness warriors I extend a deep bow to you for the tribal energy

generated for Kerry and myself in our travels to Cebu, Philippines and the

World Eskrima Championship.

Eskrima,(also called Arnis, or Kali) is an ancient Filipino martial art. It

is analogous to Wing Jung Kung Fu, such as Bruce Lee studied, in that it is

rooted deep in practical and often lethal application as well as being one

of the more comprehensive martial arts. In fact, Bruce Lee’s training

partner, Dan Inosanto was and is a Eskrima Grand Master.

This tournament was the 8th WEKAF World Championship.(World

Eskrima-Kali-Arnis Federation) in which competitors from 22 different

countries came together to compete in both forms and fighting. The essence

of this martial art is stick fighting though it includes empty hand and

grappling as well.

In addition, we both enjoyed the opportunity to train with some of the

Filipino fighters and attend seminars with some of the Doce Pares Grand

Masters..after all, Coach Haku didn’t just sit on the sidelines!

The culture and hospitality of the Filipino people and our hosts was

exquisite. A beautiful blend of Asian, Malaysian, and Spanish customs. As

one of my fellow martial artists said, “They might have more litter in their

streets but they have less litter in their hearts.”

Following a day and night of low energy, irregular sleeping, and a little

bit of the crud Kerry downed his herbs, came to his ring, went thru his Ai

Imawa and stepped up to the line to face in his final match the European

Champion from Holland. It was such an exciting match that it went to a

fourth round and almost five. It was Kerry’s conditioning and desire that in

the end brought him to the top of the podium. The honorable way in which he

carried himself and related to his opponents spoke even deeper.

I bow deeply to all of you for the strength of this sangha.

“I fear and bow to no one, except to my people”

-Datu Lapulapu

(before he and his warriors confronted the Spanish army on the shores of

Cebu and soundly beat them and their advanced weapons back with a stick.)