Floro Fighting Systems

It was refreshing to see the open mindedness and genuine interest from Instructors of all styles.

One unexpected enquiry was from a group of Filipino countrymen who asked me about my experience with Kalis Ilustrisimo. I haven’t taught the Ilustrisimo system “officially” for a while, and if was a nice change to be able to show people my roots and foundation in the Filipino Martial Arts.

There was a lag in the crowds when Christian and his mates, came up, so I was more than happy to do a small impromptu seminar on the Ilustrisimo system.

They loved the direct, and efficient way “Tatang” Ilustrisimo developed the system, and the emphasis on disguising the striking motions, leading to fakes and deceptions that are designed to bewilder the opponent.

I also went through the basic disarms, which is slightly different because of the emphasis on the bladed weapon. It is known that the Ilustrisimo system is more of a blade art rather than a stick art; hence its training reflects that.

This just took me back to when I first met the Grand Master. The most significant impression which stayed with me was his SIMPLE, EFFICIENT moves. In fact, all I saw was striking using an up and down motion. His footwork was just a step forward and step back, using his front foot.

With this basic footwork and the vertical striking, he easily defended the strikes his partner was feeding; and at the same time successfully pulling off counter attacks at will.

I thought to myself – Here is a man in his mid eighties, and he can still effectively defend himself. THIS HAS GOT TO BE THE SYSTEM FOR ME.

The countless hours I was privileged enough to spend learning one on one from the Grand Master himself has been one of those PRICELESS life experiences.

From the first private lesson, when I was asked by “Tatang” what I wanted to learn, I said that I didn’t want to learn the entire system……….but would much rather learn his personal fighting style.

Tatang was kind enough to oblige me. His teachings and concepts have stayed with me even today, using simple concepts, extrapolating variations and subtle changes in distance and timing, all tactics cleverly designed to make a simple deal with complex situations………..

I digress……..as for the Supershow. All in all an extremely pleasurable break in the show to be able to share knowledge.

Which leads me to think……..would there be interest out there in the Kalis Ilustrisim System as taught to me one on one by the great Grand Master himself Antonio “Tatang” Ilustrisimo?

I wonder…

Ray Floro.

This entry was posted on Friday, June 6th, 2008 at 2:25 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.