March 2008 Seminar, Lynmouth, Devon

Dacayana Course, Lynmouth March 2008 (Written by Julie Williams)


In March this year I was fortunate enough to be able to attend the second of the Dacyana Eskrima courses with Master Jun Dacyana from the Philippines, Jo Biggs (Sensei) and Marcie Harding.

The course this time was to be held in Lynmouth which I found a lot easier to travel to not being as far as the October course which was in Bedford. The location itself was absolutely fantastic – we stayed in log cabins in the middle of a wooded area and not far from the pub which was great. There was also an added bonus - I was staying in the cabin with Marcie, Luke and Master Jun. That was a real plus as I had loads of time to pick peoples brains and get to know them a little better outside the class atmosphere as well as being able to take loads of additional notes and learn to count in Cebuano.

I had been looking for a number of years for some form of weapon training that felt right for me but hadn’t found anything that I felt comfortable with. That is until I was introduced to the Dacyana Eskrima system. I had a small taste of Escrima Arnis a few years previous but as soon as I tried the Dacyana system I was hooked, the stick length and easy, friendly teaching method was exactly what I was looking for.

By the time I arrived at the cabins, everyone else had already met up and were waiting in the café. After placing my bags in the cabin quickly and collecting the course materials and being given the running order for the week, it was time for our first class.

The first class was held in the sheltered space outside the cabins and boy was it cold. It had been 5 months since I had attended the last course and I wasn’t sure that I would remember everything that I`d learned last time. However a few gentle reminders from Master Jun and it all started to come back to me. Even after we had finished the class, Jun was still prepared and eager to show more and carry on teaching until it went so dark it was impossible to see.

During the week the classes were held in the hall a few miles from the cabins – a lovely location and it was here that the pace and intensity of the training increased. I am usually very self conscious when learning new techniques or skills as I don’t consider myself to be a very quick learner (I think it`s an age thing!!) However, Master Jun has a style of teaching that puts the most self conscious person at ease and has loads of patience, I find that Marcie has a very similar style of teaching as well. There was no pressure to get things right the first time and even though the pace increased we all had time to repeat and ensure that we remembered each technique. We all also had individual lessons with master Jun which was absolutely fantastic. This guy has so much patience – and boy did he need it.

The footwork is a very important part of the Dacyana system and if you try to strike without moving , it feels (to me anyway) very awkward. So we had, in the October course and in this course, spend a great deal of time ensuring our footwork was correct. I was feeling quiet confident with my footwork – until Master Jun decided it was time to not only move forwards and backwards but also go sideways as well. Boy was that confusing. After a little while and Master Jun’s reminder to `Smile’ we all had it sussed and were moving around the room like pros.

From a personal point of view I believe that the relaxed, friendly method of teaching as well as the Dacyana Eskrima system itself is what makes these courses so successful. There are no egos on these courses and everyone feels comfortable and able to approach the instructors and ask questions. There was also a good mix of people with different levels of Eskrima experience which was really good and took you out of your safety zone of training with the same partner all the time.

Personally I cant wait for the next course as I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to train with Master Jun, Marcie and of course, Jo Biggs (Sensei) - who made all this possible.




First UK Seminar Report

Read the report in FMA Digest

At 6.00am on Monday the 8th of October 2007, Eskrima Master Jun Dacayana of Cebu City, Philippines arrived in the UK for the first time.

He was here at the invitation of his two UK representatives John 'Jo' Biggs of Sacred Spring & Bedford Jujutsu and Marcie Harding of Malvern Eskrima Group (myself). Jun has made the decision to promote his own family style of Eskrima into Europe - and was persuaded that the recently named 'Dacayana Eskrima system' would ensure that his family name would forever be associated with it.

Eskrima and F.M.A are extremely fast, powerful and fluid martial arts. Jhun believes F.M.A to be  most effective and benifical systems there are for real application. The Dacayana System concentrates on applied footwork, body mechanics and consecutive striking patterns when both attacking and countering.

 The system is not for sport. However Jun believes that the development of safe sporting Eskrima competitions have much benefit for all and any Eskrima Student and is away of developing friendship and harmony throughout. Pat O`Malley and John Harvey's WEKAF Champions are testimony to this here in the UK). Competitions are also a valid vehicle for the exchange of knowledge. Both Jo and Myself have experienced full contact competitive sparring would wholeheartedly agree.

All of this was to ably demonstrated during Jun's stay in the UK. The first half of Jun's stay concentrated in his imparting an understanding of the system to both Jo and myself through several days of intense training (both mentally and physically) to ensure that we 'got it' in both our muscle memory and our grey matter!. Jun is not only a good Eskrimador but an inspirational teacher too. Jun's stamina and patience only added to his teaching skills and made learning even easier for us. In fact Jun taught practically non-stop for the duration of his stay despite the 20 hour flight, experiencing some painful back problems, jet lag and an English cold! He was persuaded to take a short lie down rest during the break for lunch on the Saturday - as we were afraid it could just be too much!

At the end of our personal training Jo and I both felt that at least we understood the core concepts of the system, even if we still had a long way to go before we were physically fluid with it! Much of the training of the first week was in true Filipino style (taking place in Jo's 'Backyard') and went on until late evening by lamplight. Remarkably the British weather was exceptionally kind to us, being almost without exception dry and mild. I'm not sure Jun understood just how bad the weather can be in mid October over here! One evening a family of hedgehogs decided make their presence known in the undergrowth of the garden and I tried to explain to Jun what type of small animals they were - we settled for 'small porcupine ' which seemed to about right. I felt I was able to teach Jun something even if it wasn't anything to do with Martial Arts!

Senior students from Sacred Spring and one of Jun's students from France were also able to take advantage of an evening session and it proved to be a memorable and atmospheric training experience. I don't wish to be too clichéd in my description of this particular evening's training but there was a special energy felt by all. This was also experienced on the Monday following the seminar when other senior students including those from Malvern Eskrima Group were invited to attend. Jun also found time during the first week to attend and teach both children and adults at Jo's dojo in Bedford. This was a class that none of the students would ever forget.

Friday the 12th October was the first of the series of Jun's four seminars. As I had foreseen, Jun's teaching once again proved to be of the very highest calibre and of course, the students loved him. They even learnt to smile and relax - two of Jun's mantras and two that I will make sure I maintain at my classes.

The Saturday sessions were also excellent, the morning session was a consolidation of the material we had covered on Friday and included the 12 Basic strikes and the first Five consecutive strike that are taught within the system. Most students managed the Dacayana footwork too.

The Saturday Open Seminar

The second Saturday session, the 'Open Seminar' was also very successful. I would like to extend our gratitude to both John Harvey and Jude Tucker (of Kapatiran Arnis UK) two real stalwarts and great guys who very kindly took the warm up before Jun retuned to continue the seminar (after treatment for his back problem).. This was an unexpected and additional treat for everyone! The atmosphere and tone of the event was like the rest of Jun's stay - one of warmth, openness and fun all contributing and aiding the learning experience.

Picture shows (from left to right) Jude Tucker of Kapatiran Arnis, Jo, Jun Dacayana, Marcie,Maynard from Dacayana UK and John Harvey (Kapatiran Arnis)

Sunday 14th was even more informal than the previous seminars. It was almost a long series of one-to-one teaching by Jun to all of the Sacred Spring and Malvern Eskrima Group students (& guests) who were there for all three days. A fair chunk of material was able to be shown, we even touched on some of the Olisi Kutselyo (Espada Y Daga) in the system and I will always remember the beauty and fluidity of the Form that Jun demonstrated to us all.

This account of the time Jun spent with us here in the UK cannot really portray my feelings and gratitude to him. I do not have the descriptive talent to really express in the narrative how much his visit meant to us all. I also suspect his visit will have extremely far reaching implications concerning the propagation of the Dacayana system in the UK and (I hope) Europe too.

Every day of Jun's visit I was surprised when I woke up - simply because I thought I'd died and gone to Martial Arts Heaven!

Best wishes Marcie Harding October 2007