My Martial Art school teaches _ing __un (Wing Tzun) and Latosa Escrima Weapons System. It is located in a garage and backyard in Sacramento, California. The school is operated by a First Level Technician in WT who has the 10th Student Grade in Latosa Weapons System (LWS). He is a Licensed instructor for EBMAS and has been licensed since 1998 and published an article in Inside Kung Fu Magizine in Sept. 2005. His name is Jeffrey Cox.
This is an Emin Boztepe Martial Art System (EBMAS) school. We have seminars from Si-fu Emin Boztepe, Rene Latosa, Sifu Micheal Casey and others for new material and for testing. We then work together to practice this material on our own.
The Sacramento School is the hub of the Northern California EBMAS region. We have other EBMAS groups in Eureka/Arcata, Woodland, Davis, Fairfield, San Fransisco, and Petaluma.
The training we do is from a Traditional Approach. He have 2 basic forms in WT for beginners which are a solo practice to get the mechanics, then we have arranged partner sets to learn the way the techniques from the forms should fit together. Finally, we have Applications where the movement is attempted in a more realistic way, with various levels of resistance and aliveness. Free sparring is rarely done at full contact power, but it is done in various degrees of power, contact, aliveness, and resistance, once the student has some control over the techniques in the regular drills.
As a traditional System, the goal is to take the movements from solo forms through partner drills into freestyle applications. Sparring then is a test to see if the partner sets are working and not the primary method of training. The students must learn the partner sets and then the instructor must make sure the sets are randomized so as to have no set patterns.
Latosa Escrima begins with an Warm Up exercise set, like a form, and then partner drills. The Warm Up is to start new people with some solo work so they can learn to take directions and perform the movements. We do not wear gloves or any protection in training. Your stick is your only protection. Since you should not have full contact sparring with weapons due to the danger, escrima has many drills each with an element removed for safety. Sparring with padded sticks and helmets is done to test out your skills and look for errors. As you progress the Warm Up Exercise does too, to match your technical growth. This is why it is not considered a form, you can do it anyway you wish and it changes over time.
Both systems involve fighting at the long kicking range, punching, elbowing, kneeing, clinching, throwing, and ground fighting ranges. Admittedly, ground fighting is rarely taught in the beginning stages as we teach the students to use the stand up methods on the ground, so they must first learn them in the other ranges. WT is more Traditional and LWS is more Freestyle. Together they combine very nicely.
Uniforms are not required, but students should wear white shirts and black pants. Membership in EBMAS worldwide is required. Lessons begin at no cost until they miss a class, then tuition is $60 a month. Tuition is required whether you attend or not, once you join, unless other arrangements are made. You are paying for the opportunity, not the material.
The Gym has a large outside deck for training, a smaller deck overlooking a pond for forms and close-in training. The Garage has a 10 by 10 foot area for training in bad weather, a 125 lbs. Heavy bag, a 6 panel-wall bag, a PVC Wooden Dummy, a grappling horse dummy, and 2 wall mirrors. A large grassy area is also used for stick fighting and wrestling(on a tarp). 1/2inch floor mat is used for grappling on the ground. All Gloves, Chest protectors, shin guards, head gear, sticks, and equipment is provided, student needs only to buy a mouth guard and cup, but they are encouraged to buy their own gloves and other equipment and learn to take care of it themselves. Kettle ball type weights are a new experiment.
Contact
EBMAS.USA@gmail.com if interested in being interviewed for membership.
edit:9:50 PM- Modified to fit Phrost rating scale. Not sure how often these things need to occur. Every class? Every Week? Monthly? I guess if something doesn't happen atleast once a month it shouldn't count at all for this thread.
edit: added website link
