What is Escrima and why would I be interested?
Escrima is the name of a secret martial art brought to the United States by Filipino immigrants back in the 1920s. The word Escrima means, To skirmish. The art is virtually unknown to the general public because of its late entry into the mainstream martial arts world. Escrima is noted for using weapons, usually sticks, as the primary tool to learn the basic concepts of the art, with the secondary focus being the empty hands. What is misunderstood most about Escrima is the stigma attached to how it is taught. The idea of just picking up a weapon is a scary thought, and avoiding rather than explore the beauty of the art is less complicated To use a weapon to learn martial arts unearths a visual fear of getting hurt or hurting someone. This is especially true when an individual has had no previous martial arts training. There is also that mental picture, or fear of an attacker taking your weapon and using it against you. Nevertheless, weapons seem scary and rightfully so. There are right
