Bakbakan - 2004

The Champions of
The Gathering of Warriors

Kirk A'Gard - Hayden Brooks - Dexter Brown - Kristine Castro - Carlos Cobles - Gary Gabisan - Daniel Hoffman - Chris Karounos - John Potenza - Arnold Provido - Rakeem Richard - Moises Rodriguez - Butch Rosario - Romey Sykes - Christopher Umbs

Tournament Results
September 25, 2004

Master Galang,

I wanted to thank you for the always warm welcome that Jana and I receive from you and your school. The tournament on Saturday was first rate and the competition quite fierce. It's such a gift to find an organization with such emphasis on blade arts and tournaments designed to reflect blade lethality.

Till next time,

Christopher J Umbs
Martinez Academy of Arms

... I thought the new High Impact was great... the tourney was fun. I also think that now Master Rey is changing things up a bit you guys will definitely be seeing more fighters. I know guys came up from Washington D.C. and Virginia. I also think the rules have become a lot more fair and structured over the last couple of years that the events been held... Everything being considered the energy in that place was extremely high level. That's what really makes Bakbakan tournaments the event(s) to go to. People always like being involved in something good.

My best regards!!

Sensei Kirk A'Gard
Blackbelt #51 (Vee Arnis Jitsu)

Master Galang,

Thank you for the opportunity to compete in the tournament your academy held this past weekend. It was great to see all of the different academies that came out to compete. Hopefully you will continue such events in the future because I believe they offer serious students of the Filipino Martial Arts a chance to come out and test their skills. Watching the fighters who participated in the "high impact" single stick fights has inspired me to train and compete in that at a future tournament of yours. I wish Bakbakan continued success and look forward to coming to New Jersey again.

Respectfully,
Hayden Brooks
Trident Academy of Martial Arts

Eskrima Digest posting - Thu, 30 Sep 2004

This past Saturday I was able to attend a FMA tournament in New Jersey given by Bakbakan International .

Usually one can find a lot of negatives at martial art tournaments but this tournament was a total positive experience. Several schools and systems were represented including Bakbakan Kali, Vee Arnis, and Doce Pares, among others.

I was also amazed to see that one of the referees was (Hanshi) Wilfredo Roldan, a highly rated karate point fighter back in the 70's. Although his students were wearing Nisei Goju Ryu shirts and uniforms, he told me that one of his instructors was Professor Vee.

The fighting categories were padded long sword, sword and dagger, single stick and double stick. There was also padded stick and live stick with minimal armor (headgear and hand pads) which proved to be the most exciting matches. Knife fighting was also included and the competition was topped off with some crowd pleasing grappling matches. The tournament was fast paced and in my opinion the judging was fair.

If I was to make one negative comment it would not be against the tournament. It would be that in some of the matches, the fighters did not respect the weapons because of all the padding (they were wearing).

I would recommend this tournament to all who want to test their skills.

If I could, I would attend this event on an annual basis but I would have to take into consideration hurricanes like Jeanne, which caused my flight back home to be delayed for one day.

BTW, it was a pleasure meeting Guro John Jacobo, a future leader in the path of FMA.


Respectfully,

Al Sardinas
Student of Garimot System of Arnis

LEGEND:
Organization/Style: BK - Bakbakan Kali; CA - Combat Arnis Congress (Hockheim/Reyes)
CE - Combat Eskrima Orehenal; DI - Doce Pares (Integrated MA & F - D. Edwards); DM - Doce Pares (Mayo Academy);
DP - Doce Pares (PIMA - A. Cuesta); MA - Martinez Academy of Arms;
MM - Modern Martial Arts (J. Potenza); NG - Nisei Goju Ryu (W. Roldan); SK - Sabayan Kali (M. Style);
TA - Trident Academy of Martial Arts (P. Tray); VA - Vee Arnis (D. James); VK - Vee Do Kwan (D. Paulo)

SINGLE STICK (Men's)

    FLY/LIGHTWEIGHT
  1.  Moises Rodriguez (NG)
  2.  Tung Cheng (DI)
  3.  Rakeem Richard (VK)
  4.  Warren Sinclair (VK)

    LIGHTWEIGHT - LOW IMPACT
  1.  Butch Rosario (BK)
  2.  John Pingol (VK)

    LIGHT/MIDDLEWEIGHT - HIGH IMPACT
  1.  Dexter Brown (BK)
  2.  Alex Delanuez (BK)

    MIDDLEWEIGHT
  1.  Arnold Provido (BK)
  2.  Hayden Brooks (TA)

    HEAVYWEIGHT
  1.  Kirk A'Gard (VA)
  2.  George Horobetz (DI)
  3.  Chris Praml (DI)
  4.  John Rivano (DI)
    HEAVYWEIGHT- HIGH IMPACT
  1.  Gary Gabisan (DP)
  2.  Ramel Lasala (CE)
  3.  Xer Gata (CE)

DOUBLE STICK

    OPEN
  1.  Hayden Brooks (TA)
  2.  Ricardo Acevedo (NG)
  3.  Gary Griffin(--)
  4.  Moises Rodriguez (NG)

LONG SWORD (Mens's)

    LIGHT/MIDDLEWEIGHT
  1.  Daniel Hoffman (MM)
  2.  Moises Rodriguez (NG)

    HEAVYWEIGHT
  1.  Chris Karounos (CA)
  2.  John Potenza (MM)
  3.  Jason Karounos (CA)
  4.  Xer Gata (CE)

SWORD & DAGGER

    FLY/LIGHTWEIGHT
  1.  Christopher Umbs (MA)
  2.  Ricardo Acevedo (NG)

    MIDDLEWEIGHT
  1.  Arnold Provido (BK)
  2.  Phil Antonucci (BK)

    HEAVYWEIGHT
  1.  Chris Karounos (CA)
  2.  John Potenza (MM)
  3.  Jason Karounos (CA)
  4.  Jason Bediones (BK)

KNIFE FIGHTING

    FLY/LIGHTWEIGHT
  1.  Butch Rosario (BK)
  2.  Alex Delanuez (BK)
  3.  Tung Cheng (DI)
  4.  Warren Sinclair (VK)

    MIDDLEWEIGHT
  1.  Carlos Cobles (BK)
  2.  Dexter Brown (BK)
  3.  Rakeem Richard (VK)
  4.  Arnold Provido (BK)

    HEAVYWEIGHT GROUP A
  1.  John Potenza (MM)
  2.  Kirk A'Gard (VA)
  3.  Richard Riccardi (BK)
  4.  Martin Gajovczyk (SK)

    HEAVYWEIGHT GROUP B
  1.  Chris Karounos (CA)
  2.  Romey Sykes (BK)
  3.  Jason Bediones (BK)
  4.  Daniel Donohue (VK)

KNIFE FIGHTING (Women's)

    OPEN
  1.   Kristine Castro (CA)
  2.   Christine Eusebio (BK)

HAGIBIS (Laban Dulang/Grappling)

    LIGHT/MIDDLEWEIGHT
  1.  Rakeem Richard (VK)
  2.  Tung Cheng (DI)

    HEAVYWEIGHT
  1.  Romey Sykes (BK)
  2.  Noriel Castro (CA)
  3.  Daniel Donohue (VK)

HAGIBIS (Laban Mandirigma/Takedown-Grappling)

    HEAVYWEIGHT
  1.  Romey Sykes (BK)
  2.  Noriel Castro (CA)

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