Leuven - Vechtsportzaal - Dojo - Sportzaal - Kwoon

Leo Giron
Jungle Warfare was Giron’s proving ground. He walked as the point man in World War II guerrilla warfare in the Philippines. As lead man in a Triangular formation of guerrilla soldiers patrolling through the brush, he encountered the enemy first, disabled him (or them) and kept walking, leaving his men in the rear to finish the job. Giron was born in Bayambang, in the Philippine province of Pangasinan. World War II took away one of his instructors, but it gave him others, men who depended on Escrima to stay alive. Guerrilla units in the Philippines were made up mainly of Filipinos, issued leaf-shaped bolo knives for their jungle fighting. When Giron was first assigned to a unit one of the men, an Escrimador, was appointed his bodyguard until he could take care of himself. Giron recalls one of his training sessions with the sergeant, following a near fatal incident in a Japanese ambush.

"When he saw I saw nervous he said, ’Take your knife and we’ll do some training. Don’t worry about hurting me because I’ve been fighting for a long time. Cut me anytime you can. If you touch me, you’ll get a month’s pay.’ That was the way you learned in the old days." Today, Giron talks about the old days in a more guarded way than many of his contemporaries. All the stick fighting styles are good in different situations, he says, but when it comes down to saving your life - keep it simple.

An example of simplifying the art is "Cinco Teros," or what Giron calls the five cardinal blows. Patterned around the four areas divided by an "X" with a dot in the center for the thrusts, Cinco Teros is designated for strikes to the large fleshy areas of the body, not directly protected by bones.

He’s primarily a "Largo Mano," or long range fighter, using the reach of his 30-inch stick or blade to hold his opponent at bay. He supplements the characteristic Largo Mano movements with what some would recognize as different styles and others would call tactics.

One such is "Abierta," or open style, where the fighter dances about and evades his opponent’s strikes without blocking. Another is "Riterada" or retreating style, designed for wary encounters where the fighter has time and room to keep backing away in order to study his opponent’s movements. "Fondo Fuerte" or the non-retreating style is the opposite tactic used when the fighter is forced to take a stand. Fondo fuerte may have been a tactic Giron used in the jungles when closed off by the terrain or rushed for time with more of the enemy closing in. Probably the most unique is "Lastico," or what Giron describes as the rubber band style. It’s characterized by a forward sway and backward snap that accompanies each strike. Lastico is a method he used often during the war since it gives the fighter the ability to strike out between intertwined branches and snap back again for protection.

Much of the training Giron describes gives special consideration to terrain. Environmental training is an integral part of Giro’s training regiment. In simulated combat, training in the environment Giron describes can be fun, but in real life a knowledge of such common situations could easily mean the difference between life or death. That Giron is still alive is strong testimony to the effectiveness of his fighting tactics in such terrain.