Hi everyone! In this blog, you will have something you may not yet be familiar with or haven’t heard about it. In the previous blog I had shared about my life and even some creepy ones. So now, in this blog I'll share to you all one of my experiences in our subject Physical Education. Let's start!
Have you ever heard about Arnis?
How about sungkaw, have you seen one?
What is Arnis?
Arnis is part of the Philippine culture. It’s a martial art that the Cebuano believed was applied by Lapu-Lapu way back in the time when we fought for our rights against the conquest of the Spaniards led by Portuguese Magellan. The fighting used sticks as a substitute for swords or any fighting weapons. There is are lot of history of Arnis not only in Cebu but also in Iloilo, Batangas, Ilocos, and other provinces. It also reached Hollywood where Bruce Lee used stick fighting in his movie Enter the Dragon, where it became famous. Nowadays, certain people strive hard to make Arnis known, so they formed an organization. They preserved arnis and they inspired people especially the young ones to know more about Arnis or Eskrima. In today's generation Arnis became a sport with some body protection with different shape of sticks, it can be flat or round. But, still they preserve Arnis as a fight using stick. 
Just like our PE teacher Sir Jude, he is an Arnis enthusiast and he is part of the Pamilya Eskripula. In his subject, I got to experience making sungkaw the weapon used in Arnis, and learned some techniques.
How to make sungkaw?
- Prepare the materials needed
- Rope
- Varnish
- Flattened bamboo
- Sandpaper
- You have to clean the bamboo so it has smooth edges using sandpaper.
- Put it in the fire to achieve a burnt-like color, but you have to flip it every seconds so it won’t totally be burnt down.
- You have to put varnish on it using a brush so it will have this shiny-looking weapon.
- Lastly, put the thin rope on the part where the handle would be. The width of the thin rope in the handle depends on the size of your palm.
We also got to perform through video and we performed it without and with a partner the 12 basic techniques in Arnis. My partner in every PE making video is my mother.
The photos used in the striking and blocking are the screenshots of the video I made for our project and I apologize for the ruined quality.
12 striking techniques
Strike 1- targets the left temple
Strike 2- targets the right temple
Strike 3- targets the left side of the body
Strike 4- targets the right side of the body
Strike 5- thrust to the stomach
In 6 and 10 when you attack the hand should be facing upward. For the 7 and 11 the hand should face downward.
Strike 6- Targets to stab the left chest
Strike 7- targets to stab the right chest
Strike 8- targets the lower left leg
Strike 9- targets the lower right leg
Strike 10- targets to poke the left eye
Strike 11- targets to poke the right eye
Strike 12- target to strike the top head
12 blocking techniques
Block 1- defend the left temple
Block 2- defend the right temple
Block 3- defend the left side of the body
Block 4- defend the right side of the body
Block 5- defend the stomach by hitting the attacker's sungkaw downward
Block 6- defend the left chest
Block 7- defend the right chest
Block 8- defend the left leg
Block 9- defend the right leg
Block 10- defend the left eye
Block 11- defend the right eye
Block 12- defend the top of the head
My mother and I performed both the 12 striking and blocking techniques after I performed them individually. In addition, I invited some kids too to teach them and perform arnis with the sungkaw.
After I submitted the video to Sir Jude he later invited me to join Pamilya Eskripula. But, I wasn’t able to accept the invite due to the distance, it was still during the pandemic. I hadn’t been vaccinated at that time so I couldn’t keep on traveling.
Indeed, in our physical education subject, I learned a lot and I always learn something new. I get excited every time we will have a task to do and it's very challenging to learn only by watching the videos he sent to us. If it wasn't because of this subject I wouldn't be able to experience performing something that I like to do. I was able to gain knowledge about a lot of stuff, especially arnis and sungkaw.
You're in the last part of my 4th blog. Thank you and shalom ka-Hivers!✨🤗