“I wasn’t much of a fighter when I was a kid.”
The best thing my step dad ever did was to tell me I wasn’t tough enough to join the United States Marine Corps. I got out after four years In the United States Marine Corps. It was long after when I was jumped by multiple people after I got myself in a situation at home. Then, the next day at work, a co-worker told me to come over his house and he would show me some moves. That was when I found the most effective unheralded and underestimated martial art in the world—Modern Arnis. It was there—at the Flint Dojo in Flint, Michigan—that my journey to Eighth Degree Jr. Grandmaster began. That was (30?) years ago.
My first day there I learned knife disarms. It was there I first met the late, great Grandmaster James Michael Power. He was a beast of a man. Grandmaster Power was a wonderful loving man with a very gruff exterior—if you didn’t know him. He was a rough, tough Vietnam veteran that absolutely didn’t initially or always get along with others. (You certainly soon found if you crossed or challenged him physically what a mistake you had made.) Most men were scared of Jim. But Master Power taught me so much about life and most especially martial arts and the art of self defense. (Most have heard of Flint, Mich. by now. If you don’t know Flint, or are not from here, let’s just say self defense is most important. It might be the most crime-ridden middle sized cities in North America.)
I had just gotten out of the Marine Corps. I had been powerlifting while I was still stationed in Japan. So Grandmaster Power would show a technique, and I would tell him that isn’t going to work on me. So much so that he would just call me up to demonstrate on. Jim tossed me around like a rag doll every class. I even had other students say Michael you don’t have to take that abuse and I’d laugh and say are you kidding? That was awesome.
The other Instructor we will call the Man in the Hat. He is a Grandmaster as well and would prefer to stay in the background. Grand Master Remy Amador Presas— Blackbelt Hall of Fame member and the man who invented Modern Arnis—said The Man in the Hat was the fastest man in Modern Arnis.
I will never forget the time we were sparring and he was kicking my butt, he had me in a choke hold and I said I’m done he said no your not! Get out of it! I truly believe that was the first time since the Marine corps that I had been tested and had to Never quit. I think That is when a light switch came on and my training really improved.
From there, I met and trained under Remy Presas. He was once a pit fighter in the Philippines, and was a very nice man. During My Black Belt test that Grandmaster Presas presided over, another student and I were sparring and Grand Master Presas looked at Grandmaster Power said, “Jim those two are animals,” and Power said, “Yes they are a handful.” After receiving my black belt in three years, I was then blessed to meet and train with Manong Ted Buot. Buot was one of the best stick fighters in the world. He taught me how to get the most power out of every strike and timing that is so huge in stick fighting. (I Have been through rifle Combat course and also Pistol combat course, I Have train in some kind of self defense in all of my adult life.)
Since three of my Grandmasters have passed on, I am trying to carry on with the knowledge that they have given me. I have been in this art for thirty years. I am an 8th degree in Modern Arnis and a senior student of Bout Balintawak. I would love to train you in both of these arts.