"Every moment spent under the watchful eyes of a master is time well spent." - GM Bobby Taboada

Balintawak Eskrima Cuentada

Balintawak Eskrima Cuentada stands for:

  • The name Balintawak has dual meanings.  It is both the name of the street where the Balintawak Self-Defense Club in Cebu City, Philippines originated.  It also served as a battle cry against the Spanish invaders, meaning a “cry for freedom.” 

  • Eskrima is a word for Filipino Stick fighting.  It is synonymous with the words “Arnis” and “Kali.”

  • Lastly, Cuentada loosely translates to “counter for counter.”  Grandmaster Bobby says that it becomes “like a chess match” where you’re thinking several moves ahead of your opponent.

 

Taboada Balintawak is more than a weapon form.  It is a system of movement and body mechanics meant to teach a specific skill set that is applicable to multiple martial arts and situations. 

In other words, you don’t need a stick to employ the training. 

The organization has been around for decades.  But it has spread in the last decade or so to include multiple Full Qualified Instructors and Groups on multiple continents.  The art has dedicated practitioners in the continental United States, Puerto Rico, Canada, Germany, France, Italy and more.  It continues to grow and prosper

The Balintawak logo has many symbols:

 

  • The two dots represent Friendship and Brotherhood
  • The olive branches represent peace
  • The sword and the stick are primary weapons
  • The scales are the scales of justice

One of GM's famous sayings:

accept.the.pain

"Accept the pain"

  • A trademark of GM's. Are you ready to accept the pain?
  • Pain was common in GM's training. Not like today. Not like sparring.
  • You had to be able to keep your composure even when your arm was too numb to feel if you still had your stick
  • Also, if you weren't ready to accept the pain, you shouldn't fight.
The ability to accept pain is not something that we teach in modern training. 
Even with an iron-clad waiver, there is still the risk of someone suing.
But the Art has multiple and very specific methods to simulate things like pain that could cause one to lose their composure.
In fact, it is inherent in the 3 primary rules during testing for each level:
1) Don’t drop your stick
2) Don’t hit your partner
3) Don’t curse.

All three of these represent a lack of safety and composure required for training and interaction with other students.

Cuentada

bobby

Every movement and strike builds upon another

  • You must bait your opponent to give a predicted response
  • You must think several moves ahead
  • Every block is a strike
  • Every strike is a block
  • The left hand is the "feeler." The stick is the killer.

Read More

To excel in the Taboada System, we have to do more than gain proficiency in the basic levels.  

There are 6 primary levels.  The 6th level represents “Completion of the Art.”  Whether a student goes on to become a teacher or not, it’s a great acheivement.  

Although there are no “belts” in our system, it is similar in meaning to many other arts that have a “black belt.”  

It means the student has gained proficiency with the basic curriculum.

The real education begins as the student explores the counters to what they’ve learned. 

GM Bobby is fond of saying, “The Grouping System won’t work in a fight.”  The Grouping System is a set of 5 groups, each teaching specific skills.

He goes on to say, ” find the counters to the grouping system.”

In this way, the system is never stagnant.  If you’re truly training, you’re never truly finished.

GM is also fond of saying that he wishes his students to become better than him.  While this might never happen, the challenge of Cuentada allows a life-long pursuit of higher skill sets.