Sikaran practitioners

[--Makoy--]

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abellana? .. but i think its too public

[freeflyer]

agree. maybe we can move to abellana or SM later when everything is already set in place. but for now, i would rather prefer for a more discreet venue. another thing is that since this training is designed for future coaches, it would be better if dli lang sa kaayu bantang sagdi lang... lets try to figure it out lang sa una... salamat kaayu sa inyong mga suggestions..

[giigitv2]

freeflyer,,,,,, i'm interested to join. ganahan ko mobalik ug paugnat sa kusog. please post your schedules & fee. i will try to see if makaya sa akong work schedule. salamat....

[freeflyer]

ok giititv2 im doing my best to set it up in place. pareho jud ta problem coz we have to squeeze everything in bet our work sked. anyway, im going to post all the details as soon as everything is set na. the monthly payment is very minimal. just to raise some fund for our equipment. registration is one time and is for the mother club for your membership number and certificate. uniform fee is standard... actually, nothing goes to me.. hehehe sacrifice lang ni ato. but i would just demand outmost sincerity and committment from each one... i dont see my self as an instructor but a student.. still learning and growing..

just keep posted ok? salamat jud ninyo. i know, sikaran well have a future in cebu through ur help..

[freeflyer]

Rebirth of an Ancient Sport
By: Mitos Garcia
FILIPINOS, before the arrival of the Spaniards, had their own sports. Notable among these were buno (arm wrestling), sipa (played by kicking a small bag up and down), arnis (stick fighting) among others. The word Sikaran was derived from the word ‘sikad’, meaning kick. Sikaran originated from what are now know as Baras and *****g towns in the Rizal province. In *****g, the ancients called the sport Paninggara (accent on the last syllable), an old Tagalog term, which also means kick fighting.

Sikaran was first developed by farmers to pass away the twilight hours after a long, hard day in the fields, and to entertain their town mates. It eventually developed into a martial art during the Spaniard conquest, when it was later suppressed.

The players began by marking a round area a few feet in diameter, to contenders enter the ring and slug it out with their feet, while the audience, made up of young and old fun loving folk, encouraged them with cheers. Whoever ran away or was first to go down was the loser.
The champion was called a hari, meaning king. Being hari was by no means easy because he could always be challenged. A champion was expected to defend his title at all times. As the sport developed, the rules made it harder for the champion by setting handicaps while allowing his challengers all advantages possible.

Among the handicaps was one in which the hari would stay inside the arena, 6’ to 8’ in diameter and could not go beyond the perimeter. He would have two to three opponents, however, could attack him from the inside or outside the line and enter or withdraw from the arena. Old timers assert that one had to be good to remain a hari in this type of competition.
Another was done on a stairway. The challengers would be up on top of the stairs while the hari would try to dislodge them. If he succeeded, he went up another notch. The number of challengers would eventually dwindle, however.

No one knows now who, in those ancient times, were the progenitors of this Filipino sport. It came during the time of rajahs and datus. When the Spaniards came, the sport had already been played for several generations. Techniques were handed down from father or mother, to son or daughter and refined new rules were made the impractical ones discarded.

The primary rules that have withstood the generations of change are the ones that gave the sport its name. Name – that only the feet are used in fighting and the hands used only for grabbing, throwing, parrying or blocking. Up to the present, fighting techniques are still being developed without changing rules by those who would keep sports as pure and original as possible within the modern international contest.

The two attacks of the foot fighting art are: the Pilatik (panghilo or paralyzing) and Patusok (pamatay or lethal thrust). The pilatik is aimed at less vital parts of the body, while the patusok is directed at the heart, neck, head, groin and spine. The major kick of the foot fighting art is called the “BIAKID” or sickle kick. Biakid is a kick where the center of the force is at the back of the heel. It is the most powerful kick, it could be delivered at all angles and is controlled by the largest muscles that run down the body, which are the hip, thigh and legs to the heel and the ball.

Sikaran may be played as a sport or used in self-defense. According to the old timers, sikaran champions themselves who learned its history from their elders; the 19th century saw the suppression of sikaran by the Spaniards due to rumors of an impending revolution. Sikaran then went underground, but it survived to produce the generation of proponents at the turn of the century.

A SURVIVING HARI, FRANCISCO TORRES Y SCORPION of BARAS, recounts that the American takeover of the country did even more harm to the sport because the introduction of boxing to the country’s youth. Their own children looked tot the new sport and left sikaran to stagnate and all but die a natural death. However, the old timers continued to play in the fields, reviving the interest among fellow-farmers in Rizal, even if the youth now disdained the sport in favor of boxing, and foreign inspired martial arts. The old haris found themselves bereft heirs to whom they could bequeath the techniques of the sport.

Now 98 years old, FRANSCICO E TORRES is one of the very few surviving haris. Others are Emiliano Ballesteros and Demetrio Ramos, both from Baras, and Jose Gonzales from *****g. All the rest have passed away in the intervening years. Among the great sikaran players, Perfecto Ballesteros gained province-wide recognition as “Agila” for his style of padamba, or flying kick, which was reportedly delivered with tremendous power, at an extraordinary height of 10 feet. Another, Alfonso Tesoro, likewise an undisputed hari, could crack coconuts with bare shins and is said to have acquired the hardness of steel. Casteneda was reported to have killed a carabao with a single biakid, the same way he used to dispose of opponents in the arena. He wound up without challengers eventually.

Although these men died of old age, they had no chance to teach the next generation, and left no legacy. Indeed, surviving old timers watched helplessly while their favorite sport, a product of centuries, slowly faded away to give way to “modern” martial arts from Korea, Japan, China, Indonesia and Thailand.

Torres mentions women who played sikaran, contemporaries who were no less mean players than the men. Acquiring hari status were Segunda Jimenez and Marcela Llagas, who would enter the arena with their skirts bound like G-strings above their knees. “They could deliver some very powerful and painful kicks. They took courage to get in there and face these women,” Torres muses.

A young man, Osias Banaag y Catalos, had his beginning in karate, but abandoned this to concentrate on sikaran and refining his techiniques in his ancestors’ sport. In 1976, Banaag established the Foremost (meaning first) Sikaran-Arnis Brotherhood and has since been its’ most dedicated practitioner. Mainly through his tireless efforts, sikaran has now regained the interest of many young people, a good number of whom have become his students. He espoused the study of sikaran in Fort Bonifacio, and for security guards at the Manuela I and II (las Pinas) Shopping Complex, on the third floor of Manuela Complex (EDSA) Crossing which established the Sikaran-Arnis Gym. Banaag’s efforts paid off. Having garnered (6th) sixth degree status in Karate, he attracted the attention of Hari Francisco Torres who recently conferred upon Banaag the status of hari, symbolizing his mastery of the sport.

No one can confer hari status except another hari, as part of the legacy he leaves behind when he retires from active participation in the sport. The conferment on Banaag is his the first between hari and one who is not his own son. This was in recognition of Banaag’s efforts not only for being a top sikaran player, but also for using his own meager resources to nurture and spread it not only in the Philippines, but even abroad.


As Torres’s heir, Banaag has an edge over his colleagues. The old man has committed to teaching Banaag his own techniques as much as his old bones will permit. Banaag, for his part, has sworn to uphold the high values of sportsmanship espoused by sikaran and pass on to the younger generations all the knowledge he has acquired. Thus, sikaran is restored to its rightful place as part of Filipino heritage.

[fireBYnite]

musta na?

[freeflyer]

were almost there.. hehehe gamay na lang jud nga pasensya. ill be living for manila this august then start dayon ta pagbalik nako.. thanks for the concern

[--Makoy--]

any updates on this?

[freeflyer]

hapit na jud ko adto Baras.. excited na sad ko to take my promo exams.. pls pray for my success...

[fireBYnite]

congrats to makoy for winning the gold...so adto ka manila?

@freeflyer

sir ikaw sab to nag coach sa opponent ni glen lava? kung ikaw to well kita na ko nimo

sir padayon jud ta ani ha,i am willing to give my whole time and dedication for this one kay may pagka nationalista pud ko gamay,hehe.
lets be proud of who we are and what we have.