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Grandmaster Tortal, we call him “Nene” as he is known, almost every year goes to the USA to give a series of seminars to his students. You can check the details from his web site www.dtskali.com .

I become a proud student of grandmaster in 1998 in Manila while I was living in the Philippines. He is also my Godfather and accepted me as a lifelong student.

A small selected group of students and friends, we could train day and night where ever we found an empty spot. This could be an open empty car park (at nights) site in the middle of Makati City, a seaside spot along Roxas Boulevard in Manila and also our usual training hall. It was important for us that once we got hold of grandmaster, he trained us. I don’t recall him turning us down for any reason if he was available he always comes along and we enjoyed his company immensely.
[Read more…] about Grand Tuhon Jerson “Nene” Tortal – A true spirit of a grandmaster

Carry out coaching sessions to pass on the knowledge of the sport, get students fit both mentally and physically to perform well, motivate them, have fun and try to win in competitions.

Be a resourceful life-long guide; teach them skills that they can use throughout life.

Enable them to achieve levels of knowledge and performance to a degree that may not have been possible if they left to their own endeavours.

Equip them with the necessary framework to do further studies in line with the latest scientific developments in the sports world for their chosen sport.

Isa Alemdag.

Sayokan is a system of self defense and the way of defending oneself. In the Sayokan system, importance is not the individual technique but the application perspective. It’s not the show off of techniques but the natural application of them is important. Techniques should be natural reaction in application and should not bear too specific details. There are two training programs in Sayokan. Self Defense System and Knock Down System.

Minimum age to start training is 8 years. There is no maximum age, at any age people who learned Sayokan can practice. It is a reformist approach to accommodate every need in one martial art discipline. It is ideal for people who had an interest for martial arts but didn’t or couldn’t get training and in need of courage for self defense. It can be learned by middle aged and over people without any problem. Attacks of one-to-one, one-to-many and with weapons or without, system can be applied and used.
[Read more…] about Understanding your sport

The qualities and skills of a coach in martial arts involve many areas and can not be put in one or two categories. As a martial arts coach I need to develop many skills. Some of these are:

Knowledge of the sport; Martial art systems have their own specific skills, techniques, strategies. As a coach I need to know the system I teach well in order to develop athletes and pass on the knowledge. Lack of knowledge and skills will frustrate and risk injury with athletes.

Motivation: In order to teach I need to be motivated enough to take my time with students and work with them to teach them the skills and the drills. Lack of motivation will create an absence of space in coaching.
[Read more…] about Qualities and skills a coach needs to have