Last night got together to train with some guys I used to train with. They've been doing kali for just under a year and can really twirl their sticks, hit each others hands and are further along than I ever got. Here's what happened when we sparred, I won. Everytime. These guys are novices at best but I was surprised that they had a hole so big in their training that even I could take advantage of it. What they did was every time I swung they would to try to hit my hand or my arm. What I did was instead of trying to hit them I hit their stick aiming above their hand while closing and went for the disarm (drop my stick which may be stupid, knees, elbows and joint locks). This is the same thing someone did to me a while back and he had the same result. What struck me besides a very few hits was their focus on dueling, defanging the snake, and trying to hold onto their sticks instead of fighting back when it got in close. And also how bad they were at reading my intent (hit their stick instead of body).

BTW the sticks were rattan with padding on the tip and I got hit when I tried to out stick fight them (a few nice bruises). I also know their instructor whom I know pretty well would eat me alive if I tried that with him. I also know most stickfighters would beat me like a red headed step child but I was surprised about last night.

If nobody can see a problem with the tactic I used I'll add it as a street defense option and count it as luck that my training partners need more instruction against someone coming in.