The big reason is that FMA schools ALL teach weapon skills by drills and sparring, whereas the bulk of TCMA skills just teach 1 and 2 man forms. Having done Kali the single stick work is pretty much identical to Dao, they just understand it better. As such I teach a variety of single and double stick drills to teach Dao skills.To me there's no reason why TCMA can't supplant Filipino Martial Arts as the Arts of choice for practical weapons proficiency.
"The man who stands for nothing is likely to fall for anything"
www.swindonkungfu.co.uk
Psalms 144:1
Praise be my Lord my Rock,
He trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle !
Before I stopped training with my first master I loved the weapons stuff: main weapons were 6ft and 7ft staffs, butterfly knifes, dao, cane shield and single knife, spear and tigerfork (still got a hand made tigerfork under my bed which was given to me do some students and sifu I helped teach)
When I was solely doing MMA and grappling I stopped all weapon work and developed a dislike for it, now im back also training TCMA my current sifu has a boatload of weapons to teach lol, his masters family arts weapons are legion, add in CLF sets from both hung sing and buck sing we have picked up, the wing chun pole and knifes, and the hakka arts weapons and there are too many to think about lol They are good for body conditioning coordination etc but I can take or leave most of them
The weapons I actually train week in and week out are the pole (our family short pole form, buk sing pole form and the wing chun 6 and a half point form) and the butterfly knifes although I prefer the hakka arts sets to the wing chun or hung gar stuff. I like the pole as it help develop waist power and is practical, i like the butterfly knifes because they are fun We also spar pole against knifes regularly. We also work the ratten sticks as well single and double now and then
Weapons training gives you something that MAY be lost in strictly bare handed fighting and that is a respect for footwork.
Many times in sparring we will "take a shot to give a shot" or to move in, it's a sacrifice play and while still done with footwork to minimize the damage, it can easily degrade.
With weapons and the healthy respect one gets when you get a good solid wack, you learn the immense importance of footwork and angles.
Psalms 144:1
Praise be my Lord my Rock,
He trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle !
yep when we spar butterfly knifes v 6 ft pole (we use a pvc pole but still hurts when hit with it) its the footwork and angling that you really have to watch, as you say i dont mind trading shots empty hand (at 6ft and 230pounds i have an advantage most of the time) , when a 6ft weapon is coming at me my footwork improves alot
On the button.
When I started doing padded stick work ( Padded as inprotective gear is being worn) I realized that the gear gave me enough protection VS rattan sticks that I was "taking a shot to give a shot" without really noticing it that much.
I stopped the padded body sparring and went with padded sticks and it was an eye opener.
Psalms 144:1
Praise be my Lord my Rock,
He trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle !
Along with what you guys are saying about weapons sparring and drills...
Gene - do you think Tiger Claw could stock some polypropylene swords like these?
This is what I think, and it's not a bad thing or a negative at all against TCMA. Marketing 101 is to define or create your niche and then own your market. I think it's entirely possible for TCMA to dominate and own the weapons niche. If we can translate solid skills to improvised weaponry...
Everything works better with weapons in hand.
Imagine the damage a boxer can do with a push dagger in each fist.
Psalms 144:1
Praise be my Lord my Rock,
He trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle !