Before I begin let me say I am a students of Ray's so I will try to be as unbiased as possible, though it may prove hard.
This is the second time I have had a seminar with ray and the first time I hosted a seminar so nerves were at an all time high. There were a lot of obstacles before the seminar not the least of which was the fact that Ray was in the hospital with severe food poisoning less than five hours before the seminar started, now on to the good stuff...
Ray held a two day seminar at a local gym in Bellflower (thanks to Jerry at Centerline Gym, if you haven't seen Jerry's unarmed gainst blade tape Redzone do so now). The first day covered Ray's unique way of fighting with the knife. Ray comes from a fencing background and it clearly showed as he demonstarted grips, footwork and principles which all took advantage of fencing's principles along with those of Ilustrisimo. Those of you who have seen Ray have experienced the CANNON, Ray's explosive entries which leave you scratching you head and wondering just how you got hit so damn hard, well Ray took the time to break it down so that most of the participants had a pretty good cannon going early on. This explosive entry is the hallmark of Ray's style in my mind, it is also tactically a mich better idea than getting invovled in a draw out give and take with a knife. Ray also worked on the reverse grip which is the way he holds the knife and espouses as a grip, while some were doubtful as to reach of this method he quickly showed just how little reach you lose and how much advantage the grip gives you. What was truly amazing was just how much people were able to integrate Ray's material immediately.
The second day of the seminar dealt with blunt weapon against blade, Ray demonstrated the two handed approach as well as the snooker game with sticks which knocked the opponents heads back like pez dispensers. Ray also felt good enough enough to spar, what was truly amazing was not just how he sparred bu how he called out what he was going to just before he did it, truly oustanding. We also worked on flexible weapons against blade, these techniques are a paired down version of sarong techniques that in my opinion at least are a more realistic way to train.
I had given up on FMA for a long time until I met Ray and he renewed my faith. He is without a doubt the most open and innovative instructor I have met and trained with.
Special thanks to Ray for his training and for sharing with us, also especially for bringing 20 year old video of Tatang Ilustrisimo training others in Luneta Parc in Manilla, great to see. And thanks to TG for sharing his thoughts on law enforcement training and the proper role of knife work in tactics, also to Mike W. for all his help during the seminar and years of trainig.
Of course words will never do when describing Ray's style so if he is in your area take a seminar.
