I believe one of the greatest gifts Grandmaster Art Gonzalez bestowed upon me was that of recognizing geometric patterns and the role they played in offensive and defensive movements. He would say, when you understand the patterns and tie them to our concepts, principles, and with or minor, and major key words, you will have the ability to play with any martial art style, or system, and you may even have a better understanding of the art then those who practice it. I can recall a time when I became very frustrated when GM Art began to change his teaching methodology from technique based drills to focusing more on the concepts and principles. At the time I did not understand the value of this lesson, I once complained to one of my very first students, Mr. Dean Simmons, a physicist I worked with and trained during lunch hours who was already a black belt in Chinese Kenpo and also held rank in Kung Fu. After my selfish rant, he simply replied Mickey, Sir, do you not understand how beautiful it is not to be locked down to simply techniques, what you do is what most martial arts strive for, to be unburdened by a series of choreographed techniques and simply react to what is occurring, you have been given a great gift and you don’t even see it.
In my defense, I knew of no other method of learning, and at the time when I was much younger than I am now, I was too damn lazy to search for the deeper meaning and understanding of our art of Tenios DeCuerdas, I just wanted to be taught a technique with a given name, write it in my note book and move on to the next named technique. GM Art would often say, my job is to create thinkers, not mindless robots, this is the only way I can lift you up and to make you better than I am. People may walk into the school and say oh he is a karate guy, he is a kenpo guy, oh no he is a gung fu guy, when the truth is that he is a DeCuerdas man capable of playing with other arts because he understand concepts and principles. I now look back on these memories with great fondness, and with great appreciation, these lessons are what keep me driving forward to progress the art, my students as well as my own progression. I highly recommend those just starting or are already a few years into their martial journey to always take time to understand the movements and patterns of your techniques, regardless of what style is practiced, if you do, I am certain you will end up seeing things that are missed by many and at times find shortcuts for better efficiency. Regardless of what style you practice, may you continue to grow and progress in your understanding. God Bless and train strong to remain strong!
Maestro Mike Cardenas
Black Wolf DeCuerdas Eskrima Club
VEA Martial Arts Academy, Manteca CA.
In my defense, I knew of no other method of learning, and at the time when I was much younger than I am now, I was too damn lazy to search for the deeper meaning and understanding of our art of Tenios DeCuerdas, I just wanted to be taught a technique with a given name, write it in my note book and move on to the next named technique. GM Art would often say, my job is to create thinkers, not mindless robots, this is the only way I can lift you up and to make you better than I am. People may walk into the school and say oh he is a karate guy, he is a kenpo guy, oh no he is a gung fu guy, when the truth is that he is a DeCuerdas man capable of playing with other arts because he understand concepts and principles. I now look back on these memories with great fondness, and with great appreciation, these lessons are what keep me driving forward to progress the art, my students as well as my own progression. I highly recommend those just starting or are already a few years into their martial journey to always take time to understand the movements and patterns of your techniques, regardless of what style is practiced, if you do, I am certain you will end up seeing things that are missed by many and at times find shortcuts for better efficiency. Regardless of what style you practice, may you continue to grow and progress in your understanding. God Bless and train strong to remain strong!
Maestro Mike Cardenas
Black Wolf DeCuerdas Eskrima Club
VEA Martial Arts Academy, Manteca CA.
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