Anne Arundel Filipino Stick Fighters Bring Home World Titles

Grand Master Carlos Patalinghug Jr., owner of Kick Connection in Millersville, traveled to the Philippines in July with a group of 18 local athletes for the 17th biannual World Eskrima Kali Arnis Federation (WEKAF) championships. Patalinghug and his trainers have been empowering the community, producing black belts and world champions for more than 35 years in Anne Arundel County. In addition to the competition, Patalinghug showed his group parts of the Philippines, including his hometown.

There are two U.S. nationals – east and west. Winners in those tournaments are invited to the worlds. The east nationals were held at Earleigh Heights Volunteer Fire Company on April 13.

Fifteen countries participated in the world championships, with the U.S. receiving the second-highest number of medals, followed by the Philippines with the most medals earned.

Patalinghug is the current president of WEKAF USA. He brought a group of more than 100 participants, including family members and friends, to the competition. Eighteen competitors were from Kick Connection, ranging in ages from 8 to 56 years. Every Kick Connection competitor earned at least one medal.

“The Kick Connection students of Anne Arundel County demonstrated great skills, determination and fortitude, even being a group of mostly novice participants that started in a little less than six months of training,” Patalinghug said. “They were able to garnish gold, silver and bronze medals.”

Patalinghug added that for him one of the highlights of the competition was when the coach of the Filipino competitors asked him how long his athletes have been training.

“The coach was shocked to hear that for some of the competitors, this was their first world championship and they had been training for only six months,” Patalinghug said. “The coach said the Filipino competitors had been training for seven to 10 years! I am so proud of my students and their accomplishments; they went toe-to-toe with such esteemed fighters. I give credit to my head instructors, Master Matt Cerbas and Kim Everett. Their training and preparation of the students of this event were exceptional.”

Leo Kirby, a rising sophomore at Mount Saint Joseph and Severna Park resident, also credited his success to Everett and Cerbas. To prepare for the tournament, the athletes spend many training hours with their coaches. He said they have coached some of the best competitors of Team USA, and their training regimen is meticulous.

“They have so much experience in training and spar, and they have been in tournaments themselves,” Kirby said. “They know how far to push us, but they are also very supportive.

“I’ve only been in Eskrima for two years,” Kirby added, “but I won a gold medal because of the great teachers at Kick Connection.”

Besides the world championships, the students were able to assist with philanthropic activities such as feeding the less fortunate, building water wells, donating school supplies, and clothing distribution. Patalinghug wanted to give the athletes the opportunity to serve the local community. There was time to enjoy some of the sites of the island, such as swimming with whale sharks and seeing tarsiers, tiny primates.

Kirby was surprised at how popular Filipino stick fighting was worldwide. “There was a huge team coming from Reunion Island, which I didn’t even know existed!” he said. “I thought the majority of competitors would be from the Philippines, U.S. and Southeast Asia, but there were people from some very unlikely places competing.”

Kick Connection competitors and medalists included:

Coach Matthew Cerbas - one bronze
Andrea Young - one gold, two bronze
Hutch Ro-Young - one silver, two bronze
Lauryn Moody – three bronze
James Dupreay – two gold, one silver
Tracy Meyer - one gold, two silver
Leo Kirby - one gold, one silver, one bronze
Cooper Geldmacher - two gold
Mackenzie Ferko - one silver
Mary Rogers - one gold, two bronze
Fiona Laque - one silver, one bronze
Hopper Laque - two bronze
Artem Yousefian - one gold, one bronze
C.J. Patalinghug - one silver
Emmanuel Patalinghug - one silver
Gabriel Patalinghug - one silver
Angelique Patalinghug - one silver
Jared Patalinghug - one silver

The WEKAF events showcase five aspects of the ancient art of stick fighting:

• The Sayaw division depicts the beauty and the grace of the art, demonstrating movements of the weapon consisting of sticks, blades or other Philippines-related weapons through twirls, slashes, footwork and defensive and offensive moves in creative and artistic movements.
• The Padded Stick division is a competition where the goal is to earn points. One point is given to the person who makes the first contact.
• The Live Stick division is three one-minute rounds, where competitors use single or double sticks. The winner is determined by the number of hits delivered to the body with the most effective and powerful blows. This division is scored similar to boxing.
• In the Padded Knife division, scored like Padded Stick, competitors use a padded knife.
• In the Bangkaw division, competitors use a long staff as a weapon. There are three one-minute rounds where the participants are scored based on hits.