[arnis results]

Ok, the tournament:

The AFP team came (more than 25 of them... scary) as well as all the invited teams (PUP, UA&P, Warriors Martial Arts - LESKAS and few guys from Diliman). The matches started at about 10am which was a little later than we had expected (we hoped that we could start by 9 but unfortunely the judges were late so...). We finished the pairing by 10 and surpisingly, I was already up for the second match that morning for the -66kg Men's Division (the first was between a guy from and a guy from PUP). The matches consisted of 3 rounds, 2 minutes each.

To avoid having to explain arnis terminology and martial-arts speak and make things sound simpler, I won the match by default because of the 3-disarm disqualification uhh.. rule. To clear things up and not make my victory sound cheap, the 3-disarm disqualification rule happens when a player loses his arnis stick forcibly by his opponent or accidentally (it slips from his grip or whatever) three times during a match. Disarming my opponent wasn't really part of the plan (the plan was: dash forward or lunge-strike one [diagonal strike]-payong [upward block]-dash) back) ...It's just that my opponent's arnis stick just kept flying out of his grip (was just as shocked as he was). It was explained to me later (by coach Mejia methinks) that the reason my opponent kept losing his arnis stick was because my payong (the upward block) kept hitting his hand - therefore weakening it and causing him to lose his grip. And so there's my first win (and so much for not having to explain arnis terminology).

My second match was in the afternoon. I was up against another guy from Warriors (the guy from the first match who was mentioned earlier). I was rather confident I could win against him because of a few things: His play wasn't that good but he won by default against PUP (although it was obvious that the PUP player was better) because the PUP Coach decided to withdraw from the competition because of some Administrative issues. in detail, PUP refused to have their team sign the waivers (those things you have to sign saying you'll abide by the competition's rules and be responsible -not the organizers- for your own misactions ) because well... they just didn't want to. Said they only signed waivers for National competitions (kasi low-caliber tourney lang yung samin). Personally, I think it was their Dean (lols. kasama pa talaga yung dean) who made an issue about the waivers. She was complaining (parang anlaki ng problema niya) about the tourney not starting on time.

Anyway, I stuck to my old game and won my second match 3-0, but not without a few complications (the guy seemed determined to make up for his default win). At the beginning of the match I decided not to wear the handguards (I only had the armguards on) because I thought it would only hinder me (since I knew I was already at say.. half my maximum stamina. two minutes may seem like such a short time but when your wearing armor inside a ring fighting a match, 2 minutes is like an eternity). As a result, my right hand got well... let's just say it got kind of bruised and uhh.. skinned more than I had expected. It would later prove to be my undoing on the third match. Not wearing the handguards was a bad call (I should've listened to Kuya [Xian, my older brother]).

And so... and masaklap na laban. At around this time Louis, Cherrie, and Celsus (and I think si Ate [my older sister] nakarating na rin) already came to see the tournament (langya Louis! ngayon pa kayo dumating kung kelan matatalo na ko). My right hand, already covered with Band-aids and was still shaking a bit uncontrollably. I wore complete armor for that match (handguard+armguard) and proceeded to the arena, it was the fight for bronze and I absolutely could NOT lose even if I was up against an AFP player.

When I picked up my arnis stick, I realized there was something wrong with my grip and that the handguard was keeping me from holding the stick at the right angle. The coach gave the laban! signal and after a few seconds of planning and hesitation we were already at each other with a flurry of strikes and blocks. The clash ended with me blocking a diagonal strike which sent my stick flying to the right. I took off the handguards right away while the referee was signalling for my penalty, I can't afford the handguard messing things up any further. I lost the 1st round (a disarm is -5 points for me). I was desperate during the second round, so I added a few variations to my game (horizontal strikes to the torso to negate my opponent's superior overhead strikes... a reverse payong segida [sidestep] to the left to go for a spada serrada [but was unsuccessful kasi no stamina = no speed]. even tried a few disarming techniques here and there but his hand was hard to catch). My efforts paid off though because I won the second round. The third round was funny because my opponent asked me out loud, "Pagod ka na ba?! ako pagod na ko!" to which I replied, "..Sobra! pagod na rin ako." (add the occasional *huff* *huff* here and there). By the third round both of us were already moving slow, our stances hunched, and breathing heavily. We finished with one last flurry of strikes before the referee called hinto. The results for the last round was 28-30, in favor of AFP. I could have won with three more good strikes. With two good hits, I could have pushed it to sudden death.

After that I left the tournament early with Kuya and Ate (paguwi namin sinermonan ako ni mama tungkol sa pagpapalit ng sport). I was told that Gel (Angel) won silver on her division anfd Ate Juzie winning bronze. All the rest of the medals were hoarded by AFP (ang dami nila e!).

So there.
Oh well, next time na lang ulit.
[EDIT: wow.... ang haba pala nung post]