Tonight we trained the entire session left-handed. Great brain activity & essential to be able to defend against a left-handed attacker. Everything we do translates: right to left, weapon to empty hand, (Eskrima-Eskrido & Pangamot - the bare-handed defense).

This! Yes. Thanks for sharing Guro Tom

Happy Birthday Justin! To one of the most dedicated students I've ever had the pleasure to teach; hard-working, disciplined, smooth eskrimador, competitive fighter, a loyal friend & man of integrity. A rare combination in any human these days. Enjoy your special day Justin & lap up the sunshine over there in Bali with Shelley☀️🌴

A Big shout out to Adam Kaoullas getting ready for his fight coming up on Friday 21st July. We're all getting behind the Golden Greek for this one 🥊👊🏽Go Adam ! Moorabbin Boxing Gym Come along and support some great fighters.

These guys! Making Form 5 like poetry in motion, with thanks to Guro Rob. Smooth execution #Eskrima #katas #filipinomartialarts #arnis #weaponskata #cacoydocepares #martialarts

A few short clips & pics from last nights' class. I'm still not sure who I have missed more, Harold or the guys!

Demonstrating Block with 4 counters & take down angle 2 #eskrima #eskrido #cacoydocepares #cacoysarmy #grrrlclothing #filipinomartialarts #arnis

My first light sparring session with Harold in over 4 months. Feels good to get the rust off! Just working on fluidity & coordination after the time my body has been through. Next session I will add the checking hand. Thanks to @jgcustomtrainingknives for the inspiration & @grrrl_clothing my #grrrlbeanie keeping me warm on these Melbourne winter nights. 15% discount code:stickfightergrrrl #sparringdummiesrock #sparringpartners are not always human #filipinomartialarts #arnis #cacoydocepares #martialarts #martialartsgirls #grrrlclothing #fighterslife #movementislife

So good to be back on the mats teaching again tonight! 😀Great job to our newest students & one of GM Craig's & Guro Dee's former students (East Coast Doce Pares Institute) who also joined us this evening. ❤️Eskrima ❤️SGM Cacoy's art

Another Flashback: Australasian Titles June long weekend 2014. Fighting, is just like life, you never know what is about to happen; millisecond by millisecond you are responding to the unknown. These fights were against male & female competitors. I managed 3 Golds & 1 silver & one of those Golds was in the team event where I fought in 5 double stick fights against 5 tall men. Gender shouldn't matter once you put the mask on, we're all fighters at the end of the day & I will always be grateful to those men as they brought out the best in me. Tough competitors & each one a gentleman after the fight was over. Thanks to my sparring buddies Guro Rob & Justin & my corner men, including Guro Tom.

Sometimes our hardest fights are not in the ring. Life deals us some pretty heavy blows at times & one of the things ring fights have taught me is how to pick myself up, dust myself off & keep moving forward, regardless of the type of impact. Hard to believe this photo was taken 3 years ago this June long weekend! Australasian Titles 2014 - my first fights back in the ring after a 5 year hiatus & debilitating nerve injury in my leg. After taking 3 years to relearn how to walk again, the natural next "step" for me was getting back to fighting. With massive thanks to my sparring buddies Guro Rob & Justin; my corner man, Guro Tom; the photographer Bobby B & my gorgeous friends who cheered me on. It's another new beginning for me right now, after another recent annihilation, so interesting timing to reminisce. If you're out there struggling with something right now, just remember, it doesn't matter how many times you get knocked down, it's getting back up again that counts.