New Jogo do Pau international study groups program launched by Luis Preto

[Migrated]

This program will work in the following way:

There will be a JdP instructor that will regularly provide exercises for the group to work with, in form of text, images, and video, to help them understand what is necessary. From that on, the group will have a very close following of it's development by the instructor, answering questions and most important, from time to time the group will be required to record videos of exercises executed the best they can for instructor's review. This level of interaction will help maintain the quality of the technical development of the group.



How will this work?

The group will be leaded by a Group Coordinator, that will be responsible for the development of the other members and for the communication with the instructor, this leader will have a very important role in the process.

This role is specially oriented to someone that has experience with martial arts and teaching, so he can organize and teach a group the information provided by the instructor, and manage that entire interaction.

The instructor and director of the program is Luis Preto, some of you must him, a respected jogo do pau instructor, with a degree in Sport Sciences and author of the book "Jogo do Pau: The Ancient Art and Modern Science of Portuguese Stick Fighting", so you know you are in good hands and learning Jogo do Pau from a valuable source.

You can know more about Luis Preto here: <!-- m -->http://www.jogodopauportugues.com/progr ... uctor.html<!-- m -->

This program requires a membership fee, that will be 30euros/month per group, no matter if you have 3, 10 or more members, so you can divide that amount as you like.

We will have a website that will have the groups under our program listed, so any individual that wants to join a official group will know where they are.

But keep in mind that this program is only directed at dedicated groups, that will have a place to practice and regular classes. The number of classes you can have is flexible but we are aiming at a quality work and to provide the best development possible with the distance difficulties this provides.

The fee is not to be listed on the website or to be part of the group only as a formality, but to have access to exercises and materials, and most importantly, direct, tight and regular communication with a high qualified instructor that will provide you the best learning tools and full accompaniment of the group's development.

Being part of this study groups don't require any kind of group or membership exclusivity, on the other side, it is aimed to work with existing groups and be a valuable addition to their current work.

You can find more detailed information on our website here:
<!-- m -->http://www.jogodopauportugues.com/program/<!-- m -->




<h3>What to expect from Lusitan Fencing training?</h3>

For those who make the decision of training Lusitan Fencing, and afterwards really put in the time and effortto develop their skills, here are some relevant improvements that can be expected:

<ul type="DISC">
    <li>Higher development of concentration and self-confidance, since all the contents are developed and perfected using progressive drills, which ultimately lead to successful applications in free sparing;</li>
    <li>Effective combat skill in outnumbered scenarios, as well as in the more sportive one on one sparring, using both long and shorter weapons;</li>
    <li>Better distance awareness and management, thus being able to protect one?s safety perimeter from opponents, especially from those who may see and advantage in trying to grapple due to having skill, weight or strength advantage (or because they have you outnumbered);</li>
    <li>Improved footworkso as to enable one to be fast while stepping back with a parry and back forward with a counter attack;
   
    Note:
    Yes, step back when parrying! Here?s why:
    Side steps work only against vertical descending strikes and not against oblique ones.
    Even actors perform very fast sparring combinations in movies, but their speed comes from not moving their feet and just manipulating the weapon. The problem with this tactic is that if one misses the parry he?ll get hit. This works in movies because things are choreographed, and when someone does get hits it is usually the bad guy, so no one minds the danger of this tactic. To develop true martial skill your system cannot be relying on having armor like in competitions, where you can start by getting hit first and still be able to turn things around. In this type of martial combat the fight is all about getting the first strike, therefore, have extreme caution, overempathize the defense (exit) but perfect the footwork so that you are equally fast and dangerous when countering!
    </li>
    <li>Improved visual skills, thus being able to parry strikes when performed randomly;</li>
    <li>Faster and more powerful striking skills, applicable to all practitioners since this is obtained from superior biomechanics (meaning better coordination) and not physical attributes like strength and / or body mass.</li>
</ul>
<h3></h3>
<h3>About the art ?</h3>

This is acombat artdeveloped throughout time intended to solve people?s needfor ?real life?combat effectiveness.

<table cellpadding="0" border="0" width="740">
    <tbody>
        <tr>
            <td>Hence, and sincePortugalhas had an objectively very demanding andsuccessful military historyagainst other countries, from having to both conquer its territory by force as well as protect its independence by staving off their arch rivals (nowadays known as Spaniards), to discovering the world as we know it and thus establishing many colonies, among many other relevant and undeniable facts, our antecessors?main concernwas with successfully overcoming battlefields, where they foughtseveral opponents at the same time, and coming from all directions.</td>
            <td></td>
        </tr>
    </tbody>
</table>

Thus, this is a combat art which was born and specifically created for combat in outnumbered scenarios while armed, which is the first reasonwhy the main strikes used are rotational. This allows one to attack opponents from different directions in one single movement.


Of course that during these medieval timespeople also practiced grappling, sinceboth combat distancesinvariably appeared during the very confusing fightscharacteristic of battlefields.


Only morerecently, and especially away from the military context, were civilians able to apply this art inless complex scenarios(against less than 8 to 10 opponents)without the need for grappling. It was from this event that a division between these combat arts was produced which, up to that point, had joined to form an all round combat training system, thus enduring a kind of symbiotic relationship.


Whenever people had to fightone against one combats(conflicts surrounding a woman, etc) they would do so while usingthe technical elements trained for combat in outnumberedscenarios(in motion guards, waiting guards with the weapon pointing backwards, etc), which are similar (although not totally identical in terms of footwork) to what I?ve seen many medieval reenactment groups practice nowadays.


Only after the industrial revolution gave birth tobig modern citieswhere people stopped walking around with staffs, did this art take on a more sportive context. It was in these cities that people started focusing theirpractice of this art as a leisure activity, thus focusing onone on onecombat.New strategieswere developed for this type of combat which, up to that point, had been somewhat and comprehensively neglected, due to all the focus on combat against several opponents.


For a while this practice of one on one combat was known as Lisbon?s School, while the combat practice against several opponents was designated as Game from the North (a more rural part of Portugal at the time of the creation of big industrial cities).

<h3>About the weapons used ?</h3>

Running the risk of being perhaps a bit too much down to earth for my own good (since I?ve seen time and time again people preferring to be dazzled by fantastic ?an unreal - stories and explanations, than the simple and logical truth), Man?s use of weapons to fight with has simply followed its technological development.


By this I mean that, logically, thefirst weapons used by Mankind were stones and staffs, since they are easily accessible. This also signifies that there must have been staff combat systems all over the world, as everyone had to both hunt and protect themselves.


Later, as Man began being able to forge iron weapons, the first swords were eventually created. Since in these pre-historic and medieval times effectiveness prevailed over honor (most like in most of our professional environments nowadays), theswords created were thickand somewhat heavy, so as to be capable of sustaining (without breaking) their opponents? strikes (unleashed with any type of weapon or instrument).


Therefore these ancient medieval swords were barely bladed (at least here in Portugal), beingintended more to hit the opponents than to cut.This is the second reason why this system is focused on rotational strikes. This art is a combat system originally oriented for combat in outnumbered scenarios using somewhat heavy and / or barely bladed weapons, thus focusing on rotational strikes both to powerfully hit opponents and from all angles, almost simultaneously (in a single movement), and appliedboth to staffs and medieval swords.


Another factor that enabled civilians to stop relying on grappling as stated above, was the fact that some people placed special iron tips and blades on the staffs? extremities, thus maintaining their personal perimeter from being perpetrated with greater ease, as the risk of injury was much higher for the opponents.





Recently, the needto adapt the art?s self defense essence to today?s societyled Master Pedro Ferreira?s initial applications to the walking cane and, later on, to one of his students, Master Nuno Curvello Russo to comprehensively study the application of the staff technique to thewalking cane and baton.


This same Master also travelled all over Portugal (mainland) and gathered all the different technical contents from each school under one technical program.




<h3>About the art?s name: Jogo do Pau, Staff Fencing and Lusitan Fencing ?</h3>

As the medieval weapons were substituted by firearms,this art was kept alivethrough the self defense use given tostaffs in rural environments. Therefore, and since in ancient Portuguese it was common to use the verb to play to designate the action of throwing something,the skill of throwing the staff(jogar o pau)led to the art being called Game of Staff(Jogo do Pau), from the end of the XIXth century.


Nevertheless, because this designation is not totally correct (it is not a game) and, additionally, itgenerates an identity crises(people don?t realize that it is a combat art just by hearing its name), one of the most well known Masters from the XXth century teacher, Frederico Hopfer, tried to implement thename Staff Fencing.

<p align="left">

<p align="left" class="style1">Left: Jogo Do Pau - "National Fencing" by Master António Nunes Caçador, 1963.
Left:" Teaching program for staff fencing instructors" by Frederico Hopffer.


Although this is a better term for the art, as was explained earlier, this is a combat art that,historically,has been used for outnumbered scenarios using somewhat heavy and barely bladed weapons,adjusting the weapons? material and length to the societyin which one lives in:

<ul type="DISC">
    <li>Open space medieval long swords and rural staffs;</li>
    <li>Short space one hand swords and urban baton & walking cane.</li>
</ul>

Therefore, because the particular version / school that I practice and teach, focuses on maintaining its historical roots, thus using different weapons (swords / staffs as well as walking canes / batons) for both combat against several opponents and one on one, it is calledLusitan Fencing.


Additionally,Lusitan Fencingaims at being aMartial Sport, meaning that it enables people o practice and develop acombat functional and martial techniquewhile splitting their training time withtraditional wooden and iron weapons and sportive padded ones. This way, Lusitan Fencing practitioners are able to learn combatfunctional motor skills, by safely perfecting them in terms ofdistance and timingwith the padded weapons, while also developing a traditionalmartial spiritby also practicing with traditional weapons, requiring moreconcentration, strength of will, respect for your fellow citizen?s physical integrity, and many other important educational and psychological aspects.