Kali Arnis Martial Arts Foundation conducted  the seminar-workshop for public school teachers

With the goals of promoting, preserving and propagating the Filipino Martial Arts, the Kali Arnis Martial Arts Foundation headed by Master Richardson C. Gialogo of Philippine Arnis and Vice­President of WoMAU, conducted a 9­day seminar about the Filipino Martial Art of Arnis  last January, 2015. The program was in coordination with the Physical Education Program of Ateneo de Manila University, a premier Jesuit University in Manila where Mr. Richardson Gialogo is also the Director. This is also in collaboration with the Ateneo Center for Educational Development (ACED) which served as sponsor. The seminar­workshops were conducted for free. The Seminar­workshop entitled, “The Physical Education, Wellness and Sports (PEWS) Workshops for Public School Teachers gathered a sizable number. More than 500 participants from 142 Public Elementary and High Schools attended the seminars. All of the participants are Public School teachers who are all under the Ministry of Education. From its conceptualization, this outreach program was designed to introduce modern trends in PEWS, help develop capacity and capabilities of public school teachers, and promote professional learning communities among the teachers. In the area of Arnis, the National Martial Art and Sport of the Philippines, the teacher­participants were taught the necessary skills like striking, blocking and evading. Angles of attack were taught together with basic stances. Footwork were also taught and discussed. Basic to intermediate techniques were taught in both the single weapon and double weapon modes. The teachers were taught what to teach and how to teach Arnis to school settings. Rules on sports Arnis was also discussed and hand signals for referees and Judges were also tackled. Aside from teaching physical skills related to martial arts, the history of Philippine martial arts were also discussed as well as the importance of preserving, propagating and promoting the culture which goes with the practice of these martial arts. With these seminar­workshops, more people became aware of the Philippine Martial Arts and these very same people were enlightened. This led the participants to pledge support to Mr. Richardson C. Gialogo’s Association and start to create teams and clubs of their own to spread Arnis within their schools. The next step is to organize the teachers who attended and to eventually form professional learning communities. This means that numerous Arnis Clubs will be created and developed by the teachers and eventually form an Arnis association for public school teachers.