Lunch with a Grandmaster

On April 22 2026 I'd come across an opportunity I never thought would come my way!

The Family Practice

I grew up learning Arnis/Eskrima from my father. Before I was born, before he'd come to the states, he'd learned the arts from a friend he'd met at a bar in his small town in the province of Davao Oriental. The style he learned had no name other than the encompassing term Arnis, and it was a blend of many things. Within this mixed art he'd learned a variation of Balintawak, one colored by Kung Fu and Doce Pares influence.

We liked to watch youtube videos featuring other styles of Arnis and dabble in their techniques, evaluate what we thought would be useful or what was just for show. One style we respected was Balintawak as taught by Bobby Taboada. Taboada's Balintawak quite different from the variation my father learned; quick, efficient, and explosive. It's exclusively a close quarters style, prioritizes combat with a stick rather than blade, and it favors punching more than any other style of Arnis. Influenced by this, we'd occasionally integrate some of it's concepts into our training.

We'd watch more videos featuring Taboada and his teaching, learning more about him and his story. He'd grown up among fighters in a tough part of Cebu and would go on to spread the art of his teachers worldwide, and not just that, but to help in part to make famous the Filipino martial arts as a whole! An inspiring story to be sure, one that added to my sense of cultural pride. That our culture has something that people all over the world find impressive and want to learn about, what a wonderful thing!

The Call to Action

Years later, I'm now living just a stones throw from Chicago. I find on instagram an opportunity I never thought would come my way!

THE Grandmaster Bobby Taboada was coming HERE! I just about dropped my phone when I read it! I wasted no time and registered immediately. I don't make much and really I wasn't in any good financial position to be spending this amount of money, but in situations like this I feel one MUST say yes to the opportunity. "Life happens in the present" as they say, and there's no guarantee that such opportunities will come again. Additionally, signing up included one month of unlimited classes at the Chicago Balintawak school, so in my view I was certainly getting a lot for what I'm paying!

For the next month I'd get to train under Guro Rob, a Full Qualified Instructor of the Taboada Balintawak style, a title that takes years and dedication to earn and be approved by Taboada himself. I'd get to train with his students as well, an overall incredibly welcoming and helpful bunch. Wonderful people to train with! Guro Rob was kind enough to evaluate the balintawak I'd practiced with my dad by testing my defenses, deciding my control was good enough to allow me to train with the Intermediate students! I'd get more and more familar with the ways of this Balintawak, getting a grasp on their basics and philosophy of movement. In essence: sturdy and minimalist, as all good fighting styles are.

Meeting Taboada

May 23rd, Saturday morning, I showed up to the intermediate class about 10 minutes early and found some of the students were already there, just a small handful of us total. We were told Taboada was planning to come in early to oversee the class himself, and we were just as nervous as we were excited. Then, from the back of the gym, Taboada himself walked out with Guro Rob to meet us. 3 of us stood in a row like soldiers in front of him, not that anyone told us to, the nervousness directed us so. Those of us who were Filipino greeted him with "Mano Po", a traditional greeting for our elders. Taboada smiled at us, turned to Guro Rob, and joked "They are Italians, like me!". I could tell it pleased him to see fellow Filipinos engaging in our arts. Guro Rob introduced each of us one by one, giving name and skill level. As I was an "unorthodox" student, I was introduced differently, "He's got good control, learned balintawak from his pop". This detail peaked his interest, and he'd keep his eye on me as we trained.

After more students had arrived we went over Balntawak's basic forms in unison, the time I took at home to memorize these were absolutely paying off! We went through the basics curriculum: basic blocks, 12 basic strikes, and the entirety of the shadow fighting routine. As we performed these moves, Taboada made his way around us, making corrections as he saw fit. For me he adjusted my high block, it wasn't quite high enough. I assume besides that detail my form overall was acceptable, and he was sure to scrutinize every movement from all of us that were out of line. Those of us who got feedback definitely saw immediate improvement!

After the first hour was up the foundations class arrived, I moved myself from the front towards the back of the class to give newcomers the opportunity to get close. We mostly went over basic footwork, stances, and eventually made our way to some of the things we'd gone over previously. After we'd all worked up a sweat, Taboada concluded the class by telling us all the story of his rise to fame - From humble beginnings in Cebu to being invited to teach worldwide. I won't be retelling his whole story here, that can be found elsewhere. But really, the best way to hear it is from the man himself.

Lunch with The Grandmaster

Lunch at a local Filipino diner was next on the itinerary for today's events, at least for us Balintawak students. We'd arrived right before Taboada arrived with Guro Rob, meeting us at the door of the diner. I held open the door for Taboada but he'd asked me a question before entering:

• GM: Your father taught you Balintawak?
• Me: That's right
• GM: Who is your father?
• Me: (I gave his name)
• GM: Where did he learn?
• Me: Davao
• GM: Who did he learn from in Davao?
• Me: Bobby Pahamotang
• GM: ...I don't know him
• Me: That's ok, I didn't think you would

I took no offense. Like I had mentioned at the beginning, my father's Balintawak was colored by Kung Fu and Doce Pares influences, a far removed branch of the tree. Still, it was similar enough for me to keep up with and adapt to the Taboada style.

Around 10 of us in total, we sat around a row of tables put together, Taboada sitting next to me. After we had made our orders, I figured I ought to ask him some questions too. He was a Grand Master after all, when am I gonna have such an opportunity next?

• Me: GM, when did you know you were good?
• GM: When my master couldn't hit me anymore
• Me: (I laugh)
• GM: It's true (his face serious)
• Me: OH! (I'm embarrassed)

He told me about the hundreds of hours he'd spent learning under his master, the secret sparring sessions he'd have with his peers to test the techniques under pressure and sharpen their reflexes. Dedication and pressure testing were the keys to his quick reflexes.

I'd mentioned that I heard he learned Eskrima from his father like me

• Me: GM, you learned from your father too right?
• GM: Yes, but not Balintawak, something else.
• GM: (His curiosity peaked again) Do you have video of your father?
• Me: I do! (I showed him a video of me and my father training)
• GM: He is good, where is he?
• Me: In North Carolina
• GM: I live there! why have I not heard of him?
• Me: Oh! Because he doesn't have a school
• GM: Ah, he should, he is good!

He then told me something that really struck me

GM: "You know, the duty of my FQIs (Full Qualified Instructors) is to develop 24 advanced techniques to add to the art. Become FQI, you can add your father's art. And if I like your techniques, I will teach them myself!"

I felt real proud of my dad in that moment. We had never sought validation in our practice but it was inspiring to not only get some recognition from a grandmaster, but encouragement to keep developing as well. And not only that, this was a grandmaster whose work we'd respected for years. I was instilled with a new goal in my martial arts journey, to become an FQI and teach the art of my father, to honor our knowlege and culture.

So, after casually changing the trajectory of my life, we continued to chat about other things; movies in particular

• GM: Have you seen the Dune movie?
• Me: I have! They do Balintawak in their choreography right?
• GM: Yes, but they did not talk to me
• Me: Really!?
• GM: Bryan Sloyer, my FQI in LA, he does action for movies, but they did not talk to him either

It's worth mentioning that there are a handful of primary schools of the Balintawak style: Taboada, Tabimina, WOTBAG, Atillo, and Nickelstick. Each school has particular quirks of movement, slightly different philosophies on what movements to prioritize and how they teach them. As far as I could find, the Dune production has made no statement regarding any particular school, just Balintawak in general. I would argue however that the examples of Balintawak in the movie most closely resemble the sharp posing and emphasis on impact taught in the Taboada school, albeit stylized for use in the film.

• GM: Have you seen the movie (documentary) Kings Blade?
• Me: I have!
• GM: It was produced by my FQI in Russia, Alex Pisarkin. I have not seen him since the war though
• Me: Oh wow I didn't know that! Yea I really liked that they spoke to so many of the old grand masters
• GM: They had both me and Nick Elizar, you know Nick Elizar?
• Me: Yes! Grand Master of Nickelstick Eskrima
• GM: Me and him grew up together
• Me: Really!
• GM: Yes, we trained together. When we were little we would watch my father training

Nick Elizar was a figure I was familiar with, I was able to download one of his instructional DVDs years earlier. From that I'd learned the same defenses that were taught in the Taboada style, but different kinds of counters.

He tells me about other movies he's in; the 2016 documentary Fighting Sticks of Arnis which I hadn't seen, and a nameless production that had yet to come out. In this movie he told me he'd played a jeepny driver that fought aliens. Despite his fighting style being single-stick oriented, the production asked he utilize a double stick style. "It's ok" he said, "Movie Bobby fights with two", we laughed.

The food arrived and we'd started speaking with others at the table, I had a big plate of longsilog and he had a plate of fried tofu. He'd gotten his stomach stapled years back and couldn't eat much. One of my classmates, a fellow American-born-Filipino, wanted to ask Taboada how to say some phrases in Tagalog. I corrected him, Taboada speaks Cebuano. (While it's true Filipinos in The Philippines understand the national language of Tagalog, Cebuanos like Taboada prefer to speak Cebuano). So he rephrases his question and asks him. Taboada gets a mischevious look in his eye and tells him:

"Ok, you say like this: Ako si *your name*, dako kaayo ang akong kinatawo"

Taboada laughs and starts a story. Every year there is an international gathering of Taboada Balintawak practitioners called World Camp. On one hosted in Cebu, an American who was set to address the attendees from a podium asked Taboada for a greeting phrase to use. He taught him that same phrase, and the American spoke it aloud over the mic. The room erupted with laughter from those who understood, and confusion from those who didn't. Taboada finally reveals to us at the table "In English it means: I am *name*, I have large genitals". All of us at the table had a big laugh.

Thus ended my lunch with the Grandmaster. We left the diner to make our way to the location of the seminar. We'd train more there and afterwards get dinner together as a group again, but that is a story for another time.

Final Thoughts

I left feeling inspired, motivated to pursue my new goal of mastery. As of writing this I've signed on as an official student of the Chicago Balintawak school and continue to develop and learn their ways. I've never thought about mastery, never even really considered myself a "real" martial artist before I started on this path. To me a real martial artist was someone dedicated, someone who trained and improved regularly, and someone who puts their skills to the test under pressure. I can confidently say that I now meet that criteria, and I can't wait for the day I can.