“GM Bobby Taboada – Founder of Taboada Balintawak
Grandmaster Bobby Taboada was raised in Cebu City. After studying karate, boxing, and other fighting arts, GM Taboada was introduced to the Balintawak school founded by the Great Grand Master Venancio “Anciong” Bacon, headed at the time by Grand Masters Teofilo Velez and Jose Villasin. His training was “old school”. Sessions would end bruised, battered, and potentially bloody. Out of this fire, guided by Masters Bacon, Velez, and Villasin, was forged an effective, tested, and highly skilled martial arts master and teacher.
GM Taboada still teaches at the headquarters for his Balintawak International organization, in Charlotte, NC. Since his arrival in the U.S., he’s been a self-defense instructor for the North Carolina Justice Academy, assisted in crime prevention programs sponsored by the North Carolina Sheriff’s Academy, and been featured in dozens of articles and magazines. GM Taboada has trained martial arts experts and practitioners all through the US and around the world, in countries such as England, Australia, Germany, Canada, and more. He has produced a dedicated group of Fully Qualified Instructors (FQI), authorized to teach his Balintawak curriculum throughout the world.
“Balintawak Eskrima, or Balintawak Arnis, is a Filipino martial art developed by Venancio “Anciong” Bacon in the 1950s to enhance and preserve the combative nature of arnis, which he felt was being watered down by other styles of Philippine martial arts. It is named after a small street in Cebu where it was founded.” Wiki
Typically, martial arts are taught empty hand first, weapons later – usually after the attainment of a black belt. Ironically, few martial arts practitioners actually earn their black belt, thus never truly learning weapons. Filipino martial arts flips the switch, beginning with weapons and graduating to empty hands.
Using a single stick, Balintawak is a close quarters fig in hting system developed for the streets of Cebu City, Philippines, making it a practical tool for modern urbanites living in Toronto and similar city centres. The concepts and techniques that we develop with the stick in Balintawak work regardless of whether we are using a stick, a blade, or empty hands.
Stick Fighting Toronto 