Pencak Silat, An Indonesian Native Martial Art

16
Oct
2015

"Who wants to try this?" Erwin Setyo Kriswanto, S.Pd.,M.Kes, the coach, revealed to the participants, while introducing some traditional weapons used in Pencak Silat martial art, such as Kujang, Mandau, Clurit, hand fan, and bamboo stick. The brief explanation from him initiated today’s Pencak Silat class, which engaged Darmasiwa and Developing Countries Partnership students. Held on Friday (16/10/2015), this class is quite different from previous ones, as this class is more focused on physical exercise, while introducing Pencak Silat as one of native traditional martial arts in Indonesia.

Begining at 9:00 am, all the participants seem very enthusiastic to follow every movement in Pencak Silat as taught by Erwin Setyo. There is a wide range of movement and body position, namely punch and kick, feints, sweeping, and the scissors takedown, which grips the legs around the opponent. First, all participants looked doubtful in practicing every movement, even some of those already felt exhausted within less than 30 minutes. "I am tired, I want to take a break," Iana Bondaruk, a student of Ukraine, told.

However, their lobourious effort was paid off when the coach taught them scissors takedown tactic in sparring. The coach commanded them to look for a partner for the sparring.

At the end of the session, several students demonstrated their interest to attend Pencak Silat class regularly, for example Okita Hiroki from Japan, Magdalena Beczek from Poland, and Chantal Tropea from Italy. Erwin Setyo as the coach welcomed their enthusiasm with great pleasure and invited them to join his class every Thursday at 01:00 p.m in Hall Beladiri, Faculty of Sport Science, YSU. At the end of the class, he distributed 3 books concerning Pencak Silat for free to the international students. (Wulan)

submitted by admin