PTI Blog

So yesterday I taught another Pekiti-Tirsia class and had a visiting guest take class.
To make a long story short, the guest didn't want their pic posted on FB for fear of being seen by their regular instructor…and then consequently being excommunicated for training with another instructor (me).

I am told that this is a common practice in the school they belong to.
I happen to know this is unfortunately a common practice among various martial art schools, not just FMA instructors.

I started training in the Pekiti-Tirsia system in February of 1975 and therefore, February of 2025 begins my 50th year in the system. In addition, I started PTI in July of 1995, so next July will be my 30th anniversary as President of PTI.
Here are some ideas I have to celebrate these events.

In 2019 I began planning a series of joint seminars I intended to start in 2020. The first was going to be a seminar focusing on the Pekiti-Tirsia system, with a look at the “classic” way I had learned the system in the 1970s and 80s, compared with the new methodologies being taught in the 90s and 2000s.

The instructor I chose to represent the newer methods was Jared Wihongi, based on several factors. He was a fellow law enforcement officer, a good family man and had a reputation for integrity and self disciple.

Here are my thoughts about advertising on social media, specifically Facebook.
I thought it might be helpful for those also advertising online to see my thinking on this subject, which is based on trial and error over many years. I would be interested in hearing how my experience compares to other instructors who advertise on social media and even more interested in hearing the advice of administrators of these on-line groups.

THE 1996 PTI CAMP The cover pages from the 1996 PTI camp brochure. The outdated contact info has been covered. . Inside pages with the camp ...

FROM TUHON JACK LATORRE: When first coming to the system in 1993 or so and seeing this chart, I was very excited to undertake this system.
When I started completing the first few curricular blocks, the design of each block made so much sense for both learning and application.

MAGINO'O GURO DAN TERRELL - MARTIAL ARTS BIO: Coach Danny Terrell began his training at 11 in boxing at the Iberia Boxing Club and 2 years of wres...

During my research into the Tri-V formula, I was asked about the Doce Methodos (DM), as this material is often referred to as the older teaching system used for Pekiti-Tirsia when instructors are learning the Tri-V. I recall seeing two lists of the Doce Methodos from Grand Tuhon Gaje (GT), around 1976 or 77 during the days of his first organization, the Arnis America Organization. 

Here are some scans from old martial arts magazine articles. I believe all of these magazines are out of business, so there should be no copyright issues with my posting them here. In some pictures you will see a skinny kid with a mop of black hair on his head acting as a target for Grand Tuhon Gaje. Good times.

Several PDFs and JPEGs of important PTI documents did not make it over to the new web service when we had to change services this September. Here are some of them all in one spot for ease of viewing. 

There are No Secret Techniques in PTI: If all techniques are listed in the course outline it keeps the instructors honest. An instructor cannot say to a student “Do this for me (pay for private lessons/bring a large group to my seminar/etc) and I will teach you these secret techniques.”