Why do SSBD move the way we move?
This is why we have footsweeps and ankle breaks in Bruneian Martial Arts. Why we are mobile but rooted and we dont emphasis to much on low stance in application, only in training. We don’t stomp and we don’t jump.
Traditionally Bruneians live on water villages along the Bruneian river for more then 700 years. Marco Polo once stopped over in Brunei ports and said Brunei was like “The Venice of the East”. There were more than 31 villages that existed once on the water village. Royalty, Nobility, traders, commoners lived on the water villages. Farmers live on land, of course.
The bridges and pathways are the place to test your skills.
The footsweeps are to trip your opponents off the bridge, the ankle breaks are to make sure they can’t swim when the fall off the bridge.
Foot traps are just take downs when done on solid ground, that is all it is, a take down. He stands back up and he can keep on fighting you. Foot traps when done on a bridge over water, you break their ankle, they fall in the water and they struggle to swim and they (can) drown.
Not many knows what real footsweeps and ankle traps are for. In Brunei we do it because it is a part of our environment. The environment created the fighting system, it’s not there because it’s cool. No other can claim this. That is why we move the way we move.
SSBD is a traditional art. We move like the old ways because it is effective and efficient.
–Maul Mornie.
*entry from 12/10/2016, Facebook profile
*SSBD stands for Silat Suffian Bela Diri
combativecorner.wordpress.com 