The first time she noticed it, Kathrin Sumpter recollects, was throughout a martial arts exhibition — in all likelihood a black belt karate show off — approximately a dozen years ago. “All of a sudden, she breaks out those sticks,” she says. Something clicked for Sumpter, a Sequim resident and owner/instructor of Sequim Martial Arts and the newly particular Cacoy Cañete Doce Pares-Sequim Club, where she teaches the Doce Pares, a Filipino martial art. Now, the Doce Pares fourth-degree black belt and her son Sam Manders are training to participate in the Cacoy Cañete Doce Pares World Invitational Tournament & Gathering in Cebu City, Philippines, in August.
“It’s interesting — it’s the type of like going to the motherland,” Sumpter says. “The quality within the world might be there.” Sumpter and Mandersaree are part of a six-man or woman crew representing the USA for a match, seminars, a schooling camp, and other events catering to stick combatants from all disciplines throughout the globe. In practice, the Sequim duo train with fellow team individuals and others at a facility in Portland, Ore. — the nearest Sumpter says she will visit to get this type of schooling. “I ought to were given to Portland to discover people I can learn from; right here, I’m the handiest sport in town,” she says.
Family proposal
Sumpter has had experience with Tae Kwon Do since the early Nineties and is now a fifth-degree black belt in the area. An immediate circle of relatives connection broadened her repertoire, however. Gail Sumpter, who changed into living in Los Angeles at the time, said she’d go to her sister-in-regulation Kathrin in Sequim. “She stated something approximately sticks. (I said), ‘That’s what I do,” Gail Sumpter recollects. Since 1996, Gail Sumpter has been nicely-versed in Eskrima, the Philippines’ national sport and martial art that focuses mostly on stick combating, knife fighting, and hand-to-hand combat; however, it also covers grappling and different guns.
Doce Pares, Spanish for 12 peers or 12 equals, is a shape of Eskrima. “When I moved here, I started teaching her; she got way into it,” Gail says. “I simply started out doing it and not using a shape; (Gail) helped me get into it,” Kathrin says. While martial arts like Tae Kwon Do tend to be more game-oriented and excellent for a laugh and getting a match, Gail Sumpter says Eskrima is more focused on combat and self-protection. A third-degree black belt in the discipline, she says she took to Eskrima, especially along with her position as a reserve regulation enforcement deputy.
“It ties into looking to defend yourself,” Gail Sumpter says. “It’s honestly flexible. You can use a stick, an open hand, a knife, and a stick. (And) you, in reality, have to cognizance in case you are training.” While Gail Sumpter doesn’t practice Eskrima an excessive amount of anymore — “I’m just so concerned teaching lifeguards and CPR,” she says — her sister-in-law and her son are taking to the international stage soon with a group of different Americans led by way of Team USA Captain and Master Dan Haney.
