Raymond Floro
Inducted into the A.M.A.H.O.F.(Inc) for 2003
INSTRUCTOR OF THE YEAR – KALIS ILUSTRISIMO
Inducted into the W.K.U.H.O.F. for 2003
INSTRUCTOR OF THE YEAR – KALIS ILUSTRISIMO
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Eskrimador Raymond Floro was born in the Philippines
on 6th October, 1963. He is now a naturalised Australian
Citizen. He speaks English and Tagalog (Filipino) and
has a Degree in Bachelor of Business (Marketing) and
the Associate Diploma in Ministry (Honours) where in
1995 and 1996 he was Dux both years and Head Student
1996).
He began his martial arts journey at the age of nine.
With a keen interest in anything that would enhance
his skill in the arts of his homeland, he became
a NSW State champion foil fencer by the mid-1970’s.
He studied Balintawak arnis until the early 80’s.
Soon after he was introduced to Tony Diego, Edgar
Sulite, Rey Galang and Christopher Ricketts. With
the help
of Tony, Edgar and Romeo Macapagal, he was introduced
to Grandmaster Tatang and the Kalis Ilustrisimo system.
The name “Tatang” is
a Filipino term of respect and endearment meaning
father or mister.
By 1989 he had received countless
hours of one-on-one instruction with Grandmaster
Tatang and, at that
time, his senior instructors. He was awarded full
teaching
accreditation by Grandmaster tatang and Master Diego
and was tasked to disseminate the Ilustrisimo system.
Eskrimador
Floro is the most senior Kalis Ilustrisimo representative
in Australia today and stays closely
connected to his friends and mentors still in the
Philippines. Together they maintain the integrity
of Kalis Ilustrisimo
worldwide.
He is also a 3rd Degree Black Belt in
the late Edgar Suliite ’s “Lameco Eskrima” and
a Black Belt in Sagasa (Filipino kick-boxing)
but his
true love is Ilustrisimo. Ilustrisimo is a martial
art complete in itself and easy to learn and
as such Kalis Ilustrisimo is also a perfectly complimentary
system. With his teaching preference to be one-on-one
or small groups, it is possible to gain an understanding
of the system in about three months or so. Of
course
mastery then comes according to individual efforts.
He was involved in the Guardian Angels – Australia
where he led and coordinated foot patrols through
out Sydney. He was responsible for the training of
patrol
members. He establish training schedules and
techniques suitable for restraint and arrest for patrol
purposes
and was involved with community projects such
as crime awareness and prevention in schools. His mission
was
to provide realistic “street” effective
defence and restraint techniques that was easy
to learn, so that Guardian Angels members would
be “Patrol
Qualified” in the minimum amount of time.
One of his achievements was the establishment
of a teaching curriculum that was
adopted as the standard requirement for Guardian
Angels patrol
members.
As a result of the simple brilliance
of Kalis Ilustrisimo and the generous “no secrets” approach
by Eskrimador Floro, many of his students are
instructors running successful schools who have added
Ilustrisimo
to complement their own arts. Several of these
instructors enjoying the extra training are AMAHOF
also.
His mission
is to spread the art of Kalis Ilustrisimo in
Australia by making it an ‘open’ martial
art so that all martial artists irrespective of their
Martial Art
style can learn this weapons based art. This
is achieved via seminars for martial arts clubs across
the board,
and private one-on-one teaching aimed at Martial
Arts Instructors. Instructors can add Kalis Ilustrisimo
weapons seminars to their curriculum as complement
to their existing teachings, rather than see
it as
a competitor.
He was personally accredited by the late Grandmaster
Edgar Sulite (Founder of Lameco Eskrima)
and assisted him in several of his printed books. |
