In-Person Visayan Style Eskrima Class
Saturdays, 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Malaya Botanicals, Alameda, CA
Join us each Saturday morning for a 2-hour immersive Filipino Martial Arts (FMA) class. Rooted in the legacy of Maestro Sonny Umpad and VSCK Eskrima, this practice blends tradition, movement, and community.
What to Expect:
Warm-ups to build balance, agility, and flow
Hands-on practice with weapons and empty-hand applications
Partner drills, flow, and light technical sparring
A welcoming space to learn culture, identity, and holistic practice through martial arts
Who It’s For:
Beginners and seasoned practitioners alike. No prior experience required—just bring curiosity and an open mind.
Classes are held inside Malaya Botanicals, a Filipina-owned wellness space dedicated to community and healing.
Enroll Now
☆
Enroll Now ☆
VSCK Membership
Learn at your own pace with video-on-demand courses. You’ll have access to the instructor, monthly seminars, in-person classes and more. Get access to all of the curriculum courses, including the Pendulum, single and double baston, pinuti, larga mano, pangamot, sikaran, and much more!
Teaching methodology
Fighting is messy and chaotic. As your trainer, I help you see what is happening, teach you the skills to fight, and coach you to transfer those skills into live applications.
THE ROOTED SCHOOL — CURRICULUM PATH
A journey of skill, culture, and embodied movement.
Training at The Rooted School is a spiral of refinement, not a linear climb. Students revisit the same principles with deeper understanding, better timing, and greater composure as they move through five levels of maturity in both skill and cultural responsibility.
LEVEL 1 — INITIATE
Orientation • Awareness • Foundation
You begin by learning to see—lines, angles, rhythm, distance. This level builds grounding and early defensive architecture.
As an Initiate of VSCK, you step into a lineage, learning to approach the art with humility, attention, and an open mind.
LEVEL 2 — STEWARD
Consistency • Responsibility • Flow
You move from awareness to reliable action. Timing sharpens, movement becomes steadier, and structure stays intact while you move.
As a Steward of VSCK, you take responsibility for your training and begin caring for the art through consistent practice and clean movement.
LEVEL 3 — CUSTODIAN
Adaptation • Creativity • Resilience
Training becomes alive. You adapt in real time—changing angles, adjusting rhythm, responding creatively without losing structure.
As a Custodian of VSCK, you carry the art with care, applying its principles faithfully while learning to express them with your own voice.
LEVEL 4 — GUARDIAN
Control • Leadership • Strategy
You guide the exchange, not just respond to it. You control pace, distance, and rhythm with calm precision while supporting newer students.
As a Guardian of VSCK, you protect the art—preserving its integrity, embodying its discipline, and leading by example.
LEVEL 5 — KEEPER
Embodiment • Integration • Transmission
The art becomes part of your movement, timing, and presence. Expression becomes intuitive and refined.
As a Keeper of VSCK, you embody the lineage—integrating culture, skill, and purpose, and becoming a carrier of the art for the next generation.
THE HEART OF THE JOURNEY
Across all levels, training cultivates:
Clarity — seeing more, reacting less
Timing — moving with intention, not force
Flow — staying adaptable under pressure
Confidence — grounded movement, calm presence
Connection — to culture, community, and self
This path is not just about learning to fight.
It is about identity, wellness, responsibility, and carrying forward Filipino martial knowledge with integrity.
You can purchase individual courses if you’re not ready to commit to a membership. For absolute beginners to FMA and martial arts in general, I highly suggest receiving guidance from a membership. If you’re more advanced and want to learn specific VSCK concepts to add to your fight game, these courses are perfect.
The stretches are intended to warm you up and, more importantly, teach you to evade, get off the centerline, and take an angle. The stretches and postures will also get your body acclimated to the various body angulations used in VSCK.
The Pendulum is the oscillation of forward and backward movement. Cooperatively recycling your entries and exits. Learning timing and range. Learning on to be on beat so we can later break the beat. All of our training mounts onto The Pendulum. You can do the Pendulum with or without a partner
The single baston 1 class will cover the basic 5 strikes and blocks we primarily use in the system. We'll also show you the footwork, how to move with your strikes, and how to evade. The focus here will be on mechanics and precision, not power and speed just yet. At the end of the class, you will be able to trade strikes and apply blocks.
Swordplay
Larga Mano 1
Pangamot
