Rob Herdert
Free gun star
SPOTHIVANIA, VA (AP)-Amante Marinas, who grew up in the Philippines, was fascinated by watching his uncle practice martial arts.
At the age of 8, Marina began to learn the movements and forms of long pole martial arts. While working with his uncle, he began to believe that this kind of exercise is important for his body and mind.
Marinas is now 81 years old, and when the weather is good, he will exercise in his Spotsylvania County backyard for three to four hours. There, he deliberately practiced unarmed combat, as well as martial arts with long and short sticks, throwing knives, axes, blowguns, and bows and arrows.
As a chemical engineer, his discipline and professional ethics mean that he not only exercises every day, but also records the time spent every minute—and every knife, axe, and arrow shot into the target.
“I have thrown nearly 1.5 million knives and used 800,000 blowguns,” he said.
Marinas moved from his home country to New York City in 1973 and switched from his uncle’s long shot training to other fighting styles using different weapons. He taught himself these new subjects, looking for any resources that could help him complete his teaching journey.
“I learned how to throw a knife in the basement of Staten Island,” he said. “There, I had to throw my side arm out so that it wouldn’t hit the ceiling.
Soon after, he started teaching others who were attracted by his exercises at Flushing Meadows Park in Queens. Since moving to the area in 1997, his seven martial arts books have been published, which detail the Filipino martial arts styles that were not fully covered before. They include “Throwing Art”, “Blow Gun Technique” and “Beginner Archery”.
Marinas continues to teach pananandata’s private lessons, which he said is a combat system in Luzon in the central Philippines.
He has published more than 100 articles in martial arts magazines, some of which are photos of him and his son, New York City police detective Jr. Amant.
I recently visited Marinas at his house, where he showed me the workout and practice stations he created in the backyard. He used hanging wooden blocks and large soda bottles as targets for long poles and short sticks, and safely hid targets for knives, axes, and arrows around the yard.
“The notes I leave while studying and practicing each subject are invaluable for writing a book,” he said. “After the first one or two, I have understood the process.”
Marinas said that once he moved to Spotsylvania County—his sons attended Mary Washington University, and he has other relatives in the area—he heard that he was teaching martial arts, and students came to him.
“I now teach one or two students at a time, right in my backyard,” he said. “Most of my students are some type of retired military officer, one is a retired sheriff, the other is a U.S. Army veterinarian, and the other is a retired air marshal.”
He has been teaching and writing because he likes to impart what he has learned and because he has been lonely since his wife died of cancer a few years ago. He also likes the company.
His students call him “Po”, which is a tribute to the elderly in the Philippines, and he doesn’t just treat them as students.
“I treat them as friends and look forward to their study,” he said.
He has taught some students for a long time—a woman has been with him since 2000.
Marinas said that he has a group of air police to learn to use retractable batons, and a sheriff who wants to learn disarming techniques-all these skills are in his martial arts cab.
“We had a great time because I sometimes challenged them and told them that if they had four knives in a row, I would ask them to drink coffee,” he said with a smile. “Then they came back to me and asked me if two hits would get them half a cup.”
He even designed his own flying knife style, and said that he still has several completed manuscripts, and he also wants to publish about his fighting style and weapons that he has not fully covered.
“I want to publish 20 books. I’m still about half a dozen books away,” he said. “I hope this will work, but if my finished manuscripts are not published, I will leave them to my grandchildren. I love writing and it keeps me sharp.”
