INTERVIEW WITH GRAND MASTER JEFF DELANEY BY MASTER WILLIE WILSON


1. Grand Master Delaney you were training in Kung Fu, why did you
choose Modern Arnis to continue your training?

Answer:  Chinese Martial Arts, especially the internal arts, are
very difficult, take a long time to master and require endless hours 
of forms practice. I had been doing Tai Chi, Hsing-I and Baqua for
a while but never felt like I could make it work in the real world. 
When I met Professor Presas he was able to show me how to make
it work now.  Modern Arnis had very little emphasis on forms and
concentrated on drills with a partner that conditioned movements
and responses that allowed me to make my techniques work in real
time.  It was also a lot of fun.

2. Training with the founder of the system of Modern Arnis, 
what was it like?

Answer:  It was very painful.  You learn by feel in Modern Arnis
and I felt and learned a lot.

3. Master Delaney, you train with Professor Lisa McManus and she
helps with the camps, is this a big help in training women in this art?

Answer:  Professor McManus is a big help in training anyone in the
martial arts and it empowers people when they see a small woman 
throwing big guys around. They might even start to believe that they
can actually do it themselves. What a wonderful concept.  Professor
McManus had to learn not to rely on brute strength but on maximizing
the leverage and power of her body.  In Modern Arnis this is done 
with foot work, body positioning and sensitivity.

4. We consider Modern Arnis an art that can be weaved into almost
any art, what makes that so?

Answer:  Modern arnis is not based on static technique, stances or
tension. It is based on the ability to flow with the energy of a technique
regardless of who supplies that energy. The basic movements are the
same as any other art so of course they seem familiar.  In some ways
Modern Arnis is like a game of chess because we learn to think several 
moves ahead of our opponent by learning basic movements and positions 
that automatically flow into an advantageous position where our
techniques have a higher percentage of actually working.

5. What can a person that never trains in Modern Arnis expect in the
first camp?

Answer: He or she can expect to have a lot of fun, learn a lot of great
martial art techniques, make a lot of new friends and become a valued
contributor to the Modern Arnis family.

6. Being the successor to a great system like Modern Arnis, and following 
the founders, has that been overwhelming?

Answer: Not at all. It is all about sharing information openly and honestly
and helping each other get where we want to go. There is almost nothing
in Modern Arnis that you can practice or work on by yourself which means 
that your training partner is the most important part of the equation. If we 
concentrate on helping our partner train and be successful we will get the
same and more in return. This means we leave our ego at the door when
we train, open our eyes wide and concentrate on learning and understanding 
as much as we can.

7. How many camps do you do a year and where is the farthest in location?

Answer:   We do five camps a year in San Antonio, Texas; Knoxville, Tennessee; 
Manchester, New Hampshire and Detroit, Michigan.

8. There are many different systems of Arnis, how do you rate Modern Arnis
to others and why?

Answer: To be honest, I haven’t trained seriously in any other Filipino systems
so I’m probably not the best person to answer that question.  I do know that 
Modern Arnis specializes in close range combat with a heavy emphasis on 
trapping and locking

9. Grand Master Delaney, you do have tapes on Modern Arnis, can you tell 
us how to order them?

Answer: We currently have twenty two video tapes available. They can be 
ordered through our web site at www.professorpresas.com