12 October 2016 —Nearly 200 students of Modern Arnis trained in Dortmund from September 23 – 25 under Modern Arnis Grandmasters from the Philippines, Germany and the United States in this year’s biggest gathering of Arnis practitioners in Europe.
The aptly named “East Meets West” Modern Arnis Training Camp was organized by the German Arnis Association (Deutscher Arnis Verband). The DAV is the largest Arnis association in Germany with a 2,500-strong membership.
Consul Rona Beth Goce of the Philippine Embassy in Berlin attended the black belt presentation ceremony on September 24. The highest black belt (10th Degree) was awarded to German Arnis Grandmaster Dieter Knüttel reflecting 30 years of dedication to mastering Modern Arnis. The DAV thanked Consul Goce for taking part in the ceremony, presenting the black belts and showing the Embassy’s support for Modern Arnis in Germany.
Modern Arnis is a martial arts and self-defense system founded by Remy Presas. His stated goal was to “create an injury-free training method as well as an effective self-defense system in order to preserve the older Arnis systems.”
There are currently only six Grandmasters who have the 10th Degree Black Belt in Modern Arnis, five of them are from the Philippines, the sixth is DAV Chief Instructor Dieter Knüttel. Three out the six Grandmasters were in Germany for the training camp. END
