Tuesday, July 22, 2008 Lady fighter spars with boys to hone skills
IF you think Arnis and the World Eskrima Kali Arnis Federation Championships is only for the burly men or the small but swift Filipinos who are deadly with the rattan sticks, think again.
Australian Tamara Delorenzi belies that concept and this 19-year-old beauty from Queensland doesn’t need a knight in shining armor to rescue her in tricky situations, she only needs her arnis sticks, or minus that, her bare hands.
After all, she has a gold medal in the Wekaf World Championships in Florida in 2006 and a first dan black belt in Sikaran Martial arts, a form of karate.
“I grew up with rough sports like karate,” Tamara said in an interview with Sun.Star Cebu at the Doce Pares headquarters in Sto Niño Village, Banilad.
The electrician’s apprentice from Queensland first started holding arnis sticks at the age of 15 years old—after getting influenced by her father Gabriel who is also a practicioner of the Filipino martial arts—five years after starting her karate training at 10.
Instead of hanging out with friends in malls and bars, like what the usual teenagers do, Tamara hangs around in the gym with her trainer and former world champion Yvonne Trigila twice a day on weekdays and every weekend to improve her skills in eskrima.
The training paid off with her gold in the forms competition during the last Wekaf World Championships in Florida, and this time, the head-turner is joining the sparring competition.
Incursion
And to prepare for her first incursion in sparring, Delorenzi, is facing male sparring partners, both in Australia or here.
Though part of the reason would be the lack of lady eskrima practitioners in Australia, facing male sparring partners is what coach Trigila, who is a world champion, has mastered.
Among the men she has faced in Cebu are four-time world champion Val Pableo, Gerald Cañete, and 2004 Junior world champion Cesario Perez..
“Her footwork and speed are good and she has an advantage because of her height and age,” said Perez, who will be competing for the RP team this year again.
Aside from her skills, Tamara also possesses unmatched courage and a little bit of that mean streak because she doesn’t worry about the pain the rattan sticks make.
“No I don’t care about getting hurt as long as I hurt them in return. I like beating people up,” she said. (EKA)
