Friday, July 25, 2008 British fighter conquers odds to practice arnis
ANYONE with coordination problems may have a problem doing basic stuff, but for Jacob Stewart, who suffers from dyspraxia, his condition won’t stop him from competing in the Filipino martial art of arnis.
At a young age, Stewart was diagnosed to have a speech problem and dyspraxia, a disorder in which a person has partial loss of the ability to coordinate and perform purposeful movements and gestures in the absence of motor and sensory impairments.
He had a hard time playing football in his hometown of West Yorkshire in U.K. because he couldn’t hit the ball.
However, Stewart saw a session of arnis by Pat O’Malley in his karate lessons in England and that fascinated him to take up the martial art at the age of six.
“I was doing karate and then I saw a private session of Arnis then that drew me to the martial art,” Stewart told Sun.Star Cebu during a lull at the Wekaf world championship yesterday.
At first the 16 year-old British had a difficult time wielding the wooden sticks and hitting the target but with patience, effort and determination he became better and better as each day passed by.
Stewart, who joined the British Arnis team in 2001, believes that this sport has helped him improve his condition.
A clear example of his progress was his gold medal victories in the form category in two Wekaf tournaments in 2004 and 2006.
Stewart is back in the Philippines to compete and hopes to bring pride once again to his country.
Even if he has dyspraxia, Stewart believes that he is as normal as any person can be.
“I don’t think I have a problem,” said Stewart. (EKA)
