Ancient Sport of Kali Gains New Followers

The martial art known as kali was spawned 11 centuries ago in the Philippines and was firmly established by the time the Spanish conquistadores reached the islands in the 16th Century.

Three to five times a week, Mark Mikita, 26, and Burt Richardson, 24, shoulder their athletic bags filled with dull-edged training swords, knives and rattan sticks and head for the serenity of Barnsdall Park, where they practice kali techniques.

Kali embraces a full range of self-defense, from empty-hand combat to the use of various swords, sticks, daggers and knives.

Mikita and Richardson, also tae-kwon-do instructors, say they chose to study kali because its range of techniques provide formidable self-defense in street fighting . . . should it be needed.

The weapons, they say, serve as their tools in gaining physical grace, power, presence, mental discipline and self-assurance.

And kali’s acceptance is growing rapidly in the United States because most of the martial art’s masters are now in this country.

Mikita and Richardson train with kali master Dan Inosanto who honed his martial arts skills under the tutelage of the legendary Bruce Lee, the star of several violent action martial arts movies before his death at the age of 33 in 1973.