Why Team Invictus?

In 2024 Tarran’s dad Neil suggestedwe should have a team name and logo, to which I replied “We already have a team name, we’re Family Martial Arts…..ok what do you have in mind?”

“Well you know the Kent county council Invictus horse?”

“Yea”

“We could have the horse holding Eskrima sticks” to which we all laughed and moved on with the lesson.

At first I was reluctant to change the name of the team, not wanting to disrespect Family Martial Arts. So I dismissed the idea and moved on, that was until I was forced to take some time off to recover from surgerylast year. I had a lot of time to think and reevaluate everything. A friend had recently shown me how to prompt A.I. so I started messing around with an Invictus logo. I finally settled on the Family Martial Arts Team Invictus logo that we now use.

• The word Invictus means unconquered and undefeated, Bruce Lee said  “Defeat is a state of mind; no one is ever defeated until defeat has been accepted as a reality”. It was only through Bruce Lee’s art (Jeet Kune Do) I was first exposed to Filippino stick fighting.

• Two of the five tenants of Taekwondo are perseverance (to never give up), and Indominable sprit (an inner belief in yourself that only grows in spite of other people’s doubts or put downs).

• Our stick fighting lineage/style is Cacoy Canete Doce Pares. Initially I was purely teaching it, how I was taught. I was mainly taught Corto Curbada (no armour close quarters stick fighting). My competition stick fighting experience was relatively low, when I started the class. At the first British stick fighting tournament we took part in.We were great at close range but terrible at mid to long range mainly do to my lack of experience. But also because in the G.S.B.A. (Global Stick and Blade Alliance) they favour 4 second engagementsbefore fighters break apart and then start again.This is to make it easier for spectators and judges to see/understand what’s going on in the match. This is opposed to the all in never back down style of fighting I took part in, in the Philippines. So I decided to completely change how I was teaching the class.I did this by only focusing on improving reaction time to defend without thought, including incorporating taekwondo footwork, and Cacoy Doce Pares flare. This was a new hybrid created in Gravesend Kent, influenced by styles and systems from around the world. It only took 6 months of the students and myself adopting and training in this way before we started winning and doing really well in stick fighting tournaments.
• Cacoy Canete was a fighter at heart.He was the top fighter for the world famous Doce Pares school of Filippino Martial arts. It was his job to fight and win, to prove without a doubt that the Doce Pares system was the best. He took part in and won over 100 challenge matches. He never refused a match/fight. It is in this sprit that our team aspires. We will take matches from any stick fighting style in any age or weight category. We might not always win but we will always fight with a smile on our faces.

• The logo is silly and playful, with a slight edge. As and instructor it’s really important to me that my students are gracious in defeat, respectful in victory, are entertaining and more than anything enjoy what they are doing. We don’t take ourselves too seriously, but we seriously love the fight.

It is for these reasons that the new Team Invictus logo perfectly encapsulates us. It honours the school because it’s “Family Martial Art’s” Team Invictus. It represents our Jeet Kune Do and Taekwondo roots. We fight with the ethos and flare of the Cacoy Canete Doce Pares style. The Invictus horse reflects where we’re from and where the style originated, and the cartoonish figure reflects our playful nature.