VAC (Visayan Athletic Club) is a martial arts school located in the Toronto area. Master Instructor Robert Cinco leads the club with over 20 years experience teaching in Asia and North America.

Master Robert Cinco

Left to right: Grandmaster Gregrio "GoYong" Ceniza Master Sergio Arcel & Master Ramon Velez

Photo stills from a video of Robert Cinco and Master Sergio Arcel practicing in Cebu.

Master Cinco has over 20 years of experience teaching in Asia and North America in the traditional and practical Chinese and Filipino martial arts. He continues to learn from his masters as he constantly fine-tunes and presses himself for more knowledge in these arts.

VAC Systems Visayan Athletic Club is comprised with three major systems - Balintawak, Tat Kun Tou and Gokosha.

Balintawak: The Balintawak System is amongst the most powerful and famous styles of stick fighting systems created by Grandmaster Venancio Anciong Bacon in the 1940's. The Balintawak system employs the most versatile and combative techniques found in Arnis. Techniques and drills found in this system include stick striking patterns, striking the limbs and other parts of the body, counters, locking, baiting, tripping, pushing, pulling etc.

Photos of Anciong Bacon and Jose Go

Tat Kun Tou: is a modern martial art with Balintawak and Ngo Cho Kun origins. It was created by Grandmaster Jose Go in the 60's.

Grandmaster Jose Go

This style of unarmed combat is characterized by its emphasis on practical self-defense skills. Grandmaster Go combined the knowledge of the many traditional systems of combat along with his lifetime's experiences of street fighting to create this unique system. Tat Kun Tou utilizes the skills of striking, joint locking, kicks etc. to form a style of unarmed combat. It avoids all non-practical moves for direct and combat oriented ones.

A distinctive feature of this combat form is the two person drills that enable its practitioners to gain realistic perceptions and practice of the offensive and defensive techniques of the style.

Although many benefits in health, strength and self-confidence can be derived from its practice, Tat Kun Tou maintains its original focus and objectives, the functional aspects of self-defense. The style's curriculum is structured in a graduated and progressive manner and thus its practice is suitable for both genders and for people of all ages.

Gokosha: Gokosha is a style developed by late Grandmaster Jose Go. Deemed as an abstract system of martial art because of its lack of parry or blocks, it relies heavily on distance, centerline and broken rhythms. The foundations of Gokosha are;

• flexibility of torso and contraposto (counter posture)
• shifting of the body weight
• agile footwork

Practitioners of Gokosha labeled this system as cerebral fighting or "conscious" style of fighting. Master Instructor Robert Cinco will cover Gokosha to advanced students of either Balintawak or Tat Kun Tou.

All systems are taught as individual arts in a classical format (basic to advanced levels) just as it was taught to Master Instructor Cinco. All are practiced as a two man set with a senior student personally supervised by Master Instructor Cinco.

• 1. Master Cinco initiates the attack.
• 2. Del blocks and counters.
• 3. Master Cinco blocks and executes the snake from his left hand.
• 4. Master Cinco tries to strike (or feints) with his stick.
• 5. Del blocks, Master Cinco left hand still in snake position.
• 6. Master Cinco grabs Del's blocking wrist locking both arms.
• 7. Master Cinco 's stick hand is free to strike.

VAC Sunday Morning Class From left: Rolando Lampitoc, Joby Garcia, Robert Cinco, Alfredo Cinco and Delroy Richards

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