My actual first impressions came on a motorcycle ride.

I’m riding on some back roads between the south side of Austin and the north side of Buda (a small but growing town just south of Austin… I’ll bet in 10 years it will be “south Austin”). There’s an intersection where 2 “farm roads” meet and you can tell they’re wanting to grow the intersection for business. It starts with a large Shell gas station and the building has the typical gas station convenience store but also another storefront. Warriors Edge Martial Arts. Hrm… what’s this? Now, I only pulled in there because well… I forget exactly why, either needing gas or I needed to look at my bike for some reason. But I noticed the place, thought it was interesting that there was a school “in the middle of nowhere” like this. I noted it down so I could look it up when I got home.

I did look it up and the place seemed interesting. I bookmarked their website and went on with life, but did find myself occasionally drawn back to their site for whatever reason. Filipino martial arts (FMA) has an appeal to me, and it’s one of the few places teaching FMA in the Austin area. In addition to Kali, they teach a lot of stand up (western boxing, Muay Thai, Jeet Kune Do, Silat) and there’s ground stuff too (BJJ). It looked like it could provide me what I’m after. So when I made my decision to leave Kuk Sool, I researched the place, tried to gather what I could about the school owner, Ray Parra. All signs were pointing to it being a solid and legit place, good people, good instruction, no McDojo, no b.s.. I like.

So I went to go check the place out. I wanted to go in and just watch a class, see if I could talk with some people there, ask questions and see what I could see.

I arrived on a Monday evening just as their open mat time was starting. There were 2 guys already on the mat doing some BJJ work. Another guy was stretching, and Ray Parra was also getting warmed up. When I walked in, the atmosphere hit me as well… likable. The place was a good size, certainly large enough to hold classes and move around. Most of the floor was a big mat, which was good. Mirrors on one wall. A large frame structure on another part of the gym that suspending heavy bags, speed bags, and other boxing gear. Various Wavemasters in place. Stacks of pads. Weapons. All the usual trappings. Plus the school does have kid programs and you can see all the usual trappings of kid martial arts programs (hey, kid MA makes money and you gotta make money to keep a school open; Guro Ray later told me that he doesn’t do anything with the kid program, but it keeps the business running). But the place came across like a good gym, nothing too slick, but all the necessary equipment. I also dug that there was a stereo blasting music, in this case some Led Zeppelin but later on some Disturbed and Metallica.

I spoke with Mr. Parra for a little bit, asked various questions, he was friendly and gave me all the time I wanted, no rushing. I stayed for a bit and watched the open mat work for a while, but as it was just an open session I left, went to Cabela’s for a bit, then returned in time to watch a structured class. This particular class was a stand up class, working on JKD, Muay Thai, and some FMA empty hand work, focusing on drills. I like how the school structures things: on this day at this time this particular thing is worked. It enables you to know what to expect when you get to class, plus if you want to work on something specific you can know to come to that class. For instance, Wednesday 5:30 PM is the open sparring class, that Monday class I watched was focused on stand-up drills. My understanding is the school is essentially divided into two tracks: stand-up and ground work. You’re welcome to do whatever you want in whatever way you want to do it. But as it breaks down for payment, stand-up track is one payment, ground track is another payment, but if you do both then a combined price. I won’t reprint the cost, but it was most reasonable and certainly competitive with other schools in the area.

In watching the actual class I liked how they did things. Guro Parra would explain and demonstrate a drill, then the students would perform the drill, I think for either 3 or 5 minute “rounds” then switch off with their partner. They were various striking drills, hands, elbows, knees, kicks, even some clinch and takedown. One thing I noticed was of the people in class, everyone did things a bit differently. One guy was striking like a boxer, another with a vertical fist (a la Jeet Kune Do, Wing Chun), another with open palms. I asked about this and the intent is to allow people to explore their own styling. When Guro Parra was watching and correcting people, he was correcting them on principles and minding the drills and some specifics of technique, but it wasn’t a nit-pick and rigid technique adherence. That was alright.

As I watched, I was so tempted to kick off my shoes and get on the mat. That’s a good sign, but I had to mind myself and just watch. I wanted to see how they ran everything, and really I liked how it was done. I liked the fact there was direct instruction from Guro Parra. I liked that he himself was on the mat and working out. I don’t know how old he is, but seeing him during the open mat time and mixing it up with another student was really cool.

I also spoke with some other students there and of course while it’s a bit biased to ask a current and returning customer what they think of a place (if it sucks, they wouldn’t be there… so it’s difficult to get negative opinions), it was still nice to see that the folks there were friendly and open and devoid of ego.

I also liked how some of it would fit into life. The cost is reasonable. Terms are reasonable (monthly payments). Just wear a t-shirt and shorts and bare feet, no massive equipment investment necessary (tho certainly I’ll want to get some things as I go along). I’d start off with the stand-up classes, so that means Monday and Wednesday evenings, and it’s not too late at night. Not too far away, not too much of a drive.

Bottom line: I liked what I saw. I resolved to go back on Wednesday and try out the weapons class.