Guru ID
mcasto (da Guru since 11/25/2008)
First Name
Mike
Last Name
Casto
City
Louisville
State
KY
Country
United States of America
Description of expertise
I have been involved in martial arts since 1978 and, since 1995, my core training has been in Filipino and Indonesian martial arts.
My primary background is in a system called Sikal which draws heavily from the Inosanto blend but also has influences from Balintawak Cuentada (GM Bobby Taboada), Doce Pares Eskrima (GM Diony Canete), Eskrido (GM Cacoy Canete), Dekiti Tirsia Siradis (GM Jerson "Nene" Tortal), Mande Muda (Pak Herman Suwanda) and the de Thouars family systems of Serak (Pendekar Paul de Thouars and Maha Guru Victor de Thouars) and Kuntao Silat de Thouars (Bapak Willem "Uncle" de Thouars).
I am a 2nd Level Instructor (Guru Dua) in Sikal under Guru Ken Pannell, a 2nd Degree Black Belt in Shen Chuan under Prof. Joe Lansdale a 6th Degree Black Belt in Eskrido under GM Cacoy Canete.
I also had some training in Okinawan Goju-Ryu Karate and Tae Kwon Do. I have also had varying degrees of exposure to various other martial arts from around the world.
Picture
Posing with sticks
Video
Teaching some material from Eskrido
Certificate Picture
Rank Certificates
Certificate Description
Upper Left: Sikal - 2nd Degree Black Sash (Lakan Dalawa/Guru Dua)
Lower Left: Cacoy Doce Pares (Eskrido) - 6th Grade Black Belt (Master)
Upper Right: Shen Chuan - 2nd Dan
Lower Right: Shen Chuan Instructor Certification (in Shen Chuan, a black belt, by itself, does not make one an instructor)
