History: GM Nick Elizar and Nickelstick Balintawak Eskrima

After more than 20 years of faithfully representing Teovel’s Balintawak Group, under the White Chapter, Nick Elizar finally decided to establish his own club. In April, 2003 the World Nickel Stick Eskrima Club was established in Cebu City, Philippines. Although under a new name, the teaching methods that Nick Elizar uses are still very much the same training methods employed by Jose Villasin and Teofilo Velez. Nick Elizar has been teaching Balintawak since the 1970s. He is known as both a fighter and a good teacher. Nick Elizar has garnered respect from various eskrimadors in Cebu and throughout the Philippines. His establishment of the World Nickel Stick Eskrima Club has since been supported by many, friends and eskrimadors alike. It is the intention of Nick Elizar to continue to propagate the art of Balintawak in the Philippines and also to the rest of the World.

Balintawak History

(wikipedia)

History 

 

In 1932, the Doce Pares Club was formed, composed of eskrimadors from the Saavedra and the Cañete family. This was headed by Lorenzo Saavedra. Venancio Bacon was among the first members of the Doce Pares Club and became one of its best fighters. According to an interview in Bladed Hand, a Filipino documentary about Filipino martial arts, Grandmaster Ciriaco "Cacoy" Cañete said that Bacon was among the best fighters in the Doce Pares Club, second only to "Doring" Saavedra.

Bacon eventually left the Doce Pares Club, citing skepticism of the system's combat effectiveness. Per information provided by T. Buot, the reason why V. Bacon did not rejoin the Doces Pares group as he felt that his alone vote would not have any weight against the Canete family. In the 1950s, together with Delfin López Timoteo Maranga and others, Bacon established a new club, calling it the Balintawak Street Self-Defense Club. The newly formed club started training in the backyard of a watch shop owned by Eduardo Baculi, one of Bacon’s students, in the titular street, a small side street in the Colon St. area.