The story of the form The Hidden Stick

 

The form is a Bando form that I acquired at the 1984 Bando Summer Camp held in Maryland. While there I made friends with an instructor and as he saw me practicing the Bando form The Horsemans Form, he was impressed that I knew it. In turn he gave me 2 of his brown belts and told them to teach the form to me.

So, for 2 hours I went through learning the form step by step. Along with the techniques they showed me how they would be applied. Then as the camp broke up, diving home to Scranton, I kept going over the form move by move as I drove. Then reaching home I did the form, knowing this was my one chance to get it.

I never had further instruction. Later visiting with Reese Rigby, who had learned the form at an earlier camp, I showed him mine then he showed me his.  They were somewhat varied on their techniques. Both of us declared we really liked out own version and remarked we were not going to change.

So, for many years I just worked on it. About 5 years later I realized that the first 1/2 of the form was a good form in itself. So I taught the 1/2 version to my then brown belts.  And they ran with it, and that went extremely.

I later realized the form would work with any weapon in your hands, Bo, Jo, Sai, Tonfa, Knife, Stick, anything even empty hands, of course practice then more practice would be required.

The full version was taught to my advanced black belts.

Hidden Stick Brown Belt version

Dennis Driscoll, Andrew Ware, Tom Chan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNf-QFV-6DM 

Hidden Stick 1.2 techniques applied.

Young Lee and Mike Cassidy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szsZZXdQNGo

 

Paired Hidden Stick

Mike Cassidy Young Lee

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sAsNPCro-M

 The Hidden Stick   

the full version full version I originally learned.

Young Lee

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YINL1XMHdm8

 

I had of course, working with many people, honed myself to get something even when shown one time, and with work though it might not be exactly what I was shown, work and more work would make it mine.

Of course, we might wonder what would have happened if I had a 2nd class? 

Much later I discovered Bando individuals doing the form on YouTube.

Then one day I saw this, a Kukri version.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yfz44yhm_O8

 

Of course I am not Bando, however I might theorize that this was the source form for The Hidden Stick form. Hmmm...............