Dear TrainKali Family,

I’ve been sitting with a lot of gratitude lately, and I wanted to put it into words—because my journey in PTK with TrainKali has shaped me in ways that go far beyond what I can do with a stick or how fast I can move my feet.

Click on this picture to go to TrainKali website.

I first started training back in 2018. Before I ever stepped onto the mat, I was searching—really searching. I wanted something Filipino to train in, something that could connect me back to my roots in a way that wasn’t just intellectual or surface-level. I wasn’t looking for a hobby. I was looking for a bridge. Something I could sweat in, struggle through, and grow inside of—something that would make my heritage feel alive in my hands and in my body.

Mom and Dad visited one of the seminars.

And I found that through PTK.

Mastery Camp Promotion 2022. Tuhon Rich, Me, Guro Court, and Tuhon Mel.

But what I didn’t expect was that while I was looking for a connection to my roots… I would find a family instead at TrainKali.

When I first started training under Tuhon Rich, it was not easy—like, at all. 😂 Those first months were humbling in the most honest way. The first five months felt like a complete whirlwind of jab drills and bear crawls. I came in thinking I was going to learn technique and flow, and instead I got introduced to discipline the hard way. It felt like my body was constantly catching up to my mind, and my mind was constantly catching up to my ego.

Mataas Na Guro Dominic was my first training partner in 2018.

There were days I left class completely smoked. Days I questioned if I was even cut out for this. Days where I had to laugh at myself because I couldn’t believe how hard something so “simple” could be. But even then, something kept pulling me back. There was something real in the training—something that demanded honesty, consistency, and humility. PTK didn’t ask me to pretend. It asked me to show up as I was… and then show up again.

December 2018 Yakan Isa Promotion with Rudolph and Kerry.

As time went on, I realized the training wasn’t just building skill. It was building character. It was teaching me how to stay steady when I wanted to quit, how to keep moving when I felt behind, and how to trust the process even when progress felt invisible.

But the truth is… what made the biggest impact on me wasn’t only what happened on the mat. It was what happened outside of it.

One of the many park sessions with Greg and Marie. Yakan Dalawa fun 2019-2020.

Because TrainKali isn’t just a place where people train together. It’s a place where people learn how to be with each other—how to build a culture, how to build trust, and how to build a group dynamic that feels like home. What made me stay wasn’t only the training. It was the people and the culture TrainKali created around the training.

The moments that shaped me most were the in-between moments—the ones you can’t really plan for but somehow become the most meaningful:

the conversations before and after class
the laughs that break the tension after a brutal session
the way people check on each other without needing a reason
the encouragement that comes from someone who knows exactly how hard it is because they’re doing it too

And honestly, it’s all the coladas we’ve consumed in between everything. Those small pauses became part of the rhythm of training—little cups of sweetness between the hard work. It sounds funny, but it’s true: those moments mattered. They weren’t just “break time.” They were culture-building time. That’s where trust forms without anyone forcing it. That’s where bonds get stronger without needing a big event to prove it.

After one of the many outings after seminar. Some how we always end up on the parking lot floor.

It’s also all the lunches we’ve bonded over—where rank and drills don’t matter, where we talk story, where you see people as people. Where you learn someone’s background, their goals, their personality outside of “training mode.” Where you realize you’re surrounded by people choosing the same difficult path—and doing it with heart.

Even without talking about the trips we’ve gone on—because those deserve their own separate thank you—I still feel like the true magic is the everyday stuff. The consistent stuff. The normal moments that become sacred when you look back: training, laughing, eating, sweating, struggling, improving… together.

So I want to say thank you.

Thank you to Tuhon Rich for the standard you set—especially in the beginning when it felt like I was drinking from a firehose. Thank you for pushing us past comfort and into growth, even when it’s messy and even when it’s hard. That kind of leadership doesn’t just create skilled students—it creates grounded people.

Guro Alyson , Marie and I in one of the trips up to TrainKali.

And thank you to the TrainKali crew for being part of my story since 2018. To the past, to the present, and to the future , thank you for the patience, the jokes, the encouragement, the accountability, the time, and the presence. Thank you for being the kind of group that doesn’t just “train together,” but actually builds something real together.