Pencak Silat Global, United States Has Important Andil

Pencak Silat di Amerika Serikat sudah berkembang luas, siap mendukung mencapai Olimpiade (Instagram/@usasportsilat).

JAKARTA Pencak silat is one of the martial arts that has a long history. According to several scripts, this martial art has been taught structured since the sixth century.

The traditional Indonesian martial arts combined with this dance has gained wider attention in films over the past few years.

On Thursday, December 12, 2019, pencak silat was recognized as an inigen world heritage by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

The UNESCO General Assembly announced that pencak silat was included in the Humanitarian Intangible Cultural Heritage Representative List at its meeting in Bogota, Colombia.

Over time, pencak silat has become one of the sports that has started to be competed in international events. Especially since the International Pencak Silat Federation (IPSF) or better known as Persilat (Persekuan Pencak Silat Antar Bangsa) was founded on March 11, 1980, pencak silat stole the eyes of the world.

Currently, the international governing body of the pencak silat competition chaired by Prabowo Subianto already has 66 federations or member states spread across various continents.

The United States has taken an important part in the journey of pencak silat. The United States Sport Silat Association (USSSA) is the United States pencak silat federation which officially became a member of Persilat in 2019.

How the United States wants to take an important role in developing pencak silat so that it is better known in the eyes of the world is told directly by the President of USSSA, Jacob Richter, in a special interview with VOI.id online.

Jacob Richter's interest in bringing pencak silat to Uncle Sam's country actually 30 years ago when he met his friend from Surabaya who moved to the United States.

We started chatting and finally we traveled back and forth (Indonesia-United States). At that time, it was much cheaper to spend time in Java than it is now.

"So, the most interesting part about pencak silat for me is the harmony of movement. This is more than just martial arts. Actually, the way we explain it in English is holistic."

So, you have aspects of self-defense, but what goes deeper is the meaning behind it. You are truly a servant who will guide and help others.

That is the goal of pencak silat traditionally. Formation of this sport in the United States, we became part of the formation of this sport in its early days. In 1980 establishing Persilat with the four countries, we decided to join in 2019, at the end of 2018 to be exact.

"That's where we continue to grow and develop. The United States is fascinated by Indonesian culture. They are fascinated by pencak silat because I think the two are the same, I prefer to share it with the world," said Jacob Richter.

It has been six years since the USSSA was established, the development of pencak silat in the United States has been relatively massive. Half of the total state in Uncle Sam's country has a pencak silat federation.

Jacob Richter said there are currently around 26 federations or states that are members of the USSSA.

Of course, we have the only pencak silat management agency, namely the United States Sports Silat Association. However, there are 50 states in the United States.

"Of that number of states, 26 states have become members. Within that group, there are at least 25 pecak silat universities spread across the United States," he said.

So many athletes here. Every year, we continue to grow. Although relatively unknown in Western culture, they don't realize that pencak silat is used in films, such as by Disney and so on.

They didn't realize where it came from. So, we experienced very rapid growth with half the state joining the organization (USSSA). There are 26 states that are members, in which there are at least 25 universities.

So, in every college, there are many variations, some universities may have only 10 or 20 athletes. Some have 100 athletes. So, varying.

For the United States national team, we currently have a junior level with four teams for all classes. For seniors, we have all the classes, except for a few smaller classes. Believe it or not, 45 and 40 kilograms are a little more difficult to fill in the United States. Only in the women's category is easier."

"So for us to fill a smaller class is more difficult than a tougher class, that's for sure," said Jacob Richter again.

Rows of Achievements

Although still as long as corn, USSSA has given birth to various achievements at the international level. The motivation to continue to develop global pencak silat is the basis for them to produce competitive athletes in international events.

Since he first became a member of Persilat (IPSF) in 2019, USSSA immediately held the first National Championship which was attended by the then Indonesian Minister of Youth and Sports.

A total of 17 member states took part in the National Championship, which was attended by around 150 athletes from various categories.

That's very early in the development of this sport. We have changed the rules over time. Rules always change on the way to the Olympics.

"So, we did the first tournament approved in 2019 with 150 athletes. Then, we broadcast it on television. We broadcast it live through unadverted streaming."

"Apparently, there were more than 20,000 spectators at the time, which was obviously pretty good in the West at the time. Then, we've also had a lot of tournaments. We brought the team of pioneers to Belgium and we got some bronze medals in Belgium."

We held the first open festival at the IPSI Padepokan (Indonesian Pencak Silat Ikatan), at Taman Mini Indonesia Indah for the women's team. We did well there and got some gold medals.

We have competed at the 2022 Pencak Silat World Championships in Malacca, Malaysia. We received a bronze medal there.

"We also just returned from Abu Dhabi where one of our heavyweights won the fastest, less than 50 seconds knockout, and the fight ended with TKO," Jacob Richter said.

Only in 2023, the USSSA finally held its first International Pencak Silat Championship in Colorado Springs, United States. The championship, which was held at the United States Olympic Training Facility (US Olympic Training Facility), received full support.

USSSA does not stop developing pencak silat at the national level of the United States. They continue to be in line to bring pencak silat to be competed in the world's largest international multi-event, the Olympics.