Poras Jokotole Holland

Early in the eighties Glenn Pennock, a Eurasian living in Holland, came in contact with the Jokotole. At that time Glenn was already master in the pencak silat style Derosemo. This style, originating from Surabaya, resembles the pencak silat styles from Madura strongly. The Jokotole council had just decided to seek international contacts. After three training periods Glenn was allowed to represent the Jokotole in Europe. Among his first students was Paul Rovers, who practised pencak silat since 1976. Paul visited Madura for the first time in 1987 to train in the Jokotole Academy. Several students followed in later years. In 1994 Glenn stopped practising pencak silat and Paul became officially Aliran (carrier of the style) of the Poras Jokotole. He has good contacts with the main academy in Madura and every year Dutch students visit the island for trainings. In 1988 during the Olah raga (competition) in Holland the Dutch Jokotole won the third price as well as the style price. Afterwards the choice was deliberately made not to participate in competitions any more. During the past two years however, the Jokotole has participated in competitions again and has won over fifteen prizes. The main academy of the Jokotole is located in Haarlem. The Jokotole is one of the few academies in Holland to have its own training centre. The Dutch way of teaching is traditional, like in Indonesia. Next