Born and raised in Manila. Shaun Porter started martial arts when he was eleven years old.

He got interested in Arnis at fourteen when there was an Arnis demonstration at his school (in Manila). Shaun would train with the sticks with a school friend who was a couple of years older than him. They practiced blocking, striking and techniques.

He later studied some Chinese and

Korean systems. But his real Arnis education began when he was living in Manila. Shaun was fortunate enough to be living very close to Master Agripino Mayuga. Master Mayuga was Grandmaster Ben L. Lema's senior student.
 

Shaun was soon introduced to Mang Ben and began his Arnis studies; traveling, training and teaching with Mang Ben on a daily basis. Mang Ben and Shaun would meet everyday and travel to all the different groups that Mang Ben had in Manila. Sometimes we would travel to the

countryside and stay there for several days doing the same thing, training, training and more training.
 

During these years Shaun had with Mang Ben he learned as much as he could. He

would be with Mang Ben during the day and at night he would write down and practice all the things that he had learnt that day, so he could take on more knowledge the following day. There was often something different to learn.

Mang Ben passed away on January 5, 2003. Maser Shaun Porter misses him