Martial Arts Instructor Profile

Gold Belt Wing Chun, Blue Belt BJJ.

1995

Random High School and University Sports basketball, rugby, tennis and alpine skiing. Martial arts background totalled 2-3 judo classes in a country school hall in 1986 and a single Wushu class in 1988.

When I started I was a University student recovering from a knee reconstruction after tearing my Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) and I was struggling to rehabilitate and find flexibility. My brother trained at RBKF and told me there was a good stretching routine. I enjoyed the stretching, and quickly was more flexible than I’d ever been before and then regularly forgot which knee had the reconstruction. I also enjoyed training in an art with such deep history. After training for 5 years I allowed work, relationships and travel interrupt my training. Then I was warmly welcomed back to RKBF in 2011 with a different personal attitude and motivation, I was a husband and a father. I asked myself: who do I want to be for my family and for myself in the future? RBKF combined the world class fitness and martial arts training with the right mix of challenge, friendly competition and comradery that motivated to step up my training and embed it as an essential part of my weekly routine.

Training is a metaphor for life. Challenges felt in day to day life often find a parallel on the training mat. The same techniques, attitudes, work ethic and philosophies that are used to solve problems in martial arts can be applied across my personal and work lives.

It’s a privilege to share my experience. If I can give students the opportunity to find their own martial arts potential and discover the positive effects this can have on their own personal, work and community lives, then I have done my part in ensuring this unique art endures and will continue to evolve.

Like our own Sifu Rick Spain I respect martial artists that are willing to learn and evolve themselves and their styles. In Australia, John Will has supported the entire Martial Arts community from his originally Silat and most notably his Brazillian Jiu Jitsu heritage. More well known and enduring would be Bruce Lee, his fusion of physical conditioning, technique and philosophy set the standard in evolution of mixed forms of martial arts.

Start now. There’s no better time to challenge yourself and feel the immediate satisfaction of moving yourself forward.