Archive for month: March, 2010

Another mishap and little setback; this time my motorcycle fell on my foot fracturing a couple of bones whilst wheeling it out of my garage.  The irony is I clock up almost a thousand kilometres per month and something simple like this to happen to you is hard to accept.  Victor came to the rescue (it’s great to have friends like him) and took to me hospital to have it put in plaster.  You take it for granted when you see somebody on crutches.  That is hard work!  You’ve got to pre-plan everything, something as simple as looking for a hair brush or making a cup of coffee in the morning.  Then the hard part, how to use the stairs, YouTube didn’t help; the advantages of living in a double storey house!

When people demonstrate a martial art skill, you may not necessarily want to learn it but it’s usually difficult to appreciate the amount of time put in to learn that skill, not unless you live through the whole process of understanding what it takes to achieve that.  I am living the process right now.

A handicap, such as this, makes you more conscious because you can’t afford to be absentminded which could mean a lot of hard work if you forget where you leave your wallet or keys.  This is no different to a handicap in the martial arts.  In other words you have to slow down things in your mind to make sure every step of the way in your pre-plan is going to get you where you want to be.  This is the right mindset of a BJJ student. 

It will mean a few weeks off training but I can still get to my classes.  I'd like to lead by example and hopefully make students be a little more conscious when they feel the urge to take the night off. 

All goes well, the plaster comes off next week which will be replaced with a removeable brace.  Anybody is quite welcome to put their foot in plaster for tomorrow’s seminar.  John Will promises there is something he can show me on the mat tomorrow morning which doesn’t require the use of my legs (?). 
GA

During conversation, with Mr Norton on the way back from the ACT, it was interesting to hear how technical BJJ is compared to the other martial arts where there are only a finite number of techniques.  In BJJ there are literally thousands of them and the number is still growing.  Who would have ever thought this was going to happen when inventing this art?

I often tell people this is my back up art to what I already know.  In the true spirit of martial arts it’s all about seeking new challenges and ways.  All martial arts are challenging but BJJ can get quite intricate which requires the mind to be fully engaged.   If martial arts were that simple then there would be a lot more people doing them.  This is what separates us from the norm making us special in a certain way. 

Going back to grass roots is always an interesting thing.  Mr Norton and I were going over the basic knife hand block and back stance in a carpark one evening (Richard never forgets his routes).  Proof to students that Instructors do get around to discussing the simplest techniques.  Furthermore, I spent a whole 2 weeks with Richard going over and over a basic guard pass (lesson 101), picking up more and more detail of the technique each time.  IT'S LIKE A NEVER ENDING STORY! 

Kickboxing, when first coming on the scene, was quite primitive.  Getting on the floor today with Sensei Urquidez and Mr Norton will certainly convince anyone it is as technical as any other martial art, if not, more.  What makes masters of these arts is the way they do it effortlessly.   That takes time, dedication, enthusiasm and a lot of work.There's really no finishing line to cross in the martial arts.

Looking forward to seeing Mr John Will over the weekend.  Should do around 8 hours of training and 4 cups of coffees with him.
GA 

Just returned with Shihan Richard Norton from the ACT for a BJJ seminar on Saturday which turned out to be quite outstanding.  This was followed by a Karate Grading conducted by me, putting Damien Philpott’s students to the test, and they performed quite well.  We were very honoured by Richard who sat in at the grading.  Dinner afterwards with Richard and some of our Budoshinkai students at a nice Turkish restaurant.

Also came along was Steve Micakovski of United Kempo.  The next day we left the ACT and headed to Steve's full time school at Austral and met up with his father, Shihan Jordan Micakovski, where Richard put on a seminar for his students.  Jordan’s other son, Alex, is a movie car buff, who surprised us with his new toy, ‘Herbie the love bug’ car which he recently purchased.  a fictional character (an old Volkswagon vehicle), which was featured in several Disney motion pictures in the late '60's (you can look it up on Wikipedia).  

One thing I have particularly noticed about BJJ is the infinite web of moves and counters.  I relate this to our rules, regulations and laws in our society; if somebody finds a way to beat the system, the government comes up with a new regulation to counter.  That’s what happens in BJJ.  Everybody finds a way to beat a new move but there is somebody out there who is going to come up with a solution to counter it – ‘thus a new technique is born’.

Best wishes to Mr John Will and his family.  His son, Ronin, is in a serious condition in hospital.  Those who wish to read about his progress may do so by reading John's blogs.  These are tough times for John but I believe a positive outcome.
GA