Blog
Hall of Fame – Melbourne 8/8/09
I'm leaving Sydney, tomorrow morning, for Melbourne. On Saturday night I am being inducted into the AMAHOF Hall of Fame and World Karate Union Hall of Fame. This time I'm taking the family down so they can see Melbourne for the first time; I'm dying to jump back on those trams (my rental car will be sitting in the carpark of the hotel most of the time).
The last time I was inducted into a Hall of Fame was in 2000. Prior to that was in 1997, also, 
1995 in Cleveland, USA. Whilst it is a great honour to receive these awards, I see it as a great opportunity catching up with my very good friend, Shihan Barry Johnston (of the International Kenshusei College), who nominated me. Also attending are my very special friends, Shihan Richard Norton and Judy Green, who will be sitting at our table together with Barry. Richard and Judy are the loveliest couple I've ever come across; it's not just the martial arts, it's the friendship. Barry has invited my very good Sydney friends – Shihan Robert Janceski and Shihan Jordan Micakovski and his son, Alex, so it going to be a very pleasant night. Geez … Barry is certainly a shaker and a mover!
I believe awards are something you give, not something you receive. In this case, I just happen to be the person receiving. The real pleasure of of the night is the actual company of my friends. It would've been nicer if my 'big brother' Hanshi Ceberano could be there but unfortunately will not be back in Australia by this weekend.
A special note for the person who nominated me for the awards, Barry Johnston: Fantastic man and martial artist who has done wonders for the martial arts industry by professionalising it through education. I have spent many hours doing lunch and coffees with Barry, both in Sydney and Melbourne. Barry and I need to catch up on a few hours, there is always plenty to talk about.
I will let you know how it all went when I come back.
GA
ACA Interview
I saw that interview of Judy Green, alongside her husband Richard Norton, which was televised on ACA tonight. Congrautlations to both, it was an excellent interview and it took real guts for Judy to get on air like that and discuss her very unfortunate accident involving a very serious head injury whilst shooting a TV documentary over 25 years ago. Very few people would have understood how it felt at the time. I am one of those people who would know because I had a similar injury in 1996 which almost claimed my life. After five operations I live to tell the tale! Also, the rehab after that was a monumetal challenge. A lot of credit must go to her husband, Richard, who has supported and helped her over the many years. The same goes for my wife who stood by me all the way.
I remember John Will introducing me to Richard Norton at one of their seminars in Sydney 
before 2000. John told Richard about my injury and he was quite pleased to speak with me since his wife had a similar injury. About 8 years later, after meeting up with Richard again, I finally got to meet Judy where we had the opportunity to talk about our experiences. I now refer to her as my sister! Richard said something interesting when in Sydney recently, 'a normal person has five or six goals in life but a sick person has one goal in life and that is to get well'. I can vouch for that! Richard and I have a great friendship for many reasons but I guess Judy's ordeal and my ordeal might have to be one of them.
The moral of the story: Don't take anything for granted, enjoy what you have and do the best you can for yourself and others.
Another topic – feeling confident tonight, I picked up the weights and did a whole lot of other exercises with a lingering pain to remind me that I had sustained an injury recently. It is now two hours later and I feel fine.
When I was suffering from my back injury I, too, only had one goal at the time.
GA
Drunk as a Skunk
Just taking a little advice from John Will about drinking half bottle of scotch before wrestling. Not too good in my line of work if I have to go to work the next day. I get the picture now – just pretend to be drunk. Well, after a back injury, you don't have much of a choice, because going hard is out 
of the question. This has turned out to be good for me. Lately, I seem to be holding my ground much better and I'm getting the submissions effortsly.
One morning, I got two of my students to wrestle with each other, one go hard and the other go soft. I wanted to put my money on 'go soft'. Luckily for me, I didn't get my bets in on time. They both ended up in an arm wrestle with nobody getting the submission. I said to 'go soft', "you should always stay relaxed even if it means getting tapped out 1,000 times. In fact, keep count. At some stage up to 1,000 you'll start tapping them out. If this doesn't work, get yourself a back injury".
Richard Norton said, 'wrestling with a BJJ master is like wrestling with an empty jacket'. I laughed because I thought he's being funny again, as he usually is, but what a great analogy! The master, is like an empty jacket, offering no resistance nor using strength, but relies on pure technique.
John can now travel lighter and leave those bottles of scotches at home. I've got a few rough looking jackets around the house which I think I might just take on! I wonder how an empty jacket taps out, Richard.
GA