Reality Based Stuff gets real!
We had Shihan Richard Norton in town again. This time the Police Citizens Youth Clubs (PCYC) had brought him out here for a couple of seminars. The Friday evening was BJJ at the Burwood PCYC arranged by the Manager, Gary Davies (who is also a Traditional Jiu Jitsu master) and Senior Constable Dave Geremia (student of mine). It was an excellent seminar which included students from my BJJ school and Gary's Jiu Jitsu school.
Saturday was Reality Based Self Defence at the Mount Druitt PCYC arranged by Senior Constable Julius Uru (also student of mine). This is the roughest part of town and the PCYC has a tough job holding its ground with youths in that area which showed at the seminar with people wanting to flex their muscles (including women) so much so, the Boxing Coach went flat out at Richard to prove a point but ended up getting choked out; he is a lucky man, Richard's awesome strikes were not on the agenda. It was as real as it gets. This small group was not easy to convince and found it hard to understand and follow directions, mainly because of their already preconceived ideas about street defence. Basically, they were missing the point of what was being taught at the seminar. However, Richard finally won them over and now these people want him back! Richard also went through some Kickboxing drills with me later that afternoon.
Sunday was at Shihan Adrian Ionita's school; first, it was an hour with kids and then a seminar, with seniors, on the Black Belt Complexes which literally blew everyone away especially when Richard started to speed up. This was a good class with some very senior Black Belts in attendance who really appreciated what was being taught. After that, Adrian invited us to a Chinese Restaurant before we headed off to the Airport. It was a pleasure to meet Adrian who is a really great guy and a good martial artist.
I really enjoyed the weekend having the opportunity to catch up and train with the 'Richard Norton', once again.
GA