Sensei Benny ‘the Jet’ & Kyoshi Norton
Looks like I have been slowing down between blogs lately. I am not too sure whether the full time centre is taking up much of my energy or Facebook absorbing a lot of my ideas. How does John Will do it? He has them coming out on a conveyer belt (to quote, ‘what else am I going to do?).
What a grand time we had with Sensei Benny Urquidez putting a seminar on a recent Sunday (13/11/11) with Richard Norton as surprise guest. To have two martial arts legends in the same room is a historical event. Those who were not able to make it will just have to live with it because it is not an easy task to bring the two together.
Apart from the fabulous martial arts content, the incredible talks by Sensei Benny, to the 40 people who attended, were truly inspirational. He just about sums it up when he talks about dedication, striving for technical excellence, sharing of knowledge and wisdom, respect for everyone and chasing a long life dream in the martial arts.
Richard stunned me by giving me his original purple belt in BJJ. (this was given to him by the Machado brothers). Sensei Benny spoke about, for an Instructor dsto give this to someone, is honourable and very special, ‘the value of that belt is one man’s sweat and history’. Unfortunately, a little tight for me because I would’ve liked to wear it at seminars but it’s not so much the belt that was important it was the thought behind it and what Kyoshi Richard Norton and Sensei Benny had to say in front of everyone.
Sensei Benny is still going and is still very popular with 18 seminars in 5 states in Australia. Sorry, to those who missed out this superb day. It was really brilliant seeing Richard Norton (a student under Sensei Benny of over 30 years).
GA