Meet some of our members

Martial Arts means the world to me, Ive had a passion for it since I was a child so at the age of 16 my parents through a lot of discussion, one may say arguments allowed me to do Karate. I thought it was the best thing since sliced bread, jumping around doing fancy kicks, punching my mates and just generally being a normal teenager. However I had not realised the true meaning of Martial Arts. At the age of 17 I got to a fork in the road and made some silly choices, two of which were detrimental to my child hood goals. I dropped out of school and I stopped doing Karate. For the next 12 years I spiralled out of control had had no direction in life. Throughout that time I made two attempts to go back to training but failed both times. In 2005 I met the love of my life, Fleur. In 2007 I followed Fleur to Kalgoorlie from Sydney and left all the past behind me for a new start working in the mines. In 2008 we moved to Perth, by this time I had put on a lot of weight and was unmotivated to do anything. In June of 2009 we were going to buy a punching bag, when we walked in I spoke to Mr Wilkes and I discovered that l’d walked into a Dojo. With pamphlet and timetable in hand I left. Still no punching bag. Fleur had enough of me talking about joining so the next day we drove back down there and we both joined. From this day I started to learn the true meanings of martial arts. Perseverance was the main one for me, as my fitness increased I became more in love with the art and one by one the 9 Tenants became my life. Once Fleur saw I was set with my training she stopped, to my amazement she had only joined to encourage me. Fleur had been kicked, punched, arm barred all for me, Thankyou.

Martial Arts is not so much about fighting and being like Steven Segal or Bruce Lee, to me it’s about having self confidence, goal setting, which then leads to integrity “doing what we say we will do and most of all self control. Martial Arts has also helped me with my work, never giving up and striving for high performance in order to get great career progression. l’d like to thank my wife Fleur for letting me train as much as I do and without you I would not be here today, she needs a Black Belt for putting up with me, I love you. Also l’d like to thank Mr Wilkes for inspiring me with his savage thigh kicks, all the Instructors past and present, Matt Westcott for the time he has dedicated to me and the rest of the Wilkes team for your support. There has been a lot of hills and valleys to get here and lm sure there will be many more, you know what they say “If it was easy everyone would be doing it”.

Today I stand before you all as a proud Black Belt. lt’s been a long road back to that fork in the road but now I’m armed with the tools and passion for life to excel in whatever I choose to do, work rest and play. As they say in the martial arts world “this is just the beginning”.

Martial Arts means the world to me, Ive had a passion for it since I was a child so at the age of 16 my parents through a lot of discussion, one may say arguments allowed me to do Karate. I thought it was the best thing since sliced bread, jumping around doing fancy kicks, punching my mates and just generally being a normal teenager. However I had not realised the true meaning of Martial Arts. At the age of 17 I got to a fork in the road and made some silly choices, two of which were detrimental to my child hood goals. I dropped out of school and I stopped doing Karate. For the next 12 years I spiralled out of control had had no direction in life. Throughout that time I made two attempts to go back to training but failed both times. In 2005 I met the love of my life, Fleur. In 2007 I followed Fleur to Kalgoorlie from Sydney and left all the past behind me for a new start working in the mines. In 2008 we moved to Perth, by this time I had put on a lot of weight and was unmotivated to do anything. In June of 2009 we were going to buy a punching bag, when we walked in I spoke to Mr Wilkes and I discovered that l’d walked into a Dojo. With pamphlet and timetable in hand I left. Still no punching bag. Fleur had enough of me talking about joining so the next day we drove back down there and we both joined. From this day I started to learn the true meanings of martial arts. Perseverance was the main one for me, as my fitness increased I became more in love with the art and one by one the 9 Tenants became my life. Once Fleur saw I was set with my training she stopped, to my amazement she had only joined to encourage me. Fleur had been kicked, punched, arm barred all for me, Thankyou.

Martial Arts is not so much about fighting and being like Steven Segal or Bruce Lee, to me it’s about having self confidence, goal setting, which then leads to integrity “doing what we say we will do and most of all self control. Martial Arts has also helped me with my work, never giving up and striving for high performance in order to get great career progression. l’d like to thank my wife Fleur for letting me train as much as I do and without you I would not be here today, she needs a Black Belt for putting up with me, I love you. Also l’d like to thank Mr Wilkes for inspiring me with his savage thigh kicks, all the Instructors past and present, Matt Westcott for the time he has dedicated to me and the rest of the Wilkes team for your support. There has been a lot of hills and valleys to get here and lm sure there will be many more, you know what they say “If it was easy everyone would be doing it”.

Today I stand before you all as a proud Black Belt. lt’s been a long road back to that fork in the road but now I’m armed with the tools and passion for life to excel in whatever I choose to do, work rest and play. As they say in the martial arts world “this is just the beginning”.