I’ve met a lot of people who when they reach age 40 start saying things like, ‘I’m getting old,’ or ‘I’m over the hill,’ even ‘I’m too old to do karate.’ However, there are more middle-aged people who are defying ageing and beginning to experiencing a second act of life.

Some of these 50plus people are by taking up martial arts. Many of our baby boomer students are parents of teenagers who already train at Black Belt Martial Arts. Some of them have sat and watched classes for years and after finally take the big step onto the mat find themselves being in better shape than they were in their 20s.

Black Belt Martial Arts has a long tradition of success in the competition arena and the latest BBMA champions are bent on continuing that tradition.

Earlier this year at the NSW State Championships the BBMA Team walked away with a total of 5 gold medals, 2 silver and 3 bronze. This was followed up with 5 gold, 7 silver and 4 bronze at the NSW Open. 

Recently one of my students reminded me of the incredible potential for courage that human beings possess. The incredible fortitude I witnessed inspired me to think deeply upon the nature of human courage and it occurred to me that while the courage we may see on the news, of someone dashing into a burning building or wading into a raging torrent to save another is certainly admirable and inspiring, that these are also situations many of us may never face.

Movies often depict fist fights as logical, sometimes even necessary, ways to settle arguments. Usually the winner walks away untouched, while the loser merely suffers a black eye and a headache.

The truth is that it NEVER happens that way in real life! People get seriously injured, hospitalised, sent to jail and sometimes they even die. Even when you win, you lose, the repercussions from disagreements or fights can come back to haunt you at anytime.

BBMA is committed to ensuring a safe, secure and positive environment for all our martial arts students and is committed to providing studentswith strategies for identifying and combating bullying behaviour.

What is Bullying?

Bullying is when someone, or a group of people, who have more power at the time, deliberately upset or hurt another person, their property, reputation or social acceptance on more than one occasion. Bullying can be categorised as direct or indirect and also as physical, verbal and gestural.