Please
tell us a little about some of your successes. Being
selected for the Victorian State Team in 1988 was a defining moment.
And from there various state, national and Australian Open individual
and team titles followed. I was lucky enough to to represent Australia
from 89 to 91 at Asia Pacific and World championship level.
After A.K.F national representation I traveled to Glasgow, Scotland
for the first Kobe Osaka International World Cup. This was a great
experience and another defining moment. Not only was it a fierce
competition, but we spent a week leading up to the event at a
Gassuku as well as plenty of chances of social interaction with
the other country members of K.O.I. The
W.U.K.O (now W.K.F) World Championships was pretty intense. A
lot of hard training, a lot of money spent for maybe as little
as 3 minutes (If the fighting or refereeing didn't go your way).
Where as the K.O.I is a chance to compete at a high level as well
as train and interact. I enjoyed this environment more and was
fortunate enough to win the first K.O.I International event. Was
that one of your highlights? Yes and
winning a second time in 1996 were my greatest highlights. How
important was competition for you? Competition
was a great challenge and a good source of motivation. I loved
the travel and have made lasting friendships with many of those
fellow competitors from Australia and overseas. Having said all
that and even though I was fully committed to it at the time,
it has never been the sole focus of my karate. What
is your main focus now? The same as
it's always been. To do good karate and to teach my students to
do good karate. That means it starts with good basics and transfers
onto all other aspects like competition, self defense and kata.
I believe all karate-ka should be well rounded in all these skills,
never focussing on just one aspect. I find this the greatest challenge
in teaching, to make my students the best they can be. Working
on basic things like technical skills, stances and at the same
time defensive skills and footwork for fighting as well as learning
new kata and bunkai and of course self defense applications like
ground fighting and weapons. Working on all these things without
letting skills in any one particular area slip is a challenging
and rewarding task. I wonder how people who just focus on one
area manage to stay motivated for twenty years or more.
| Many
people say that competition fighting is not "real" fighting.
What do you think? This is true,
it's not real fighting as in the street, but like many things
in karate it is a an excellent medium to improve fighting skills.
I wonder how these people who say competition fighting is no good,
actually work on their fighting skills. Do they go out on the
town and fight every Friday and Saturday night? I think competition
has its limitations but it's a great way to work on timing, distance,
footwork and many other important fighting skills. These things
you don't always get out of basic training and some self defense
training. I wonder if these people have seen the intensity of
at a world championships, the power generated and the level of
contact. Karate competition teaches clean hitting which is very
important in"real" fighting which sometimes lacking
other fighting disciplines. |
"...competition has its limitations but it's a great way
to work on timing, distance, footwork and many other important
fighting skills." |
What do you think of the new W.K.F Competition Rules? I
think they're very good. They have changed a lot of things. However,
I think the biggest problem is the attitude of competitors who
will do anything to win. I'd be embarrassed as a karate-ka if
I had to "take a dive" (exaggerate or fake injury to
have an opponent penalized) to win a fight. Karate people are
supposed to be strong of mind and body. What
was your worst injury? I have actually been pretty lucky
with a few twists and fractures over 18 years but nothing major.
I had my cheekbone fractured while fighting, but the worst injury
was sustained during a warm up for class. Another student fell
on my leg and ruptured my ankle ligaments. I looked down and saw
my toes touching my shin. It put my training back a fair bit as
I was in a cast for a month. This came at a bad time because I
was set to go to Grenada, Spain for the world championships in
1992. What advice do you have for
others? The most important thing I
believe is when you choose to do something whether it's in martial
arts or any other aspect of your life is to stay focused on what
you want to achieve. Many obstacles and distractions are put in
our way and it's our ability to remain focused on our goals that
dictates whether we will achieve them. At
times you'll think that it's too hard and it's not worth it, but
persevere and stay focused. If you want it, you'll get there in
the end.
Richard Callaghan is a fifth degree black
belt and has been teaching karate for 18 years. He is a fully
qualified instructor having obtained the "Fitness Leaders Award"
with Monash University and Level 2 "St Johns First Aid Certificate".
He is registered with the state governments "Martial Arts Control
Board" and is a nationally accredited coach.
Richard's
club, Blackburn Karate Centre located in Victoria, Australia.
(www.blackburnkarate.com)
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