ARTICLE #1  Martial Arts Council Australia (MACA)
This paves the way to raise $3.5mil over the next 2 years with further ongoing revenue to grow the industry. After consultation with selected industry leaders and professionals a framework has been mapped out for martial arts to have its own PR Media Company. Not only will martial arts get promoted full-time with TV media coverage they will also allocate funds for national competitions, sponsoring of athletes and community programs run by local instructors.

Spokesperson for the Council Graham Slater said 80% of MACA’s framework is in place from using existing relationships built by Martial Arts Australia. It’s about pushing politics aside and not excluding any martial arts style or association from gaining the benefits of the program. I want to guarantee we will make every effort to include everyone. At our expense we will send invitations to all the schools/associations we have in our database and we hope everyone will share the great news so we can reach the majority of the industry.

This is not a ‘Control Board’ nor a ‘House of Representatives’ if its anything like our government, it is a ‘Council’ made up of people from every style and association who actually work together for the good of the industry. It has the capacity to raise millions each year without anyone paying fees, it does accept there will be politics but that will be minimised, there will voting rights and a united front on where the funds are dispersed fairly and appropriately.

We are not giving the answers to how this is all going to happen as there are people out there who would try to sabotage it, believe it or not. The positive reality is we are 80% through the process to making this happen through the great work of Martial Arts Australia.

For this to really work everyone will need to push politics aside and work for the common goal or nothing will happen. You can chose to stay doing the same thing and have the same outcome for the next 100 years or you can change and watch our art/sport grow.

We plan to raise several millions of dollars per year for martial arts and do all things we mentioned we will do.

If you didn’t hear Cricket Australia received $300mil over five years for the TV rights to their Game. So why can’t we get some of those sort of dollars, well we can and I can tell you how we can do it.

Cricket, Football and Soccer only really have one club in each town/suburb but martial arts tends to have several so is that an advantage or a disadvantage? I will let you work that one out!

Imagine a world where our art / sport has its own 24/7 PR Media Team that pushed the benefits of participation to schools, community groups and corporations. There would be a lot more interest and more people in your clubs. Imagine if the community changed their perspective on martial arts and thought like this – “Martial Arts Training shouldn’t be part of the household discretionary spending it should be part of the health and education budget”

What about showcasing a student’s achievements through news articles / magazines and TV coverage wouldn’t it help drive participation. What about making our top athletes into stars and mentors for the coming generations, it’s all possible.

Martial Arts Australia work with a lot of associations and of course thousands of clubs in general and over the past 20 years it has come a long way by doing things their way. Their way is not necessarily the way you think but it is the way they have got things done. It is through their work we are at a the turning point of really making this happen for the industry.

*All Instructors and Committee Members from Associations and Promoters can Register There is no cost to Register! *All individuals can VOTE but only two from each association

There are three levels of Administration

• Registered Participants
• Members of the Masters Panel
• Executive Panel

Both will be managed in meetings by the ‘Speaker / Facilitator’

We understand the industry is segregated with some small groups working together while others seeing outsiders as the enemy. We know groups have sabotaged other groups whether it be to try and win students, government programs, Olympic bids or sponsors. This mentality may work occasionally for some individuals but it just doesn’t work for the long term growth of the industry. Our industry can keep doing the same thing and others sports will keep growing around us. Or we can do something we should have done a long time ago, work together.

We really don’t know if the industry is ready for this as it has spent the last 60+ years (modern day martial arts industry) fighting amongst itself. Perhaps it is ready for change especially this type of change when most of the work is done and the rewards are so big and far reaching.

If you think it is a good idea register now, if you think it is a great idea tell your colleagues to register too and call us to tell us why. If you think this has no hope of eventuating, think about one person who has already done more than most. Graham Slater has steered Martial Arts Australia from 6 schools in 1993 to helping reduce the operating costs over 3000 clubs in 2013 and now (2020) has a network of 8000+ businesses. Graham is sharing his success and experience with the industry so everyone can benefit.

First of all we are looking for Martial Arts Masters and Presidents (Committee Members) of all associations to register with the Martial Arts Council Australia. We don’t want to be seen as excluding anyone person, styles or association so you must put your hand up. Everyone can register for free but only two people from each association will have voting / discussion rights to make it fair and easier to make decisions.

What you need to do right now! - Let us know if you are interested in helping!

If we have enough interest from the industry we will put this plan into action straight away and will set the Meeting Date to lay out the strategy plan. If we don’t we have the interest we will discontinue the process and re-visit it in another decade or so. I guess we have the chance right now to work together and really make a dramatic change to the industry but it is up to you!

GLEN COXON ARTICLE # 2

Glenn Coxon has been practising martial arts for 52 years. During his long career, he’s been State and Australian champion many times over and has trained in China, Japan and the US with some of the top names in martial arts. As a practitioner at the top of his game he has trained actors in Hollywood for roles with martial arts action including Kylie Minogue, Raul Julia, Brian Dennehy, John Cusack and Micky Rourke. Most exciting for Glenn was when he got the chance to be Chuck Norris’s training partner. Glenn recounts the first time they met: “I’m standing opposite him and I’ve got this grin from ear-to-ear and he asks me what I’m grinning about.” Glenn’s response was: “I know it sounds really corny but I’ve followed your career all my life and I can’t believe I’m standing opposite you to train. I’m just blown away.”

Glenn is 59 and married with three grown-up children and one grandchild. He’s not the only member of the family bitten by the martial arts bug. His daughter Summerly holds the women’s record for the most amount of boards broken in one minute. It was at that event that a seed was sown. The adjudicator showed Glenn an advance copy of the 2016 Guinness World Record book. He was reading the smashing and breaking section and came across the world record for fastest to break 1,000 boards. The time was 20 minutes and 33 seconds. His response was: “Are you kidding? My record is 359 in one minute. Did he stop for lunch?” That’s when he decided it was time to attempt a new world record.

In 2014 Glenn was preparing for another world record attempt when he went to the doctor with a sore throat. His doctor noticed a cyst on his neck. Glenn was sent for a scan, the result being that he found himself in a room with six professors, associate professors and doctors, all with their arms crossed. “They didn’t need to say anything. I found out it was stage 4 cancer of the neck.” The cancer was very advanced and the doctors told Glenn that they needed to hit it with absolutely everything they had. His only hope was a very aggressive approach. He underwent two rounds of surgery. His tonsils, some teeth, part of the tongue and part of the throat were removed in a bid to find the origin of the cancer. It turned out to be a neck cancer of unknown origin. Meanwhile, it was metastasising. It was heading out of the neck and down to the shoulder towards the aorta, and up into the neck towards the brain.

After the second intensive surgery Glenn had to learn how to eat again, his tongue wouldn’t work, he couldn’t swallow and his voice sounded strange. He had five weeks to recover before embarking on chemotherapy and radiation therapy at the same. His wife Jo-Anne became an expert on diet and nutrition. She devised meal plans both to boost Glenn’s immune system and also to create an environment that was hostile to cancer growth. To get through it, Glenn drew upon his martial arts training. He was sitting on the ward with some other very sick patients when he had a moment of clarity. He said to himself: “What are you doing feeling sorry for yourself? You’ve got every potential; you’ve got everything to live for.” He decided it was time to fight. That’s when he started to view his cancer journey as a series of battles. “I was in a war that I didn’t want to be in. I’m an old samurai warrior and I live by the samurai code. The type of karate I do is called Bushido-Kai. It has a moral which is the way of the warrior. The warrior code is that you never give up.”

All those years of training just switched on for Glenn. The retired warrior was being dragged back into one more war. It was time to put a battle plan together. In accepting that he was at war he understood that if he planned, he had a better chance of winning the battle. Surgery was the first battle. Once he’d conquered that one, he had another realisation. “I thought, you know what? I’m going to make a comeback from this so well that I’m going to make an attack on my own world record.” His surgeon at Chris O’Brien Lifehouse was Associate Professor Sydney Ch’ng. Glenn says: “Sydney removed the tumour from the nerve attached to my shoulder meticulously. The tumour was wrapped around the nerve. I could have lost the use of my shoulder and arm.” Sydney knew about the Glenn’s plans for a comeback. She did everything she could to ensure he’d retain the use of his shoulder and arm.

Glenn has been preparing for the world record attempts for about a year and a half. He’s confident that this is his time. On 6 August he’s taking a team up to the Gold Coast to the Go-Kan-Ryu Karate International World Cup where he’ll attempt two Guinness World Records: the fastest to break 1,000 pine boards; and the most people to break a pine board simultaneously in one location. “We’ll have 500 people going ready, set, crack. That will sound like a bomb going off!”.