“The birth of the S.A.W Australia Branch”
From the sparring and S.A.W demonstration on the second day after arriving in Australia, the students at the UQ Judo Club showed great interest in S.A.W.
Some of them became my students later while continuing to practice Judo and started to learn S.A.W.
Among them, the person who was most interested in S.A.W was a judo teacher named Ron Williams from New Zealand.
By the way, he was the first person to come to me to spar that day.
He said that he had been to Japan many times for Judo training and had been training for a long time at the Kodokan and the dojo of the famous Judo master Isao Okano.
After the sparring and S.A.W demonstration that day, he said,
“I’m very interested in your techniques and S.A.W, so would you like to give a seminar this weekend at the Judo club in Gold Coast where I teach, demonstrate S.A.W techniques in more detail to my students? Of course, I’ll pay for it and I’ll take you there by car.”
Then, I gave a S.A.W seminar at Ron’s Gold Coast judo club on the weekend, and demonstrated S.A.W techniques in more detail.
Ron said, “Now I’m convinced. S.A.W techniques are good. I like it. You said you wanted to open a S.A.W dojo in Australia. I’ll help you with that.”
Martial arts are amazing. A week ago, I didn’t know anyone, but because I had martial arts skills, I made good friends, earned my first income, and even had people who were willing to help me in such a short time.
Ron looked for a place to rent as a dojo and made all the arrangements.
We rented one-room in a fitness centre called the YMCA in the Brisbane city and started teaching S.A.W.
I immediately wrote to Aso Sensei in Japan, and he sent me a certificate of branch establishment.
And so, the first overseas S.A.W branch was born. It was just a month after I arrived in Australia.
On the day I arrived in Australia I was extremely anxious. I couldn’t speak English, I didn’t know anyone, and I didn’t have much money, but after a few weeks, I had made some good friends and because of their help, and I was surprised at how far I had come in such a short time.
