Martial arts club welcoming all members

JASON Sharp has trained in Korean martial arts across Australia since the 1980s, but now he’s bringing his expertise and experience to Bendigo.

Mr Sharp established the Bendigo Korean Martial Arts club in February after years of encouragement from his own instructors.

While COVID-19 has created some challenges in getting the club up and running, Mr Sharp said he’s keen to introduce taekwondo, hapkido and other forms of self-defence to people in a non-threatening way.

“One school that I used to teach for in Melbourne for several years, we always said taekwondo was about growing and building people,” he said.

“It’s really good to see people come along and gain confidence in themselves by developing their skills and seeing them really pick up their own self-esteem, confidence, fitness and health.

“We’re there to teach good technical skill, to do it safely and in a fun way but to get them out and get them involved, make sure that they’re doing things correctly and becoming happier within themselves.

“Martial arts attracts a lot of really good, nice people. It’s a bit of fun and it’s a great way of maintaining a bit of flexibility, some fitness and your own confidence.”

BKMA is taking on all members, from those with years of experience to complete beginners and high school aged students.

“It doesn’t really matter about the skill level,” Mr Sharp said. “It’s a really good time for people who have always been interested in learning some self-defence and martial arts to come along now and get involved.

“We are focusing on some really base skills that you need to get right in order to develop properly as you go through the different belts and come up the different grades.

“We’re at the early phase at the moment where the members of the club will dictate the direction we end up in because martial art is such a broad area, we have so much to teach.

“We feel for what the students want to actually get out of it and try to build and structure the classes around what they’re trying to achieve.”

For more information, search Bendigo Korean Martial Arts on Facebook.