Torquay martial artist writes for change

SUNNY  the rabbit is on a mission and so is her creator.

Alistair Lawson, the Torquay martial artist behind Endurance Martial Arts, has channelled decades of discipline on the mats into a children’s book with a big idea at its heart.

Written in rhyme and aimed at curious young readers, Lawson’s newest title, Fight for Lamina, nudges kids to ask brave questions about animals, food and the way we care for the world.

Lawson’s path to storytelling began long before his protagonist, Sunny, a rabbit determined to save her home from destruction, bounded onto the page.

 

As a kid, he found inspiration in heroes Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan, and a chance encounter with a boy who could throw a spinning hook kick. He quickly became “obsessed” with martial arts.

“I wanted to be able to handle myself in any situation. It was the early onset of mixed martial arts, mixing the different martial arts to get the best out of each one.

“Your enthusiasm goes up and down, but unless you have discipline, you’re not going to carry on with something and achieve what you want to achieve.”

 

Judo at age six led to taekwondo, then kung fu, Japanese jujitsu and eventually Brazilian jiu-jitzu, an early self-made blend that would later shape his full-time training centre, which opened in 2013.

Catering to people of all ages, it now offers coaching in a variety of different styles and systems, from taekwondo to hapkido.

Lawson hopes, alongside motor skills, the training can help his students learn skills they can bring forward into the other facets of their lives, particularly his youngest pupils, some who are just three years of age.

“When we bring the kids in and they’re learning martial arts, you’re going to learn to block and kick and throw and sweep. However, the really important lessons you’re going to get are going to be with you for the rest of your life.

“They’re learning how to focus; they’re learning how to show respect.

“Understanding that you can achieve things — you’ve just got to set your mind to it; you’ve got to have that discipline to see your actions through. I love instilling that into kids and seeing them being successful.”

This same discipline now fuels his writing. Lawson’s first book, My Hero, reframed the idea of role models — they’re closer to home than caped crusaders — while Jiggles, Jumbles and the Case of the Jitters wove together characters navigating neurodiversity.

With Fight for Lamina, the subject matter sharpens: a gentle, age-appropriate invitation to think about plant-based eating, animal welfare and environmental care.

 

Lawson’s own introduction to veganism started with The Game Changers, a 2018 documentary about a mixed martial artist and instructor who explores the effects of plant-based diets on health, recovery and athletic performance.

“It’s okay not to eat animals; it’s OK to protect animals. I think it shows strength to stand up for them,” Lawson shares.

“They’re all sentient, they all feel, they all love, they all lose, they all have the same feelings we have, they just don’t speak in a language we want to listen to.”

He hopes the book will leave its readers with the confidence to ask “Why?” Lawson writes the way he trains: relentlessly. “It borders on obsession,” he admits with a laugh.

Ideas arrive in the car (and are dictated to his phone), over breakfast and even mid-sleep. He chisels away at the rhyme, rhythm and vocabulary until the story sings.

That persistence is hard won. Lawson discovered his dyslexia at university after years of frustration. The diagnosis brought with it relief and offered a pathway back to reading and books.

The discovery of poetry, with its different rules and word play, opened new doors.

“I just loved the process of the thought that goes into it and the way you can describe this scene that you have in your head,” he said.

Despite only releasing The Fight For Lamina in August, Lawson is already refining his fourth book, a ghost-tale tackling the perception of fear.

Titled The Face From the Window, his editors feel it is shaping up to be his best yet. For more information, head to alistairlawsonbooks.com.au