Three Mildura Martial Arts coaches are teaching the values of respect, discipline and confidence while also tackling the negative stigmas around combat sports, as they explain to reporter Jack Evans.
MILDURA Martial Arts instructor Mick Moloney, one of the first 30 Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belts in Australia, first brought BJJ to Mildura in 1999.
Mr Moloney has been teaching mixed martial arts, karate, Brazilian jiu-jitsu and kickboxing in Mildura for close to 23 years, and believes everyone should learn a martial art.
“I was actually bullied as a kid, I was shy, introverted, wouldn’t say ‘boo’, and martial arts gave me confidence,” he said.
“With confidence, I didn’t become arrogant, I just knew that if someone was to do something, I could handle myself.”
Mr Moloney said he had seen his students develop this confidence time and time again.
“We had a girl who was very nervous going into a comp and I couldn’t have been prouder of her to step up, walk out and do what she did,” he said.
“I’ve done three tours of duty in two war zones and the bravery it took for her to do that, I’ve seen blokes that would crumble.
“She got up there and did it by herself. She wasn’t with a section of soldiers all armed to the teeth, she got up by herself.
“Even if someone competes and comes back with a bronze for showing up, I say ‘well done’, you’re lapping everyone on the couch.”
Mildura Brazilian Jiu Jitsu’s Luke Burnham also preached the importance of martial arts, especially for kids.
“It’s great for respect, discipline and self-confidence,” he said.
“It is important for them to believe in themselves. The more they train, the more confident they get in their own skin.
“Two of our Indigenous scholarship girls are heading overseas to compete.
“These girls would never have had this in their lives if it wasn’t for the opportunities
jiu-jitsu gave them.”
Mr Burnham said he felt there was a belief around martial arts that it made people aggressive but he believed the opposite to be true.
“There is a stigma that martial arts people are the ones fighting in the street,” he said.
“We are very strict on our students. That is one of the rules of our scholarship program. If you fight on the street, you are out of the program.”
This idea was echoed by Steve Ladd, of Ladd’s Boxing Gym.
“I don’t teach boxing to bullies,” he said. “If I found out they want to do that, they aren’t welcome here.”
Mr Ladd started in boxing in 1982 after watching the Larry Holmes-Gerry Cooney fight. He ran to the nearest phone booth and called up Mildura boxing legend Bob Hogarth.
In the years since, boxing has changed Mr Ladd’s life and the lives of many others.
“People used to pick on me a lot when I was at school because I was a scrawny little kid,” he said.
“Lots of people come to a boxing gym because they lack self-confidence and are being bullied. They don’t have the confidence to stand up for themselves.
“Then they come in here, they learn to box and realise they don’t even need to fight back because they know they are good enough. Giving a kid self-confidence changes their whole life.”
Mr Ladd said boxing often got a bad rap as a “thug sport” but believed the stigma was beginning to change.
“We help people achieve their dreams,” he said. “The smile we see on their face and the faces of their parents is so rewarding.
“You could have a policeman, a lawyer and a person from absolute poverty in here and they are equal.”
