Great Sydney Adventure

Australia is a beautiful country and I really enjoyed going to Sydney to put on a self-defense seminar.

Almost everyone was friendly, polite and respectful, including the hotel staff, the waiters and waitresses at restaurants and people in general every place I visited.

I had a chance to see some sites around Sydney, thanks to my friend George Hynec. Beautiful greenery with many hills throughout the city and wonderful views of the harbor.

He also brought us to a great Czech restaurant where I had a delicious chicken main dish. (It was what we call an entrée in America, however in Australia an entrée is what they call an appetizer.) [Yes, I eat chicken even though Matt Furey says you shouldn’t.]

The next day we arrived early at the seminar location to begin setting up, because we had arranged for someone to film our training.

Fifteen people attended; five women and ten men. Among them were college students, accountants, a scientist, a systems analyst, a stone mason and a fitness expert (George Hynec).

Their experience ranged from mixed-martial arts to a little street fighting to no experience at all. Many were in the no experience at all category.

Most of the first day we (Bill Pogue & I) showed the students how to use their reflexes to perform direct self-defense moves that are not only quick, but also powerful.

Near the end of the day we began kicking, which is great to learn since the legs can be such a powerful weapon when used properly.

That evening 12 of us went out to dinner, and as we walked through the unlighted parking structure I switched to hyper-alert mode, keeping watch for any trouble that may have jumped out from behind one of the concrete columns or from behind any of the cars.

However, no worries. We were all able to safely enjoy several different types of pizza and return to our vehicles without incident.

On the second day of the seminar we resumed with our reflex training and then back into kicking.

From there we covered surprise attacks (I’m still amazed at how quickly students are able to learn this subject), improvised weapons, knife defense, body language, how to survive a mugging, group attacks and how to survive a dog attack.

We could have spent half or even a full day on just one of these subjects, however this seminar was just two days so briefly covered each subject.

As we ended the day I felt very proud of the students, as I watched them develop quickness and tremendous power using their reflexes.

I felt truly blessed that I was able to go there and I thank God for it and I also thank Bill Pogue (a truly great Kuta instructor) for helping me teach.

I really am thankful for this adventure and I will look forward to the next trip to Sydney.

From a grateful visitor,

Al Abidin