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KANCHO ROBERT SULLIVAN

Welcome to the first edition of ‘myGKR’ newsletter.

Because this is the first opportunity that I have to write to you in this capacity, I would like to begin this article by sharing with you a little about my background.

I was born in Adelaide, South Australia, on the 28th October 1947. My family moved to Gosford, NSW when I was 7 years old. I left school when I was 14 years old and joined the post office as a Junior Postal Officer (really a telegram boy!).

At the age of 17 I joined the New South Wales Police Cadets and at the age of 19 I was sworn in as a Constable.

Unrelated to the police job, but as a private interest, I found out about karate and in 1964 I joined what was probably the 1st Karate club in Australia run by a Japanese trained instructor. He had just returned from getting his black belt in Japan and the rest, as they say, is history.

I had a deep passion for learning karate. It built confidence in me to the extent that I find it even difficult to describe. I often tell people that the early training and the confidence it gave me was the beginning of evolving the foundations to build GKR to where the club is today.

I would like to share with you some of my thoughts on the deeper benefits that can come through training in GKR Karate-do. And the reason I specify GKR is that we do make a special emphasis to promote and elevate the values I talk about and I cannot be 100% certain all other karate clubs outside of GKR do the same.

Karate jitsu refers to the physical karate skills and the benefits are obviously plentiful, eg. self-defence, co-ordination, fitness, weight loss, balance, strength and many more. This may be described as the first benefit, not necessarily the most important one though.

The second benefit is mental strength. Mind discipline for want of a better way to describe it. So through many months and eventually years of hard disciplined training, things happen in you of a non-physical nature. You become more confident, you become more disciplined, you develop determination and persistence – where you develop the will to ‘battle on’ against odds that previously might have defeated you. You are able to set goals and create a plan methodically to achieve them. In general, you become a person who becomes aware that you have a greater control over your life than you previously thought you had. So potentially you have the opportunity to live on a higher plane, or you might say a level of happiness and fulfilment than in your previous life before karate-do.

The dojo is an environment of order, discipline, respect, courtesy and humble spirit. And while both kids and adults alike love their training, it is also great for the physical and attitudinal development of both groups. This is where a karate student can see their karate life as a ‘way of life’, and is just one of the reasons why I feel so passionate towards karate.

Finally, as Go-Kan-Ryu’s international growth and popularity continues to spread, we have a number of people in place to develop a means of maintaining that the information, philosophy and training techniques of GKR are easily accessible to all students and instructors world-wide. This website is just one of the means by which we are achieving this. I would therefore like to take this opportunity to thank my Assistant Chief Instructor and GKR’s E.V.P, Stacey Karetsian, for his tireless efforts in the day to day running of all management, special projects and karate matters. He, along with his project team have all done a great job in bringing such a professional appearance to the site and I believe that there is bigger and better things on the way.

Yours in Karate,

Kancho Robert Sullivan
Founder and Chief Instructor