John Rizzo

Secretary of BJMA Victorian Leadership Team

I began my ZDK journey in Dec 1986 at a suburban club in Hadfield Victoria run by Kyoshi Noel Khund, who was part of the Wildcat Division under Kyoshi Raffaelle Lanciana. Both of these men still play a huge part in my life in terms of martial arts and life in general and I am forever in debt to them for the last 33 years.

I trained under Kyoshi Noel until my 3rd Degree in 1996, then opened up my first ZDK club, which ran for about 10 years. Unfortunately life threw me a curve ball, and I handed the club over to one of my senior students and I walked away from it in order to deal with other external matters.

Currently I am an 8th Degree Kyoshi in Zen Do Kai, 2nd Degree in Goju Ryu Yonshin Kai and 3rd Degree in Nihon Goshu Karatejutsu. ZDK is a progressive martial art and captures the best of everything. My training in Nihon Goshu is a polar opposite to ZDK. It’s very traditional in its values, beliefs and combative elements, and its focus is on Kata, Bunkai and the associated practices of a traditional Goju Ryu system. Somehow the two styles seem to blend in well at this stage. In essence, I have the best of both worlds.

My main focus at this stage of my training life is to emphasise the basics and how important they are. How to use my body efficiently as I age, and to train diligently and not to accept mediocrity in my training.

The three attributes I consider important within a Martial Artist are:-

1. Ego – There is no place in martial arts or life in general for your ego to override principles, family or friends. In a martial arts sense – you should leave your ego at the front door when you enter a karate dojo, and don’t let that trait infect you or your dojo. It leads to conflict and disharmony in a dojo.
2. Priorities – Family, Work and Martial Arts. Find the balance between all 3 and you will excel in all of them. They are all as important as each other and offer great grounding.
3. Persistence – There is no magic recipe for martial arts. Just train and things will develop and grow. You will evolve and mature just by spending time on the dojo floor with the right instructor to guide and encourage you.

What advice would I give someone who is starting out in BJMA?

Seek the right club and instructor who gives you a positive feel and portrays the attributes you feel are important to you and your martial arts requirements and will be there to guide you on your long term journey.