The late Russell Beha was one of the early (late 60’s) members of theoriginal  Blacktown school. A very, very powerfull man, the memory of him still sends a shiver down my spine. If  ever I had to fight him for real?? – Well, to survive - I would like to have a shotgun in my hands.  - J.Cook.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------FROM ALAN
Russell was one year ahead of me at Doonside High School. I only knew him well enough to say hello to then but this is probably all he needed to take an interest in me when I switched over from Judo to Karate at the St. Patricks Church Hall in October, 1969. 

I watched Russell conduct an exercise session with the Karate Class and then work out on the punching bag. I was so impressed with what I saw I asked him if I could join the class. Russell was 2nd Kyu brown belt at the time.

Russell was a big guy. Probably about 6 feet two and 16 stone plus of hard natural muscle. Despite his size he was agile and flexible and could easily do the front splits. When he worked the bag the whole Judo Class stopped to watch. I have never seen anyone work a bag like Russell, and I have been around. He would buckle it up with fast powerful punches and well executed kicks. His round house kick would arc in on a high flat plain and he would drive
the ball of his foot deep into the bag, Crash. Still sends a shudder through me when I think about it. Probably the best way I can illustrate Russell's ability with bag work is to jump ahead 5 years. Russell came with me to a Boxing Gym in Goulburn Street, Sydney. Russell worked out on a heavy bag just using his hands. No one in that Gym, and there were several good boxers there, including one current Australian Champion, wanted to get in the ring with Russell after watching him pound that bag. He was that intimidating.

Russell was a good no nonsense Instructor. Some people mistook him as being a gentle giant. He was easy going but had a mean streak in him. This was evident in of the first training sessions I had with him. One of the guys was clowning around, deliberately doing the exercises wrong, laughing and he said to Russell, “Speak up, I can't hear you" Russell glared at him and said, “You will hear me when the fighting starts.” He said, “What?” Russell said, “You
  heard.” Complete silence. That guy left after the exercise session. Never sawhim again. I learnt early never to upset Russell.

When Russell was teaching at the Blacktown Club he was the full package. He had command over a wide range of physical exercises to put the class through, including deep stretching, had well developed techniques and Kata came alive when he performed them. All grace and power, All like. You knew he was serious when he made that " Gatz " sound, which I interpreted to mean, " that one finished you."



The thing with Russell is that he was always thinking how to introduce training methods an changes to technique application to make his fighting ability more effective. He would readily share these ideas with those who trained with him. Training with a single hand weight to teach one side of the body to be completely relaxed while the other side explodes into the attack was his idea. His extended push up was designed to develop core strength years before its importance was realised. I went to the Blacktown R.S.L. pool with him once and I thought it was to have a swim and relax. No way!. I spent a couple of hours with him doing stretching and slow techniques under the water. Fell over when I got out of the pool my legs were so rubbery. What did he want to do? Have a beer? No. Let’s go and work out on the bag. That was Russell, God bless him.

Russell never opened a Club of his own away from the original Blacktown Karate Club. Perhaps he thought he could not improve on this Club. Everyone has their own teaching style and Russell preferred to work with a small group of students privately. Most of my training happened in my back yard at Blacktown. He would discuss anything new he was working on and then it was straight into the fighting. He did this from my 5th kyu onwards. Sometimes he
would bring other students along and give all of us a hard time. There are 3 special occasions when Russell gave me encouragement to continue my training. I was there the day Russell got graded to Black Belt. He gave me his Brown Belt to put aside to wear when I got graded to Brown Belt. When I got graded to Black Belt, Russell took off his Black Belt and gave it to me wear. In January, 1982 I had just been released from hospital after being seriously ill. I had lost over 30 kg of weight and was very week. For 3 months Russell would come and see me,
at least twice a week, and you guessed it, his solution was to go out into the yard and start light training. I got well enough to go back to the Park but I doubted myself. He simply said, " Don't worry, I will be there."

I knew Russell for 16 years between 1969 and 1985. He visited and taught at Clubs I had in Sydney, Doonside, Merrylands and Burwood. I am only one of the many students that had the experience and privilege of knowing him.


 
 
 
 
 

Monday 25/3/13.
Josh Ransom underwent his 1st kyu grading. He performed kata, Tokioka 1-3, Pinans 1-5 also kata Sianchin, Saifa, Tensho and Sai fa (not sure about spelling).
Then he fought Luke Bottle, Andrew Moor, young Louis Sardiger, John Sloan and then myself. He performed at a constant level through the night and in doing so earned the rank of 1st kyu. The next step, if all goes as planned will be his Shodan grade in December; which he will find a little bit harder, as is natural. If he is succesfull – he will be in a position to start “ real learning”as Shodan is the true start of the learning curve.
Congratulations Josh.

Following is a copy of a series of emails between Tony Gerzina and Alan Thomas re early history of S.K.A..
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FROM SENSEI ALAN THOMAS::
As I said in those days, when the Blacktown Club was in the Church Hall, Wally did
not say much. His preferred teaching method was to stand in front of a group of
  students, demonstrate a technique and then move away. He would wait for the
  kumite to start to see and test if the lesson had sunk in. If he showed you how
  to block a descending knife hand strike you could count on receiving a couple
  of good ones from him during kumite.

Wally's way of running the kumite carried over to all our subsequent Clubs. Each new
  student must start to fight by their third lesson. Everyone must have at least
  3 fights a session. No one can refuse an offer to fight, regardless of Grade
(how non pretentious and innovative was this ) and as Wally often said, " We
  have an open door policy here. Anyone can come in here and fight us anyway they
  choose." I don't know of any other martial art organisation that has ever
  followed these rules.

I only ever saw Wally receive an injury once and it was here during this early
period. ( By this I mean receive an injury he could not hide as another thing he
told me was " never let on when you are hurt, always continue and work around
  it. " ). A 4th kyu opened up a large cut over his right eye with a back fist
strike. The 4th kyu was instantly apologetic but Wally said ": think nothing of
it. It was my mistake“. Wally went and had the cut stitched and returned and
trained as if nothing had happened.

I would describe the fighting style of Wally during this period as being based on
  mobile hard and savage power coupled with superb balance and timing and backed
  by a spirit which said you will have to kill me to beat me.

Some of the other things Wally said to me during this period were, " keep your eyes
on the centre of the chest, you will see all movements from here. " " it is
better to do one push up properly than to do 100 wrong" " a strong grip can get
you out of trouble on the ground" " it is better to just do, talk is cheap. " "
defend on your side on the ground so you always have somewhere to move "
" a good technique is utter destruction "
Regards,
  Alan.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Questions from Tony Gerzina To Alan::
Fascinating stuff did you do many footpath runs and if so where
thru Blacktown and any stories i presume they were barefoot and what would have
been the average size class and for some reason the question begs me was there a
charge for the class or voluntary you mention the judo did wal have input into
that class as well at that stage and was Russell Beha self-taught on the bag at
that early stage of his training did that 4th kyu hang around for a while and
that raises a interesting point in my mind as to not seeing wally with an injury
did Wally spend much time stretching and bag kicking in the class please excuse
any questions which may seem trivial but are of fascination to
me.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Answer from Alan:
Russell Beha and Vladimir Pijov were both brown belts when I started at the Blacktown Club. Vladimir started before Russell but, Russell caught up and overtook him in rank (due to a knee injury). I remember Russell saying he learned a lot of his bag skills from Rob Dobson and Peter Lazlo.
On an average night there would be 15 of us there. We would run bare foot through the main street of Blacktown in single file, rank order, except for one senior grade who would run at the tail in case there was any one dropped out or there was trouble from hecklers.

You may remember at the Doonside Club I used to take the Class for a bare foot run up the top of the hill and back, single file, rank order just like Blacktown.
The first fee I paid at the Blacktown Club was 40 cents a lesson, the price of 2 schooners of beer in 1969. 
Wally did his preparation training at home. He would generally turn up at the Club after the exercise session had started and would simply do a couple of side stretches and he was ready for action. Never saw him go for a run. Don't recall him doing any bag work. Do recall him
striking and kicking the brick wall with full force to demonstrate an advanced fighting point (this is a story in itself) but as I said in my last message Wally preferred to teach fighting techniques during actual kumite.


The incident with the 4th Kyu happened right in front of me. Wally threw a slow punch at him; the 4th kyu blocked it on the inside and then hit Wally with a fast backfist with the blocking hand. Wally knew he could get hurt by taking it easy with inexperienced students but it was his nature to take the risk. Wally never tried to even the score. I believe you are evenly balanced at 4th kyu. You know just enough to seriously injure someone or get yourself seriously injured. Wally knew this but still stuck to the rule that you cannot refuse an offer to fight regardless of the grade. Never saw him suffer a similar injury though!
I tend to rave on a bit. Have a happy Easter fellows.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From Tony Gerzina to Alan::
Please rave some more going up to sit round camp fire will be waiting for that story re advanced fighting technique Chambo a friend would purchase a friend a caravan candle but as you know they are useless around me as my hand techniques are so fast i am constantly blowing them out, Alan I remember Vladimir recalling one such run where one student ran into a pole whilst perving at an attractive woman - any other such incidents? And did
the run take you directly past the Robin Hood (Pub) the cultural centre of Blacktown at the time. There must have rooms for rent above the pub  there as I remember walking past there
on many an occasion and my 4th class teacher Mrs Butt standing just on those steps outside the doors; at the time I did not realize she was drunk and greeting me with where are you off to you little bastard? which always had the effect of quickening my step. Did Wally accompany the runs? And did the class move from there to blue chequers or was there another hall in between.-  ciao
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From Alan to Tony:: 
The run took us straight past the Robin Hood (Pub). Wally may have taken part in these runs before I started training there. Someone had to set the practice in place and bare foot running was covered in Oyamas books so it would have been considered mandatory. I never saw anything exceptional occur on any of these runs apart from jeers and laughter emanating from the Robin Hood. I mean to them we looked like a bunch of crazies running through the streets in pyjamas with no shoes on. Karate was generally unknown in those days. Being able to strike and kick hard an object that does not move, such as a brick wall, is all about energy transfer and technique. For example, for a punch you need to condition your strike knuckles and wrist by push ups on concrete. You need to prepare your technique by practicing on a surface that has slight movement when you hit it, such as a steel anvil. Your aim is to develop your technique so that you can transfer your strike energy into it and quickly twist your hand away before recoil energy goes back into your hand. When you can do this you move onto the wall. You need to be careful who you show this to as an inexperienced person will break their hand.
Which brings something else to mind that I hope you enjoy?

I only ever attended one training seminar.
This was in the early 80's at Glebe Police Boys Club. The Instructor was Bill
Wallace. There were about 70 Black Belts there, from all the major styles. They
were in their own little groups, warming up, and waiting for Bill to arrive.
Some were working out on the boxing bags there. I walked around the room and
tried to talk to some of them but they were too formal to pay me any attention.
I thought to myself I might as well warm up myself then. All the bags were taken
  but no one was using the wall so away I went. That got all of their attention.
  This is another training technique developed at the Blacktown Club I have not
  seen anywhere else. No one could punch the wall like Wally or do a step in side
  kick into it like Vladimir.

The Blacktown Club moved to premises at Seven Hills before going to the Pigeon Club. 
 
Next message will take a couple of days because it is going to be about Russell  Beha.


 
 
 

Saturday 16/3/2013. An auspicious day for S.K.A.
A luncheon was held in Honour of Vladimir Pijov, and by the authority of the Szlagowski Karate Association; Master Vladimir became Grandmaster Vladimir.

He is the third Grandmaster of our line; the previous two being Grandmaster Waldemar Von Szlagowski, the Father of Australian Karate and his student Grandmaster George Pandu.

Vladimir is a direct student of Wally Szlagowski and he started training at the original Blacktown club at the age of 15 – he told Wally a little white lie and said he was 17 as Wally only accepted those aged 17 and over at that time. Vladimir earned his Shodan in 1971 later earning Master in 1994.

He was pivotal in the S.K.A. to its present form. It was he that made the Szlagowski shield and designed the original old Blacktown badge from which our present blackbelt patch is descended, he also designed and had printed the 1st to 5th Dan certificates that are still in use today (yes he had that many printed). Another design from his creation is the double dragons that are our logo. It is a very fair statement to say without Grandmaster Vladimir’s input and work (along with others) we would not have survived.

In attendance were Richard Shumach (student of Rob Dobson and teacher of Jeff Barnes), Jeff Barnes and his lovely wife Sue, Ray Zahra, Alan Thomas, myself (John Cook), John Sloan, Darrin Anderson, Neville Hallab, Tony Gerzina, Dave Weatherstone, Colin Skinner, Ken Chamberlain and Russel Plumber. After their recent illnesses, it was really good to see Ken and Alan cheerfull chirpy and cheeky. All in all a wonderfull day in which we (re)bonded as a group.

Thank you – John Cook 
(Have not got pix yet, will post them when I get them)
here to edit.

Szlagowski  Gathering  training day 9/3/2013.

The gathering was a most enjoyable day which started with Jeremy Wood and Josh Ransom giving a well-structured session on self-defence for younger students with a view of dealing with unexpected attack, perhaps at school perhaps not. Perhaps they are attacked with sticks, bats etc. So using the principle of alternate weapon defence (using what is around you) and from a basis of evasion and timing - School backpacks and garbage bin lids were shown as shields and weapons. Books were used to parry and also along with soccer balls “thrown” at the face to distract and/or create an opening. I know it is a terrible thing to say but I think our kids need these skills in today’s world. To both Jeremy and Josh I offer my compliments.

Darrin Anderson taught techniques which centred on using the concepts of hyoshi timing and maai distancing to practice blending and flow responses. This was well received and appreciated particularly by the students. Darrin showed clearly that like a fine wine he just gets better (no apologies for saying that Darrin)

We then had a sparring session and the student’s present received hands on teaching and experience. There were a couple of thumps when some hit the floor, but since it wasn’t me - I didn’t feel a thing.

After that I gave a session on the Bo. I showed long and short pole methods and how to move between them; emphasising need for continual change of hand positions. The mandatory 8 directions of attack and defence were covered. Also the relationship of punches - hook, uppercut, jab, shuto etc. to technique delivered by the Bo was covered. I also brought some old farm tools i.e. a cane cutter and a scythe, both on 4 foot poles and did a short demonstration (In my imagination I killed several ninjas) which I hope showed the reality of what can be done.

Noel Mahon came along and we put the hard word on him which he did not expect - so he also gave the honour of a session on positioning, timing, weight distribution and angles also the use of one hand to block and parry multiple hand techniques while remaining covered. He also reminded all of the fact that there is no basic difference between a shuto block and a shuto attack which simply means attack the arms and legs as a defence; which along with his patented punch block to arm or leg were a couple of Wally Szlagowski’s specialities. During this session which Noel conducted, and speaking for myself – I felt Wally’s spirit was there with us. Vladimir also expanded on this subject and said that after a while the punching block while “still on file” so to speak became rarely utilised as it caused too many injuries to the attacking arm or leg, although that did not apply when fighting other clubs.

All in all – a very good day and we went 30 minutes overtime – hmm – now who to conscript to give a seesion for the next gathering? - Methinks Alan Thomas can do one session.

Regards and respect – John Cook