|
|
|
|
|
|||||
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
|
|
|
|
Rob Dobson
Early Karate History
In the very early days Wally Szlagowski taught techniques he knew to his first student Peter Laszlo; Peter then optimised these techniques to suit his own unique physical attributes such as size, strength, speed and co-ordination as well as his psychological approach. In doing this Peter used all that Wally had taught him and then added new techniques or enhanced some of the original ones. Both Wally and Peter taught Rob Dobson who in turn optimised these techniques to suit his own unique physical attributes and psychological approach. To this mix were added techniques learnt from visiting students of other styles and from Japanese sailors etc.
There was a very rapid improvement in the standard of the Karate from the early 1960s to the late 1960s, not just at Blacktown, but over the whole of Australia and if you watched the newsreels of the era, the same applied to much of the western world. It is said by many ‘Old Hands’ that they consider the standard of Karate today is no better or in fact not as good as it was in the late 1960s and 70s (mainly because of the erosion of standards caused by ‘Political Correctness’ and threats of litigation).
Rob started learning Karate at Blacktown around 1963. Rob was a ‘natural’ at Karate and developed very quickly into a formidable fighter. In all of the interclub competitions held in those days, Rob never looked like losing a single spar; if you look at some of the videos from those days, you will see Rob’s lightning fast kicks, usually landing in some place other than where his opponent was blocking. After a number of years of outstanding performance Wally called Rob aside and said that as the ‘Top Dog’ (in Wally’s words) he should take the lead role in instructing the other students. Rob took on this lead instructor role in Blacktown until he completed his University studies in the end of 1969, when he had to move to Adelaide.
In his late teens and early twenties Rob could lift more than his own body weight above his head with one hand and was considered to be very strong by his contemporaries; this strength added a lot of authority to his techniques.
In the mid to late 1960s Rob was studying for a four year engineering degree at the University of NSW as a Cadet of the Weapons Research Establishment in Salisbury S.A. (now DSTO). He began to apply the principles of Engineering and Physics to his Karate techniques, his University training also taught him to challenge the status quo and to examine each of the Karate techniques to see if they could be improved or optimised.
Some examples of changes he made are:
·Many of the traditional Karate techniques had the upper body and the lower body effectively locked together, Rob changed his style so that the upper body and the lower body became far less inter-dependent, which allowed for a much larger range of combinations of hand and foot techniques.
·Traditional punches started with the fist down near the hip, which didn’t make much sense as the force must react through the shoulder. Rob changed to hold his fist much higher at the start of the punch.
·Some of the traditional stances had a body weight distribution that meant no kick could be executed without a major change in body position; this slowed down kicks to the point of being ineffective. Rob changed his stances to facilitate rapid kicking.
·Small cylindrical shaped punching bags were introduced into all training. These could be struck on the front and the sides, thus allowing practice of a much larger range of techniques than a flat surface. Heavy punching bags were removed as they did not represent any realistic target.
·Rob put a very strong emphasis on co-ordination and having the ability to out co-ordinate your opponent. Testing the opponents reactions to various techniques usually led to an opening that could be taken advantage of.
To help pay his way through University in the mid to late 1960’s Rob taught at a number of other Karate clubs around Sydney and at one stage had six clubs under his instruction.
As a part of his Engineering Cadetship with WRE, Rob had to work at WRE Salisbury South Australia during the long Christmas vacation at the end of each year. This is where he met Graham Tuffee who was running the Karate Club at the Salisbury Youth Centre as it was called then. Once Rob moved permanently to Adelaide, Graham handed the club over to Rob to run.
In those days Karate in Adelaide was not up to the same standard as it was in Sydney and Rob’s contributions had a very beneficial effect on the standard of Adelaide Karate. Rob taught many gifted and talented students in S.A. of whom he is justifiably proud. Of these Kym Reid has been carrying on the tradition / heritage in S.A. for many years (decades in fact) and more recently David Gooding who has been teaching in Brisbane.
One of the things that concerns Rob is that the frequency and severity of violence today, largely fuelled by drugs and alcohol, is far worse than it was in the 1960s and 1970s, yet the sparring in Karate clubs is not as realistic as it was back in those times. The logical conclusion in his opinion is that Karate students of today will be much less able to defend themselves. That was not a criticism of the Karate instructors, but of the legal system which has put barriers in the way of ‘realism’.
Rob now resides in Canberra enjoying retirement and is currently producing a manual for 4 Wheel drive vehicle tyre specifics.
In the very early days Wally Szlagowski taught techniques he knew to his first student Peter Laszlo; Peter then optimised these techniques to suit his own unique physical attributes such as size, strength, speed and co-ordination as well as his psychological approach. In doing this Peter used all that Wally had taught him and then added new techniques or enhanced some of the original ones. Both Wally and Peter taught Rob Dobson who in turn optimised these techniques to suit his own unique physical attributes and psychological approach. To this mix were added techniques learnt from visiting students of other styles and from Japanese sailors etc.
There was a very rapid improvement in the standard of the Karate from the early 1960s to the late 1960s, not just at Blacktown, but over the whole of Australia and if you watched the newsreels of the era, the same applied to much of the western world. It is said by many ‘Old Hands’ that they consider the standard of Karate today is no better or in fact not as good as it was in the late 1960s and 70s (mainly because of the erosion of standards caused by ‘Political Correctness’ and threats of litigation).
Rob started learning Karate at Blacktown around 1963. Rob was a ‘natural’ at Karate and developed very quickly into a formidable fighter. In all of the interclub competitions held in those days, Rob never looked like losing a single spar; if you look at some of the videos from those days, you will see Rob’s lightning fast kicks, usually landing in some place other than where his opponent was blocking. After a number of years of outstanding performance Wally called Rob aside and said that as the ‘Top Dog’ (in Wally’s words) he should take the lead role in instructing the other students. Rob took on this lead instructor role in Blacktown until he completed his University studies in the end of 1969, when he had to move to Adelaide.
In his late teens and early twenties Rob could lift more than his own body weight above his head with one hand and was considered to be very strong by his contemporaries; this strength added a lot of authority to his techniques.
In the mid to late 1960s Rob was studying for a four year engineering degree at the University of NSW as a Cadet of the Weapons Research Establishment in Salisbury S.A. (now DSTO). He began to apply the principles of Engineering and Physics to his Karate techniques, his University training also taught him to challenge the status quo and to examine each of the Karate techniques to see if they could be improved or optimised.
Some examples of changes he made are:
·Many of the traditional Karate techniques had the upper body and the lower body effectively locked together, Rob changed his style so that the upper body and the lower body became far less inter-dependent, which allowed for a much larger range of combinations of hand and foot techniques.
·Traditional punches started with the fist down near the hip, which didn’t make much sense as the force must react through the shoulder. Rob changed to hold his fist much higher at the start of the punch.
·Some of the traditional stances had a body weight distribution that meant no kick could be executed without a major change in body position; this slowed down kicks to the point of being ineffective. Rob changed his stances to facilitate rapid kicking.
·Small cylindrical shaped punching bags were introduced into all training. These could be struck on the front and the sides, thus allowing practice of a much larger range of techniques than a flat surface. Heavy punching bags were removed as they did not represent any realistic target.
·Rob put a very strong emphasis on co-ordination and having the ability to out co-ordinate your opponent. Testing the opponents reactions to various techniques usually led to an opening that could be taken advantage of.
To help pay his way through University in the mid to late 1960’s Rob taught at a number of other Karate clubs around Sydney and at one stage had six clubs under his instruction.
As a part of his Engineering Cadetship with WRE, Rob had to work at WRE Salisbury South Australia during the long Christmas vacation at the end of each year. This is where he met Graham Tuffee who was running the Karate Club at the Salisbury Youth Centre as it was called then. Once Rob moved permanently to Adelaide, Graham handed the club over to Rob to run.
In those days Karate in Adelaide was not up to the same standard as it was in Sydney and Rob’s contributions had a very beneficial effect on the standard of Adelaide Karate. Rob taught many gifted and talented students in S.A. of whom he is justifiably proud. Of these Kym Reid has been carrying on the tradition / heritage in S.A. for many years (decades in fact) and more recently David Gooding who has been teaching in Brisbane.
One of the things that concerns Rob is that the frequency and severity of violence today, largely fuelled by drugs and alcohol, is far worse than it was in the 1960s and 1970s, yet the sparring in Karate clubs is not as realistic as it was back in those times. The logical conclusion in his opinion is that Karate students of today will be much less able to defend themselves. That was not a criticism of the Karate instructors, but of the legal system which has put barriers in the way of ‘realism’.
Rob now resides in Canberra enjoying retirement and is currently producing a manual for 4 Wheel drive vehicle tyre specifics.