Karate keeps Garry young at heart

AFTER six months of research, a thesis, two-hour presentation and exam, 73-year-old Garry Maher is now a nationally recognised teacher in the advanced skills of martial arts.
The former police detective sergeant started practicing karate nine years ago to keep fit and “young in the mind” and enjoys teaching the art to others at Noosaville’s Karate Budokan International.
Garry said he wanted to achieve the government qualification to better equip himself with the knowledge, skills and the latest trends and issues in the teaching of karate to benefit his students.
For Garry, his involvement with the KBI Masters group for the over 50s has been the highlight of his karate journey, where he has found karate can help transform people into more agile, confident and motivated participants.
“I can identify with such people because I nervously commenced karate at 65-years-old, wondering what on earth I was doing in a karate school,” he said.
“But I hung in there and with the assistance of the friendly teachers I worked my way up through belt ranks until I reached what I thought was an impossible dream; a first dan black belt at the age of 68 and eventually my third dan at 72 years of age.
“I’m a great believer that the joys and challenges of youth should not be solely the preserve of the young and that anything in life is possible but the impossible, it seems, just takes a little longer.”
Garry said he is always looking for people to join him and share the challenges and the real sense of well-being that the martial art of karate provides.
Anyone who would like more information can contact Garry at the Karate Budokan International training school on 5455 5222.