Visitor report: Matt Williams

I had visited Akademi Kristus (AK) on my previous holiday to Bali, so my expectations of my return were informed by my prior experiences. Sitting in the airport lounge the day after my second visit, I considered how my buddy Peter Sheather might have been feeling about our maiden scooter ride through a foreign metropolis and a thunderstorm to a place entirely unfamiliar.

When Geoff Collins welcomed me under the AK roof for our first meeting it had only recently been erected. As we rolled on thin jigsaw mats, dust rose in the thick, humid air, setting deep into my sweat-soaked gi. I remember clearly the feeling of cardboard underfoot, the packed earth settling from the recent construction on top of which activity spaces had been created, scattered with art and craft materials. I remember the jigsaw mats of assorted colours in ‘pride of place’, swept clean with care, juxtaposed by the exposed ground upon which they rested.

I recall feeling a quiet comfort, relating to something deeper than what could be observed in my surrounds. There was a rapport, a genuine unspoken understanding of purpose for which we were all together under AK’s new roof, a sharing of spirit on a platform that has provided as a medium for countless transformations and becomings.

Now, more than a year later, Peter and I were doing our best to assimilate in the heavy afternoon traffic en route to AK from Canngu.

After a few wrong turns – and a few group selfies with locals keen to have their picture taken with two of the strangest looking critters ever to stop and ask for directions – we arrived at AK, still slightly damp from the rain. The Collins family welcomed us with open arms, extended family in tow.

Upon entering, I was immediately struck by the progress that had been made since my last visit. A long line of bags hung from the beams backed by murals on the cinder block boundary wall. The new mats were promoted invitingly by lights installed along the roof, and rows of gis hung on a rack where the Collins’ dog had paced its run on my previous visit.

I got the same feeling I used to get as a kid walking into my mother’s classroom on school holidays; looking around I had a strong sense that this was a happy, busy space.

We warmed up, practiced some technique, rolled and bowed out. I was impressed with how far the students had advanced in their skill-set, transitioning well between offence and defence. There was an obvious sense of pride amongst those participating, and I couldn’t help but notice a father of one of the boys sitting near the entrance to the academy, smiling graciously as he watched his son roll.

After class, we joined Geoff in dropping some of the students back to their homes in the slums. We arrived in the pitch black, allowing one of the boys to negate the threat of a pack of dogs posturing aggressively at the foot of a thin concrete walkway that spanned an open drain.

Geoff took us to a spot that I recognised from photographs, which had shown Renegade MMA coaches Jamie Murray and John Mirabella rolling on a tarpaulin in the dust. The area was bordered by some open air lean-to shacks from which a sleeping man awoke. He greeted Geoff before warmly shaking hands with me and Peter.

It was at this meeting, humbled by my surroundings and the occasion, blessed and inspired, I felt the presence of those whom had walked this path before me under the AK banner. It was a profound, powerful moment.

The following day, as I sat in the airport lounge, I felt affirmed, assured in my understanding that without conflict there cannot be positive change. By taking those first steps onto the mat, one enters into a personal conflict which empowers change, and without the roof of an academy, there cannot be mats to step onto in the first place.

Martial arts as a concept can be defined, but the individual’s experience of their own journey through martial arts, and indeed the journey itself, is entirely unique to the martial arts practitioner. Despite this, there is a commonality between martial arts practitioners who can identify with the emotions experienced along the journey, emotions that are intrinsic to human nature, and which provide a foundation to build virtues of character that we recognise in those whom we hold in the highest regard.

When we step onto the mat, whether it be in an upmarket Californian Brazilian jiu-jitsu university or an open-air grassroots academy, we strip away all the barriers that define our daily existence. Privilege, circumstance, even languages are transcended as we take those steps into a place that is as honest as the beating of your heart.

I admired for a second time how rolling with somebody who doesn’t speak your language, or you theirs, can bring you to an understanding so much more powerful than can be achieved in any conversation. Rank and berimbolo prowess aside, you stand within that space as equals. For me it is this which has defined my trips to AK, a sense of having played a part in something great, on a proving ground that inspires and engenders the human spirit.

This article was authored by Matt Williams after his visit to Akademi Kristus.