President’s Annual Report 2026
Dear Members,
It’s getting close to the annual gala event that includes our Annual General Meeting so I
wanted to give you some feedback on the activities of the current Management committee.
But to begin this report I wanted to highlight some of the stated aims of AMAHOF as below:
- Foster and promote all styles of Martial Arts at all levels, by providing opportunities to
recognise and reward the outstanding contribution and service of individuals to the Martial
Arts environment. - To encompass and recognise achievements of senior Martial Artists in their respective
fields.
To this end, over the last year, as I outlined in my January newsletter, we have been
refining our definitions of the categories for induction into AMAHOF so that our inductees
are some of the most outstanding Martial Artists in the region.
We introduced the categories of:
- Dedicated Practitioner to recognise those individuals who excel in their Art.
- Exemplary Instructor to recognise those Instructors who truly excel in their teaching.
- Exemplary Martial Artist to recognise individuals who excel in both of these ways.
- AMAHOF Martial Arts Ambassador to recognise those individuals who promote the
Arts not just within the Australasian region but throughout the world. - Legacy and Posthumous inductee category at a cost appropriate to the nature of the
award and the presentation items for this category.
We’ve also introduced some new awards in AMAHOF, in particular to recognise more of
our most experienced members who have given over 50 years of their life to their Art. In
the past the only way we had done this was by awarding them Legend status, but this was
only done for one individual each year. However, we have found that many of our
members have been practicing for this length of time and we should recognise that
service. We have therefore introduced the “Life Member” award for up to five members
each year, to recognise the service and remove the impost of annual membership fees to
these members. From our life members your Management Committee will choose one
individual to be awarded with “Legend” status each year.
We’ve also revised our system of annual membership fees to be applied over a calendar
year, so that we are not chasing fees right up until the AGM, and invoices will be sent to all
members in January of that calendar year for whom we have contact details.
These items have now been implemented and you will notice the changes at the upcoming
Gala and through our correspondence.
We have also made sure the events we hold will now be fully insured for public liability and
Professional indemnity, with cover obtained for our upcoming event and a risk
management plan being implemented.
We canvassed our membership early this year to gain approval for AMAHOF to donate to
two charities that were nominated by our Past President GM Anthony Hockley, and I’m
very pleased to let you know that this was strongly supported by our membership and the
Starlight foundation and Make-a-Wish foundation have been provided with $500 each from
AMAHOF.
In future, we will use some of the funds derived from our fundraising efforts at the annual
event to cover the cost of any Charitable donations, thereby not imposing on AMAHOF
funds directly. Any chosen charity will be announced at the event.
After our poll conducted earlier this year it was decided that at the AGM this year we will
be voting on a number of changes to our Constitution that have come about after
discussions between the executive and GM Lawrence and through the meetings of your
Management Committee. In conjunction with these changes, we have also adjusted our
by-laws and our hard-working secretary has created a year book that will be available
digitally on our website and in hard copy to purchase soon. This document will allow us to
reduce the size of the Gala booklet that was becoming unnecessarily large and expensive
to produce.
We have also to thank GM Lawrence for his efforts in producing the AMAHOF 30 th
Anniversary book, which many of you have already purchased, and more copies can be
made on request through GM Lawrence.
In keeping with tradition, a decision was made by the management committee to use the
colour green for this year’s event, which symbolises growth, renewal, harmony and
prosperity and is the traditional colour for a 30 th anniversary. You will notice this on our
items for this year’s event.
We are also honoured to have a very special guest as our Inaugural AMAHOF Martial Arts
Ambassador in Benny “The Jet” Urquidez, who will provide the usual members workshop
on Saturday but will also run a two-hour workshop on Sunday that will be open to all at a
small additional cost.
I would like also to thank our VP Peter Hunt who has worked hard to establish AMAHOF
state representatives who will be available to organise communications and events for
AMAHOF members in each state to further enhance our networks of members.
This year we will induct 12 new members into AMAHOF and they are of a really high
calibre. I’m confident that you will all enjoy the workshops and meeting these extraordinary
candidates.
We are also already on track for our next event in 2027 that I will be hosting and will be
held on the third weekend in August 2027 in Hobart, Tasmania at the Crowne Plaza Hotel
in the centre of Hobart. This venue is relatively new to Hobart and offers extraordinary
views of Kunyani (Mt Wellington) on one side and the waterfront on the other. It has terrific
facilities and promises to be a great event.
Along with the Tasmanian Gala we are already working with our colleagues across the
ditch in New Zealand to hold a combined AMAHOF and NZMAHOF event in 2028 during
Matariki weekend (in 15-18 th July).
As you can tell from this report, your Management Committee has been working
exceptionally hard over the past year, and I cannot thank this team enough for their efforts,
they give up a number of hours each month for our meeting and have been working on
projects between each meeting and providing their reports on progress. In particular I
would like to single out the members of the Executive in Colin Wee our Secretary who has
put in an extraordinary amount of time and effort to ensure we have documentation on all
of our projects, my supportive Vice President Peter Hunt, whose enthusiasm for
encouraging activities in our membership is indefatigable, our long suffering Treasurer,
Roland Winter whom we harass with constant requests for updates, but also this year’s
host David Gordon who has put in an enormous effort to provide a memorable 30 th
Anniversary event.
I look forward to gathering with you all to celebrate 30 years of extraordinary Martial Arts
achievements in Melbourne at both the seminars and the wonderful Melbourne Arts Centre
for our Gala dinner.
Grandmaster Steven Weston
President, AMAHOF
======================
Executive Committee Members
President: Steven Weston
Vice President: Peter Hunt
Secretary: Colin Wee
Treasurer: Roland Winter
Management Committee Members
2023-2027 John Marrable, George Adams
2025-2029 David Gordon, Brenda Hum
Sokeship Council
Chairman Edward Scharrer
Vice Chairman Anthony Hockley
Ex-Officio Member Grandmaster Steven Weston
Grandmaster Steven Weston
9th Dan Black Belt
AMAHOF President
Sokeship Council Ex-officio Member