AMAHOF President’s Report 2024
Good evening, ladies, gentlemen, and honoured guests.
I would like to welcome you all to the beautiful city of Adelaide in South Australia. I would also like to acknowledge and welcome our AMAHOF Legend members who are present here tonight. This is the highest award given in AMAHOF, reserved for only a chosen few with 50+ years of service in the martial arts.
Tonight, we are here to celebrate and remember the members of AMAHOF.
Congratulations to all our new inductees for 2024. I would like to personally welcome you to our AMAHOF family, and I hope you enjoy your weekend. I would also like to welcome back some of last year’s inductees.
This year, we are awarding AMAHOF membership to another WKUHOF member who has travelled all the way from Maryland, USA, for this event: my brother from another mother and one of the nicest gentlemen I know, Master Rick Rando. We welcome you to Australia for the first time and hope you enjoy your short stay here in Adelaide.
Tonight, we also recognize five AMAHOF members from South Australia with Lifetime Achievement Awards for their dedication and service in the martial arts. Sadly, we also said goodbye and RIP to another one of our AMAHOF members this year.
I would like to say a sincere thank you to my wife, Kelly Hockley, and Master Paul Mitchell for doing everything they could to make this event a success. I also want to extend my thanks to Sensei Craig Swingler for providing the training mats for the seminars and for your donation to our raffle.
Thank you to all our board of directors who gave up their personal time to help AMAHOF over the past twelve months:
- Vice President: Zlatko Peter Kitak
- Secretary: Colin Wee
- Treasurer: Roland Winter
- Board Members: Peter Hunt, John Marrable (NZ), Diana La Torre
- Sokeship Council Chairman: Edward Scharrer
- Vice Chairman: Steve Weston
As a special mention, I would like to thank and congratulate my good friend and other dad, GM Ramon Lawrence (OAM). Your friendship and guidance over the years have been a true blessing in my life.
We have shared so many wonderful moments together in Australia, Japan, and the USA. Iaido, Jodo, Kyudo, and AMAHOF have brought us together in true martial arts brotherhood.
Today, I had the privilege of sitting on the Sokeship exam table for his 9th Dan test. I am very proud of him and thankful for the many lessons and stories he has shared with me. Ramon did the hard work to help build AMAHOF by being our longest-serving President. He was also the Australian representative board member for the World Karate Union Hall of Fame (WKUHOF) for 25 years, before he passed this role to me last year in the USA.
I am truly grateful for everything that he has done for AMAHOF and appreciate his continued support when needed. It was Ramon and many others who pushed me towards being the President of AMAHOF. I honestly never wanted to be even Vice President, as I didn’t think I was qualified to do so.
However, with considerable arm-twisting, I humbly accepted the role. The truth is, my wife Kelly has helped at every event since 2013. If not for her support and that of the board members, I would not be standing here today.
While we may receive awards and praise as martial artists and instructors, remember that your supporting partner deserves the praise and recognition as much as you do.
On that note, I would like to thank everyone for coming to this event. I hope you all enjoy your night, and I look forward to teaching in tomorrow’s seminars and hope to see you on the mats.
GM Anthony Hockley
10th Dan Kenpo/Kempo
Crocodile Martial Arts Australia
AMAHOF President
WKUHOF Australian Board Member