Transsexual wins weapons

It was a successful weekend for the GLMA Martial Arts club as it triumphed at the Australian Martial Arts Championships in Lidcombe.

Standout on the day and a transsexual force to be dealt with was Delilah Slack-Smith, who took first place in the black belt open weapons division against a large field of accomplished martial artists.

Often transsexuals get a lot of discrimination in the mainstream so you have to be twice as good to achieve half as much, so it’s quite a landmark for it be so good it doesn’t matter, GLMA Martial Arts founder Penny Gulliver said.

We are reaching the point of having a large amount of acceptance in the mainstream martial arts community and we are turning out quality students.

Other team members included Ako Hoshino, Tai Toki and David Atherton Cooper who all made the top three rankings in their divisions.

All in all we won five first places, one second and one third place from our four competitors, Gulliver said.

GLMA has a syllabus that changes and constantly incorporates new things. So as long as students commit themselves to their training they will go far and I will be right behind them.

info: All classes are run out of The Joseph Sargent Centre, 60 Prospect St, Erskineville on Tuesdays, Thursday and Saturdays. A six-week kick boxing course will begin on Thursday 12 March. For more information you can call Penny on 0411 808 451 or email [email protected].