Occupation:
Speaker, author, martial artist
Interviewer:
Jess Miller
Location:
Sydney
Date:
September 2022
Nadine Champion is not my friend. She is my teacher. I first met her 14 years ago, at Boxing Works in Sydney. Within the Boxing Works constellation, Nadine was at the peak of her fighting career and one of the few fighters in the gym that every other fighter respected. Thirteen years ago I mustered up the courage to ask her if she would teach me. She would have taught me longer, had it not taken me so long to ask.
Nadine has taught me the physical side of Ukidokan kickboxing, making me feel physically fit and strong and realise that my body is capable of amazing things. When I became pregnant unexpectedly, she allowed me (with great care) to continue training, and in doing so gave me a sense of agency over a situation I was terrified by.
When Nadine was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma mid-2013, I was afraid of losing her. I am grateful to Sensei Benny – Nadine's teacher – who held space for us all during a training session to tell her out loud that we loved her.
Thirteen years ago, I didn't know that falling in love with Ukidokan meant entering deep and turbulent emotional water. The more I learn, the deeper and more uncomfortable it becomes; the pain is physical and emotional. More than once I've needed help to be put back together and for this I am extremely grateful to have a Sensei to help me confront and fully experience myself – the good, the bad and the ugly.
So it is with greatest respect that I don't consider Nadine Champion my friend. She is my teacher, and I am proud to share our conversation with you.
JESS MILLER: Let's start at the beginning. Why martial arts?
NADINE CHAMPION: Being a physical little kid, a tomboy up trees, in the pool, running around, riding bikes, I was always going to lean towards something that came in a physical package. Then, my brother was getting bullied, so when he started high school, my parents took him to martial arts class. It looked magic to me. And it came naturally and was the right level of spiritedness and physicality. The way I explain it, the martial part of it wasn't that relevant for a 10-year-old. The art part of it was what I saw. It looked beautiful and exciting and fun to me.
Did you feel it was something you were allowed to do as a little girl?
No. My mum used to joke she was going to put a pink ribbon in my hair. But when the class finished, the instructor brought me over to my mum and asked how long I'd been doing martial arts, and she said I'd never done it before. He told her I was a natural and I heard him. I could feel that what
