Karate

JOSH Hodgson does not know the meaning of impossible.

The eight-year-old, who has spina bifida, has taken to Kyokushin karate like he has been doing it all his life, with his first grading occurring last Friday.

Despite not having the use of his legs, Josh is far from being left behind in his class and is expected to earn his first belt after an impressive showing for Frank Cirillo.

“What Michelle (Brain) did was she devised a program that, instead of kicks, used different strikes with the use of the arms to substitute kicks, but when it came time to do push-ups and sit-ups with the rest of the kids, he got down on the mat and did it with them,” Cirillo said.

While Cirillo was in Coleambally to oversee the grading of Josh and other students, his most hands-on teacher has been Brain, who continues to be amazed at her student’s enthusiasm.

“He’s been doing very well and I’ve been very happy with him and I think Frank was pretty impressed,” Brain said.

“When he started he wasn’t able to make a fist,

so now he can and while his co-ordination isn’t

fantastic at this stage, you can really see improvement.

“And things like push-ups – I just straighten his legs out and he’s only lifting the top half of his body off the floor, but he can pump out 20 push-ups.”

Excitingly for Cirillo and Brain, high-ranking Kyokushin karate officials have caught wind of Josh’s revised training and have asked the pair to keep notes with plans to make the program a blueprint for people in wheelchairs who wish to partake in the sport.

Meanwhile, Josh got the news early this week to say that he’s earned his first belt.