ADDING A LITTLE BIT OF PUNCH TO LIFE
JOHN Rosel had put his temper down to his fiery red hair.
But when he reached his early 30s, he realised the moods were impacting his work and he needed to drop the excuses and sort out his anger.
The Mundingburra fatherof- three had done martial arts off and on all his life, but he had given it up for a few years.
“I got back into it with my eldest daughter about 20 years ago and ended up coming over here to Oceanic Health and Fitness to do muay thai and karate,” he said. “About 10 years ago, I noticed a few of my mates had started to drop off when they reached 40. So I said to my mate, why don’t we just train ourselves, where there are no young ones who are quicker than us?”
And so the Old Boys Thai Boxing Club was born. Twice a week now, a group of men be- tween 35 and 60 get together to learn and practise martial arts.
“It’s not a boxercise class, we get together and spar. The camaraderie is great and it’s grown into something so much more than I thought it would,” John said. “You learn some fight skills, which builds a bit of confidence. At that stage in your life that’s important as you’re starting to think the best years are behind you.”
John, who has always been interested in personal development, started jotting down both musings from martial arts teachings and his thoughts about being an “old boy”.
Despite being asked at school if English was his second language, he went on to publish a book called The Four Pillars of Life.
“As you get older you start to think about things differently. You start to think about where you are at and if it’s where you’re meant to be. Every guy goes through it they just don’t always talk about it,” John said.
“While the book is generally aimed at old boys … anyone can get anything out of it.
“I’m far from being a guru, but just felt I needed to write it down and I wanted to show my daughters you can actually do something.”
He said the boys he hangs around with are not exactly sit around the campfire singing Kumbaya types but that the club gave them much- needed support, even if often it’s unsaid.
John, who has been in Townsville for 30 years, initially came to work at the ANZ Bank. He went on to work in development for the Honeycombes and has run his own project management business for 14 years. He has just rebranded that operation, naming it Rosel Sherwood and is opening an office in Brisbane.
For the next challenge, John and a few of the boys are going to tackle the Kokoda Track next year for their 50th birthdays.