By Ian Escandor:
What is the history behind the club?
Back in 2014, I was part of the Gaming Game club at Bankstown. Within the club, there were a few people interested in not only games, but martial arts. I thought about running a small martial arts club to train at university for my friends and I, and for anyone else who wanted to join as well. So at the end of 2014 I applied to open the club and got a large number of signatures from friends. The club got approved fairly fast but it took a while to get the equipment. We didn’t get the equipment until 2015 second semester. So that’s when we started running sessions. Overall I started it.
What type of events do you run?
So far we have only run training/sparring sessions with the small community of members. We also ran a magic card tournament randomly once.
Why should people join your club?
I never planned for the club to be big. I also haven’t really done much marketing. I guess, join if you feel comfortable and if it benefits you. We mainly socialise and train physically for good health. We roughly have 15 active members.
Is your club open to members outside of Bankstown? Yeah, feel free to join.
Naturally, the club name, Combat Against the Dark Arts, surely piques curiosity amongst some. What or who exactly is the Dark Arts?
Back then I needed a name for the club, but I didn’t want a name that looked too arrogant or serious – something funny but meaningful. Most of my friends found it pretty funny.
In terms of ‘the dark arts’, it simply refers to anybody who uses violence to harm or control any innocent victim. So our club philosophy is to protect those in need.
For more information regarding the Combat Against the Dark Arts, feel free to contact Anthony on 1702771@student.uws.edu.au
