JKA Victoria Tributes - Mark Bonassin

Tributes

Mark Bonassin - Son of Melbourne JKA

In 1983 a quiet and unassuming man called Bruno Bonassin walked into the JKA Victoria Cheltenham Dojo in Melbourne’s Bayside to enquire about Karate training in the newly formed class. Bruno was a bit older than the average member but quickly took to his new interest very well. He rarely missed a class and he rarely said much. A Painter by trade from an Italian and Yugoslav background, his training ethic was simple - "keep up with the young ones”.

Mark Bonassin 1972-1994

Not only did he do so, he always made a point of out-exercising the whole class, especially in strength drills. Bruno had very solid and “grounded” Karate, with strong shoulders formed by years of lifting the implements of his trade over his head and reaching for ceilings, he would rip through 50 or 100 full press-ups without a problem. When it came to competitions, he didn’t take part much, choosing to leave that to the young bucks, which was a pity because he fought hard and fast in the Dojo and would have done very well in Shiai.

One night Bruno brought his skinny young teenage son Mark along to the Dojo. There was no need to watch first or ask questions, Bruno had decided he was ‘in’, so the lad just tagged onto the end of the line and, like his dad, straight away showed all the signs of making a real go of Karate. Mark was a very good junior with natural rhythm and sailed through his grading exams, always standing out as a keen and capable student. He took the test for Shodan with the Chief Instructor of JKA Australia, Takahashi Sensei just 2 years and 8 months after he started training. He had caught Sensei’s eye and was no-doubt earmarked for some future special attention, JKA style!

In 1988, Australia hosted the 2nd Shoto World Cup of Karate-Do in Brisbane, Queensland. Bruno and Mark travelled from Melbourne to watch the event and young Mark sat ogle-eyed at what he saw. The senior event was preceded by the Junior World Championships in which Australians had reasonable success. Seeing kids of his own age performing at the elite level left Mark with a lasting impression. He often spoke about how fast, sharp and fearless the competitors were and he modelled himself on that during his junior years.

Mark’s progress was acknowledged in 1990 when he was invited as a new Nidan to join Melbourne Hombu Instructor training. At the time, he was the youngest Karate-ka to do so. He found it very difficult, but he was encouraged through the harder times by his father, himself a Black Belt, realising that this accelerated learning was important if he wanted to emulate what he saw in 1988.

At 20, things were taking off, Mark represented Australia in an international test match and he was showing great promise in his Karate. His Tokui Kata was Sochin and he practiced it relentlessly which paid off with wins at local and State level. He had a very steady Kamae and fast, dynamic Keri-waza, from which his Mae-geri and Ushiro-geri stood out. The JKA Melbourne Instructor class for a long time practiced the back kick from various positions; under the opponents guard, over it, from the side, front, using tai-sabaki and even as a counter, where the opponents initiates an attack to be stopped with Ushiro Geri. Something that is hard to do in the full fury of Kumite. He liked this one and he used it in the Dojo against most opponents, scrappily at first because of the difficulty, then over time in a polished and easy way. In the 1992 JKA Australia Southern States Men’s Kumite Final, Mark circled his opponent for about 30 seconds then leapt toward him and a bit to the side throwing and connecting with a fabulous spinning back kick. The crowd and other players gasped as he was awarded Ippon. At the dinner following the Championships, Mark sat quietly listening to Nishimura Sensei’s advice, taking-in every word like the eager beginner he thought he was.

Toward the end of his short life, Mark was a core member of JKA Melbourne, a national representative and a popular young teacher of Karate-do. In late July 1994 after 6 years with a flawless attendance record, he suddenly and inexplicably stopped training. Surprised, his Instructors put this down to the fact that he had trained so hard and so consistently in Karate that he probably never had a chance to do what normal kids of his age do. Party and enjoy themselves.

It was supposed that Mark had found a girl and, as much as he denied it, he was told to have fun and that he would be welcome back at the Dojo anytime. Then on a Sunday night in October of the same year, Mark’s distraught father called the Melbourne Instructors with the awful news that his precious son was dead. The news crossed JKA Australia very quickly and person after person in each State was shocked at hearing it.

Mark was laid to rest on a cold Melbourne morning where tears flowed heavily and heads hung low. At the service, his colleagues from the JKA Melbourne Hombu Dojo couldn’t speak, there was too much to say. Afterwards, his fathers’ strong shoulders held his only boy aloft for the last time.

Mark had been diagnosed some time earlier with Schizophrenia, a common condition that is widely mis-understood often to the point of being made fun of by some people. His family had taken steps to provide good medical attention for him. They had naturally kept the news to themselves and planned, together with Mark to manage the problem as all close families do. It was not to be.

Mark Bonassin was a fantastic young man. He was gentle and understated like his father and he carried in him a passion for Karate that inspired even his seniors. He died far too early, a boy in a world of hard men who gave us a lot but didn’t get to live a long life. Mark now rests in peace and his respected memory lives and moves today in all who knew him.