Over the past ten years, the Spring Hill man has suffered a dislocated shoulder and "tore a knee to pieces" so badly that he suffered significant damage to his ACL, MCL and PCL, the latter of which is no more.

One could be forgiven for thinking that the amount of blows Mr Denzel's body has taken would be enough for the martial arts teacher to give the sport away for good.

"There's been plenty of times along the way that injuries have hit and I've looked at it and thought that being an older guy, I should hang it up," he said.

But he persevered and has been rewarded for that determination.

In July, Mr Denzel was presented with something that only a small percentage of people who take up martial arts ever accomplish; he was awarded a black belt in judo by his club - 28Hundred Martial Arts Academy - something that came as a surprise to him.

"Looking back at it, there's probably a few signs that I should have picked up on, like my father coming across from Mudgee for the night," he said.

"We'd had a grading for the kids and our students at the training facility in Cudal. We'd been out there training all day with the kids and then mine was the last belt that was handed out on the night. (My trainer) Greg Wiltshire, blindsided me a little bit."

Having suffered so many setbacks during his time in the sport, it was only fitting that a bout of adversity was how he came to be involved in martial arts in the first place.

"It started with my eldest son. He is now 18 this year and he started training with Greg when he was about eight," he said.

"He had a night at training where he took a big knock and I thought he was going to quit. It was then that I made a promise to him that if he did keep training then I'd go out and start with him. He stayed out there and kept training and now we're here."

A lifelong football player before he took up martial arts at age 33, Mr Denzel said he was "old enough to know better."

"Now I've got four kids who all train and have competed throughout the country," he added.

Then around 2018 was when Mr Denzel began his teaching duties, as the 28Hundred group opened a judo club in Spring Hill. Of all the accolades throughout the past decade, it has been Mr Denzel's work with his children and students that has given him the most joy.

"The thing that's really rewarding for me is the students who come in and are getting picked on at school and they're the ones I can really help along the way," he said.

"They get a lot of confidence from it and are a lot better for it. I thoroughly enjoy making good martial artists, but I much prefer helping kids that need a little bit of help."

So where to now for Mr Denzel now that he has reached the level of black belt? Well, it's fair to say he is not planning on slowing down.

"If you'd asked me ten years ago when I decided to step on the mat, whether I'd make it to this point, I would have told you that you were mad," he said.

"Now, having achieved that, it's not an ending, it's a beginning again. Now your knowledge is at that level and you get the chance to bring that to your students and to everyone else.

"It's not something that I look at and think 'wow, I've made it', it's something I look at and think that I can start again. I can be a little fish in a big pond."

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