Say the name Bruce Lee and you’ll know who he is. Say the name Steven Seagal and you’ll also know who he is. These international icons are adored on the big screen and in the martial arts world. They became famous through the entertainment industry but their roots started out in martial arts. But not all great martial artists like the limelight. Some prefer to keep a low profile. So today, we’ll be talking about Penang’s very own martial arts icon. Franciscus Nithya Natham or better known as Sensei Franky.
Sensei Franky was born and raised as the son of the late Francis Ramasamy, a former Malaysia Judo champion. Mr Ramasamy was also well versed in Jujitsu, Kendo, Thai kickboxing and Aikido; was well respected in the martial arts world and had years of teaching experience (Dewi, 2005). So, being the son of such a great martial artist, you can say that Sensei Franky had an interesting childhood while growing up.
In an exclusive interview with Sensei Franky, we were able to uncover his life experiences and achievements. When asked about what got him into martial arts, here is what he had to say about the matter.
“I didn’t have a choice in the matter. My father being who he was, I was exposed to martial arts at the tender age of 3. My house being the Honbu (Headquarters) headed by my father, he trained me hard every time I was home. I remember my father performing ground locks on me and asking me to escape. I literally had no idea of how to do so at 3 years of age. But because of all that training, I was able to become much better as I grew older. By the time I was 11 years old, my father appointed me to teach Aikido classes due to the elegant bodily movements I started develop”.
In that sense, it is clear that Sensei Franky had an interesting childhood growing up as the son of someone who was known as a strict martial artist. During the interview session we also covered Sensei Franky’s achievements over the years as a martial artist. Throughout the years, Sensei Franky had accumulated an impressive 27 years of teaching experience and that alone is already a significant achievement. But nonetheless, here is what he said.
“People always thought of achievements as something that can be printed out on a piece of paper like a certificate or displayed on a shelf like a trophy to show it off, to make your success known. But truly, the best achievements are the ones that are kept low key. For me, one of the best achievements I have gotten in life is creating my own swordsmanship style called ‘Mushinryu’. As a kid, my father never taught me anything about the sword besides drawing and sheathing the sword. But somehow the sword just came naturally to me. I was able to move in ways that even thrilled my father. When I was 15 years old, I met up with a group of enthusiastic people and we all tested out our skills against each other. We did so with both armed and unarmed combat. Back then it was called ‘free-style sparring’ and everyone really went all out on each other just to see how practical and efficient their techniques were. From there I gained a lot of the necessary experience and knowledge needed to form Mushinryu”.
Sensei Franky definitely achieved more than that in his life, but we will never know the true extent of his achievements. It is due to his kind and humble nature that he does not boast about his achievements and that itself is another mini achievement in life.
These days, Sensei Franky is the headmaster of his own dojo and is proud of it. In his dojo, he has always emphasized on one thing. And that one thing is love. As a final advice from Sensei Franky for everyone out there, he said “live with love, always love”.
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