Welcome To Athletic Sports Massage Canberra, Specialising In Women's Health Only

Independent Spirit, Community Driven: Free Self-Defence for Women

Ray offers free, practical self-defence training specifically for women in our community. Whether you are a martial artist looking to sharpen your skills or a beginner wanting to feel more secure, this is a space for you.

Independent Spirit, Community Driven: Free Self-Defence for Women

Reclaiming Your Safety and Strength in Canberra

At Athletic Sports Massage Canberra, Ray’s commitment to women’s health extends beyond recovery—it encompasses the fundamental right to feel safe. Ray offers free, practical self-defence training specifically for women in our community. Whether you are a martial artist looking to sharpen your skills or a beginner wanting to feel more secure, this is a space for you.

Why Ray Offers This for Free

Ray’s mission is deeply personal. Having witnessed and experienced domestic abuse as a child, and having spent years listening to the heartbreaking stories of women in his clinical practice, he believes that every woman deserves the tools to protect herself and her children. This isn't about profit; it’s about promoting safety, health, and a resilient Canberra community. Ray is driven by a simple goal: to give back to the community.

A Unique, Practical Approach

Ray is an independent practitioner with a focus on real-world effectiveness over "flashy" sport-style martial arts. His background is diverse and specialised:

Decades of Experience: Ray began training privately at age 12.
Canberra Shotokan Karate: Many years ago, he trained and taught in South and North Canberra, earning his black belts within a supportive local community.
Tze Lung Chan (High-Level Black Belt): In 2025, Ray completed advanced overseas training in this private, invitation-only system.

Ray isn't tied to a national organisation, allowing him to focus on what truly works. He welcomes collaboration with local dojos that share his core values of mutual respect, openness, and practical protection.

Training Options Tailored to You

Skills Enhancement: Already training? Ray can assist with focus mitts and kicking pads to boost your cardio, striking power, and blocking skills.
Practical Self-Defence: Learn basic, effective techniques designed for real-world scenarios in public spaces or at home.
A Safe Environment: We maintain a strict policy to ensure the integrity of our group.
Ray does not train individuals with a history of violence.
To support an accountable community, all participants are required to hold a current Working with Vulnerable People (WWVP) registration.

The Reality of Safety in the Canberra (2024–2025)

The Reality of Safety in Canberra

Feeling safe isn't about living in fear.
It's about being prepared, aware and confident in your ability to respond.

Recent ACT Policing data recorded 4,478 domestic and family violence-related incidents in 2024–25 — an average of 12 incidents every day, with reported incidents increasing by 33% over the previous five years.

That’s why learning practical self-defence skills can be an important part of personal safety.

Learn to recognise danger.
Learn to create distance.
Learn to protect yourself.
Build confidence — not fear.

Ray's women’s self-defence training focuses on practical skills, awareness, boundaries and confidence — helping you feel more prepared to handle situations that may become unsafe.

Be aware. Be prepared. Be confident.

Join a Community of Resilience

If these values resonate with you, Ray invites you to reach out. This is a judgment-free, supportive environment where your safety is the only priority.

Ray's Lifelong Journey in the Martial & Healing Arts

55 Years of Mastery, Movement, and Restoration

Ray’s approach to bodywork is inseparable from a journey that began over five decades ago. At 67 years old, Ray has been training in the martial arts since he was 12. This lifetime of dedication allows him to understand the female body not just as a collection of muscles, but as a dynamic system of energy, strength, and resilience.

The Private Lineage: Tze Lung Chan. (This is not a worldwide system, only a family system, as you had to be asked at a young age, and I was the only white guy ever to have done this training, thanks to his son and late wife, as I was training at the time with his late son when I was 12 years old.

For over 30 years, Ray has been a "closed-door" student under Grandmaster Chan Tze Lung and Master Yoko. This is not a commercial style; it is a private family system with roots tracing back to the Heian Period (794–1185).

Elite Mastery: In July 2025, Ray travelled to Asia to complete his full Senior Master’s training, being graded to the 6th Dan Master level.
A Living Legacy: Now, with 55 years of training behind him, Ray has mastered the full syllabus of his lineage. This includes 30-plus years specifically dedicated to the healing arts, a foundation that informs the "Somatic Grace" he brings to his clinical massage practice today.
My last master's teacher wasn’t like normal grading, as you get one at each stage. You only got two gradings, one as a first dan and the second once you had finished the whole system, including the healing system. Part of the first test was that I was asked, when I was a younger guy, whether I wanted to know when I passed a grade. I answered no; if I had said yes, I would have failed the first and only test, and Grand Master Chan would not have trained me anymore.
Part of my training was that I had to train in different styles of Karate and Kung Fu and at least gain a black belt in Karate and be asked to teach, as this was part of his assessment to see if I had what it takes to work within other systems. Also to know when it's time to walk away if I felt the system did not match what my training needs are.

A Diverse & Prestigious Heritage

Ray’s expertise is built upon 55 years of training with some of the world's most respected masters across multiple disciplines, including Judo, Wing Chun, Karate, Chin Na, Muay Thai, Arnis and mixed martial arts:

Okinawan Karate: As a private student, Ray trained under Sensei Mark Greville in the 80s in Shorin-Ryu, Okinawan Karate. (Ray fixed Sensei Mark's 4-wheel drive bodywork for private lessons) Sensei Mark was one of the best teachers and a humble man he had trained under.
Shotokan Karate: Earned his Black Belt under the legendary 7th Dan Murakami Sensei (Japan) in 1992.
Ray also had the privilege of training under 10th Dan Master Kanazawa when he came to Canberra.
Instructional Leadership: Hand-picked by Sensei Tim Duffy (3rd Dan) to lead classes, my own class, and teach my self-defence techniques in his dojo in North Canberra. I also served as an assistant instructor under World Champion Kerry Flynn in her club, Southside of Canberra.
Internal Arts: Trained in Tai Chi (Yang Style), including sessions with Master Fu Sheng Yuan in 1993, as well as Chi Kung, focusing on the flow of energy and internal health.

International Expertise & Global Exchange

Ray is a global practitioner who consistently travels to Asia to refine his skills and share his knowledge of Western pain management with international peers.

2025: High-level training and consultations across Asia, culminating in his 6th Dan Master grading at age 66.
2024: I returned from my overseas trip to Asia for a brief break, also for training and meeting with my international police and sports clients. Got back on 16/07/24.
2019: Back again from Thailand, learning new skills on 6th October 2019 and also massaging overseas clients with my pain management sports massage and stretch therapy. Hong Kong training was cancelled due to the unrest there.
2018: Advanced training in Japan, and got back on the 7th of July 2018, from my Asia trip, learning new skills and teaching my pain management to massage therapist friends in Hong Kong.

Empowering the Community

Ray’s 50-year pass journey is not about competition; it is about empowerment. He uses his lifelong expertise to teach free women’s self-defence in the Canberra community, as he believes that the combination of physical skill and mental resilience is every woman’s birthright.

"At 67, I am a testament to the arts I practice. My 55 years of training taught me how the body breaks; the healing arts taught me how to put it back together. I am here to help you move with the same strength and grace I’ve cultivated over a lifetime."

Ray Flaherty Other Training

1. Psychotherapy to help with awareness of various emotional and psychological challenges, such as anxiety, depression, trauma and more.....

2. A Diploma of Psychology to develop a deeper understanding of the human mind and behaviour.

3. Certificate 4 Allied Health Exercise Programs HLT42507 in Occupational therapy & Physiotherapy assistant units in exercise for recovery.

4. Assist with the development and maintenance of the client's functional status.

5. Conduct group sessions for individual client outcomes.

6. Assist in the rehabilitation of clients.

7. Assist With Client Movement.

8. Support the fitting of assistive devices and more.

9. Understanding Traumatic Brain Injury.

10. Introduction to Physiotherapy Diploma.

11. Provide First Aid HLTAID011. (Updating)