Jiu-Jitsu in the pink

Senior Constable Bryan Ward has been in the pink recently – literally. The Rodney community police officer has been visiting children’s martial arts classes in Silverdale, Warkworth and Wellsford sporting a bright pink jiu-jitsu suit, or gi, to promote the values of anti-bullying initiative Pink Shirt Day (May 20). Senior Constable Ward is based in Whangaparāoa, but he travels throughout the Rodney area visiting schools and youth groups, and is known to many from starring in former children’s TV show, Bryan & Bobby.  He has been an ambassador for Pink Shirt Day since it started in 2009, and says since he joined a local martial arts club, Coast Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (Coast BJJ), that the combat sport shares a number of the same values as Pink Shirt Day – treating people with respect, accepting differences and being an upstander not a bystander when bullying happens. “A number of the coaches at Coast BJJ have worn pink gi’s this month to show their support for Pink Shirt Day and the values for which it stands, to raise awareness of the issue of bullying amongst all club members,” he said. “Lead instructor Matt O’Dea and I have been talking to the kids about the values of Jiu-Jitsu and Pink Shirt Day, both of which are very similar.”