The Hangar 4 Coaches

CARL DRAPPER

Carl Drapper has been training in martial arts for over 22 years. He first started under the guidance of Mick Nicholls and Ricky O’Brien in Freestyle Combat, grading up to 2nd degree black belt. Whilst training under Mick he was exposed to many great and varied martial arts and martial arts masters such as Guru Dan Inosanto, Larry Hartsell, Erik Paulson, Tony Blaurer, Nino Pillar and John Will.

Carl was first exposed to MuayThai when, in the late 1980s, Mick Nicholls returned from a training trip in Manchester, England, under the world-famous Master Toddy, and began to instruct the art. In 1994, Carl made his first trip to train and fight in Thailand under the World MuayThai Council (WMC) and its General Secretary, Mr Stephan Fox (Contender Asia mentor), where he would return on numerous occasions to train and fight. Carl then moved to London, England, where he spent three years teaching at the revered Peacock Gym in Canning Town.

In 2002, Carl relocated to Thailand to work directly for the WMC in Bangkok and was immersed in the sport 24/7. Training with such legends as Nokweed Davy, Paul Slowinksi (The Sting), Bruce MacFie (The Preacher) and Alex Dally, Carl forged strong relationships with many world-class fighters and trainers. After three years in Thailand, Carl returned to Melbourne to rebuild the Hangar 4 Gym (originally based in Essendon). Carl is now the owner and head MuayThai coach at Hangar 4, Preston; one of Victoria’s best MMA facilities incorporating BJJ, MuayThai, Wrestling and Boxing all under the one roof. The gym is now proudly producing some fantastic young, up-and-coming MuayThai and MMA fighters.

DAMIEN KEFALAS

Damien Damien began traditional Karate at 7 years of age. With natural talent and a strong work ethic, at age 12 he moved into Freestyle Karate (under Rick O’Brien) and at age 18 received his 2nd dan black belt. Since then, Damien has trained in MuayThai consistently with Carl who has coached Damien not only as an exceptional martial artist, but also as an instructor and fighter.

Having travelled to Thailand on training camps, Damien has been a regular competitor in tournaments, fight nights and in the ring, and has no plans of retiring just yet. A great source of leadership and inspiration within the club, Damien has the respect of all who train with him and he’s able to motivate us for one more round. Damien’s motto is, “Go hard or go home”.

PETER BACKMAN

Peter Backman began boxing as a teen before going on to find Karate in the 1970s. Peter is a 1st dan black belt under Tino Ceberano, under whom he also studied Arnis, and he and Tino travelled to the USA, South America & the Philippines to train. Upon Peter’s return to Australia, he began boxing again with his friend of 40 years, Commonwealth Champion and world-ranked Bantamweight, Glenn Walsh.

It was not until 1996 that Peter found submission fighting through some of the BJJ blue belts he was training karate with. From then on, Peter trained in BJJ in Richmond, at Footscray Uni and, amongst other venues, the original Hangar 4 at Essendon Airport (where Peter was one of its first members). He also undertook (and still does) a weekly private lesson with John Will himself.

Peter went on to found the Sunbury BJJ club before moving to Bairnsdale and starting the local club ther. Despite the time and distance, Peter still committed to his weekly private in Geelong with John Will, and was given his current rank of brown belt 3-and-a-half years ago. Peter brings 13 years of BJJ, and over 30 years of martial arts and boxing coaching experience, to the Hangar.

JOHN SIMON

John Simon, the Hangar's head BJJ coach, was the first home-grown Machado BJJ black belt under John Will, with whom he started training in 1991. As well as a J.B.Will Shootfighting black belt, John also holds a black belt in Tae-Kwon-Do. John, along with fellow Will/ Machado black belt Sean Kirkwood, founded the first BJJ/Shootfighting School in NSW.

John has enjoyed great success in competitions, and became the NSW State BJJ champion in various weight divisions in 1994, 1995 and 1997. John has also trained in Brazil and the U.S., fought in Mixed Martial Arts events, run successful BJJ Academies in Maitland and Sydney, and trained people to state and pan-pacific BJJ championship level. He is also well known as the promoter of the Sydney Grappling Challenge (which ran for 3 years before he moved to Melbourne).

LACHLAN (LOCKY) GILES

Locky A sports orientated lifestyle saw Locky discover BJJ at the Hangar at just 14 years of age. Graded to blue belt at 16, purple belt at 18, and brown belt by John Simon at age 22 (in 2009), Locky is a solid competitor and has entered, and won, all the major BJJ tournaments held in Australia.

With training trips to Brazil and Europe under his belt, Locky's future goal is to win the trials and compete at ADCC.

ASH POWELL

Ash Powell A natural athlete and competitor in sports including footy, cricket and basketball, Ash was introduced to MMA at the age of 18 through Pete Backman at Sunbury. Ash trained in boxing until he was 19, and then moved into BJJ.

Coming to Hangar4 in 2004, Ash was graded to blue belt in early 2005 and then purple belt in March 2007. Ash is equally dedicated to MuayThai and has travelling to Thailand to train in its camps.

A regular competitor in BJJ tournaments, MuayThai and MMA fights, Ash is one of the Hangar 4 coaches who runs classes in these disciplines. Ash’s motto is, “plenty of time for sleep when I’m dead.”

Ash is the current Victorian WMC (World MuayThai Council) Welterweight Champion.

STEVEN FOULDS

Steven Foulds started his martial arts training at 8 years of age studying karate. Whilst always being a boxing fan, Steven had an epiphany, of sorts, when he caught a glimpse of the UFC when he was around 13 years old. At 17, he began boxing under the tuition of Peter Backman who, by chance, was also a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu instructor. Having found his calling, Steven became an inaugural member of Sunbury's BJJ club and was presented with his purple belt mid-2009.

Upon Peter's move to Bairnsdale in 2004, Steven trained at the original Hangar 4 and entered competitive amateur boxing under 4x Australian Champion and 3x world title contender Tony ‘Maddog’ Miller. He also received weekly personal tuition from John Will and competed in numerous BJJ tournaments. Steven has also trained in MuayThai, Freetsyle Wrestling, Traditional Jiu Jitsu, Judo & MMA.

ANDREAS DHROSA

Andreas Growing up in Albania, where wrestling and weightlifting are prominent sports, Andreas tried a wide variety of activities – everything from basketball to Karate. But it wasn’t until 1998 when Andreas starting training seriously in the grappling arts.

Over the years, Andreas has training in BJJ, wrestling, Shootfighting and MMA, and is always a strong competitor in any type of competition or tournament.
Andreas received his BJJ blue belt in 2004, and his purple belt from John Simon in 2008.

Andreas’ focus is now on teaching and he is one of our main coaches in our Kids’ Vale Tudo class. Andreas maintains you should, “train hard and take it easy on your classmates”.