Chief Instructor ASK
Sensei Dave Hazard was one of the few students at the very beginning of British Karate. Like many of his contemporaries his first encounter with the Martial Arts was via Judo, which he practiced for three years before coming across Karate at the Blackfriars Club in London in 1969. Lessons there were taught by Sensei Keinosuke Enoeda, Sensei Kanazawa, Sensei Kato and Sensei Takahashi. Among Dave’s contemporaries were the likes of Terry O’Neill, Bob Rhodes, Bob Poynton, Billy Higgins and Steve Cattle. In 1972 Dave was awarded his Shodan by Sensei Enoeda and he followed this with years of successes at the regular KUGB Championships.
In 1977 Dave decided to widen his Karate education by travelling to Japan and there he was afforded the rare privilege of an invitation into the notorious Japanese Karate Association Instructors’ Class. These classes were taught by such renowned Karate names as Senseis Shoji, Ueki and Kanazawa. Most notably though, and most often the classes were taken by Master Nakayama himself – student of Master Funakoshi, the ‘Father of Modern Day Karate’. Dave recalls – “he could look at you and instantly reel off four or five things that could improve your whole technique. He instinctively knew what you were doing wrong and could tell you precisely what corrections you needed to make.”
Dave returned to England and was something of a Ronin for a while, until in 1984 he joined forces with Sensei Mick Dewey who had formed SEKU, the South of England Karate Union. Acting as a Grading Examiner and Technical Director to SEKU, Dave also ran a dojo in Brighton and kept up his regular training with Sensei Enoeda in London as well as teaching across England and Scotland, Canada, the United States and Europe.
Many Karate Associations appreciate Dave’s skills and technical excellence. At present he is Chief Grading Examiner for the Highland Karate Association, Technical Advisor to the Karate Union of Wales and the Federation of Shotokan Karate as well as being Assistant Kata Coach (with Sensei Ticky Donovan OBE) for the English Karate Governing Body.
In 2003 Dave set up the Academy of Shotokan Karate which has a small but growing membership throughout England with the recent addition of a group of Canadian clubs that Dave visits on a regular basis.
In 1993 Dave co-authored the book ‘Fundamental Karate’ with Sensei Aidan Trimble of the FSK and since then Dave and Aidan have produced instructional Karate videos along the same lines.