My aged KUGB licence shows Sensei Ray Fuller assessed me as a competent 9th Kyu in 1974. I achieved Shodan in 1977 from Sensei Enoeda and Godan in 1995 from Sensei Hazard.
Karate is a hard taskmaster, ever demanding and giving no quarter if one wants to improve. My greatest achievement to date seems to me to be that after over 30 years spent studying Karate, I am still here.
After a period of teaching for other instructors I started my own club in Billingshurst in the early 80s, successfully coaching members through to senior Dan grade level and achieving many competition successes at association and national level. I joined SEKU. South of England Karate Union run by Sensei Mick Dewey when he formed it in 1983 during a career spanning 20 years with SEKU I became a senior instructor, competition referee, member of the technical panel and grading examiner. I have qualified as a British Karate Federation Referee and Tatami Chief and England Referee for the English Karate Governing Body.
When Sensei Hazard who also joined SEKU in 1984 formed the Academy of Shotokan Karate in 2003 I was invited onto the Technical Panel and to be Grading Examiner and Senior Instructor for the Southern England area. I took over Brighton Shotokan Karate Club from Sensei Hazard when he relocated to Nottingham to run ASK.
I have been fortunate to train with some very talented people and be taught by the best instructors of the day. Attending gradings under the legendary Enoeda Sensei is now a distant memory, but still an honour, although I admit that on the actual day it was more survival of the fittest, however the aches, pain and blood rapidly fade into the background leaving only the euphoria of being successful and I feel both proud and honoured to be from that era.
My teaching career has been for me most rewarding and I have been fortunate to show the open door of Karate to many and been profoundly satisfied when able to see students progressing through the ranks. For me the pinnacle of achievement reached in my coaching career is when some have excelled and gone on to surpass anything I ever could achieve, I see this as right and the sign of a good job done. In the early days instructing was something one learned on the job things taught then are not seen as good practice today, teaching karate should evolve as all things must in order to be successful. I have trained and taught worldwide and to me being a successful instructor is all about raising the standards of your chosen sport.