Instructors Annual Awards 2007
ROBERT BUNTING (Black Belt 3rd Dan)
Rob is a Fulltime Firefighter with Gloucestershire Fire & Rescue and yet still manages to teach everyday of the week. Passionate about the effects that a Martial Art such as Shotokan can have on children, Rob teaches specific classes for students as young as 5yrs old. In addition to his other dedicated junior and adult classes Rob also teaches two Family classes every week for Mums & Dads and their kids to train together.
Rob recently achieved his Sandan (3rd Dan) under the watchful eye of Sensei Kevin Barlow 6th Dan, and still places a great deal of emphasis in class on the traditional aspects of KATA and BUNKAI.
Rob has three children. All three have achieved their Brown belts. Yasmin (aged 14) is a 3rd kyu. Phoebe (aged 11) is a 2nd kyu and Josh (aged 16) is a 1st kyu and currently working very hard towards taking his Shodan in the summer of 2008.
Having now been successful in achieving the Top place in the Association's Instructor awards for 2007, Rob attributes a great deal of this success in growing his club to the discipline and high standards he imparts in all his lessons. No amount of advertising or leaflet dropping can come close the the value of word of mouth recommendations. With a waiting list of local Primary and Secondary Schools now asking Rob to teach, he is in the process of developing the next generation of Senior Students into first class Instructors.
Rob can be contacted on 07966 403364 or via email at info@cheltenhamkarate.co.uk.
The club website is www.cheltenhamkarate.co.uk
JOHN FARLEY (Black Belt 6th Dan)
John has been training in Martial Arts since 1984, and after attending courses with the likes of Soke Jim Bryson In Shirinitsujujitsu, Bill 'Superfoot' Wallace, and 23 times World Kickboxing Champion Jean-Yves Theriault, John decided that Freestyle was the way to go.
As a full time professional instructor since 1984, John decided to join UKASKO because, as well as its policy of non-interference and technical support, he had a completely free hand to design his own syllabus. John now runs a number of clubs in the Aberdeenshire area under the group name of 'JORUKAI'.
As well as Freestyle Karate, he teaches self-defence and impact training, which he describes as a must in today's environment. He specializes in weapons training with the Bo-Staff, Nunchaku and Samurai Sword as his favorites.
John holds a level 2 coaching qualification. and teaches children from 5 years old, with the oldest adult being 58.
John has competed in both Kata and Kumite for a number of years and was runner up in the individual Kumite at the UKASKO Scottish Championships in 2004 and winner of the Weapons Kata in 2006. As far as teaching goes, he is a open minded person and is always looking to please his students by offering them as many different aspects of the Martial Arts as possible.
On a number of occasions, John has been the top instructor in the Association's annual awards and because of his tremendous support for UKASKO, he was more than qualified to be awarded a Dan Grading. Instead he opted to take a technical grading and passed his 6th Dan in 2004, where he excelled with various weapons techniques.
John can be contacted on Tel: 01888 562192. Mobile: 07759591689 or by e-mail john@jorukai.freeserve.co.uk
MICHAEL TATTERSALL (Black Belt 5th Dan)
Michael started Shukokai karate in 1983 at the age of 10, and obtained his Black Belt at the age of 14. He started his own club at 17, and now runs 3 clubs, teaching almost every day. He joined UKASKO in 1993 and has been a regular member of the UKASKO England Team since 1997.
Michael has competed at all levels in both Kata and Kumite since the age of 10, and still does. A couple of competition highlights have been winning the UKASKO National Championships in 1998 and coming second in the English Karate Governing Body (EKGB) National Championships in 2004.
Michael was awarded his 5th Dan in 2004 at the age of 31 making him one of the youngest Karate-Ka in the country to achieve this. He is also a qualified Dan Grading Officer.
Additionally he has been in the top twenty instructors annual awards list since 1999 and has been appointed the Associations child protection officer. Michael has now been a professional full time instructor since 1998.
Michael can be contacted on Tel: 07904 240569 / 0113 2947098 or via e-mail: leedspremierkarate@ntlworld.com
JOHN ANDERSON (Black Belt 5th Dan)
John's first introduction to the Martial Arts started in 1971, where he began to study Kung Fu and Freestyle Karate. It wasn't until he was introduced to Shotokan Karate in 1982 and trained with the likes of Sensei's Enoeda and Kawazoe that his career began to take off. Having tried various styles, including a course with Bill (Superfoot) Wallace, John decided that the best way forward was with Shotokan Karate.
This decision resulted with the birth of the highly successful Ippon group of Karate clubs back in 1988. Although John's style had a very strong Shotokan base, he felt that because of his past experience with other Martial Arts, it would be foolish not to incorporate some of this vast knowledge within his own syllabus. Looking for a reputable association, and very much aware of the fact that he didn't want a chief instructor interfering in his teaching methods, he decided to look for a multi-style organisation with a reputation for fairness and non-interference. This resulted with John joining the UKASKO in 1992. From then on it's just been one long successful journey.
John was awarded his 2nd Dan in 1994 and gained a Level 2 coaching award two years later. He was awarded his 3rd Dan in 1997 and his 4th Dan in 2001. Gained a Level 3 coaching award in 2004 and became the associations Director of Coaching for Scotland the same year. His recent noticeable success was being awarded his 5th Dan, together with being appointed the UK Director of Coaching. His clubs have provided many champions both regionally and nationally, particularly in Kata, where his students excel year after year in our national championships. This dedication to the Martial Arts has resulted in John's clubs being in the top ten places of the associations annual awards every year for the past eleven years.
John can be contacted on Tel: 01205-870851
IAN SOAME (Black Belt 5th Dan/Degree)
Ian has been practicing Tae Kwon Do since 1982 and achieved his 1st Dan in 1987 with the Ji Do Kwan, run locally in East Anglia by Master Richard Cox and club Instructor John Wright. Following a break up of the Association shortly afterwards, Ian joined the UKASKO/UKMAF in 1988 and was promoted to 2nd Dan in 1990.
Ian's Dan grading successes have culminated in his promotion to 5th Dan, following a technical grading with Roy Stanhope 7th Dan back in 2004.
Apart from being a 5th Dan Black Belt, Ian is a qualified Black Belt Examiner for the UKMAF and undertakes many Dan Grading's. Ian also holds a level 3 coaching course qualification (Coaching Assessment Officer) and conducts annual Instructor Coaching Courses.
Ian has been in the Associations annual awards since 1997 and in the top two places since 2003. Ian's success as an Instructor can be measured by the success of his students - which amongst the sixty three Black belt passes include, ten 2nd Dan's, one 3rd Dan and two 4th Dan Black Belts. Despite his role as a Dan grading officer, Ian insists on all of his Black belt candidates being examined by a respected and non-biased examiner - Sensei Stanhope.
Ian founded Saracen Martial Arts in 1985 with Ray Morley, a serving NCO in the RAF. Following Ray's departure to foreign soils, Ian took over the running of the club in 1988 with the capable assistance of Saracen's First Black Belt, Dave Robb, now a 4th Dan.
Saracen's Demo Team, capably led by Chris Hemstock 4th Dan, has performed at Seni, and at various shows and theatres, and has been on Radio 1, with DJ Scott Mills.
Ian is happily married to Teresa and has 3 children - Portia aged 6yrs, Connor aged 4yrs and Sadie aged 1year. Portia has been training for a year and has achieved her 6th Kup (Green Belt).
Ian can be contacted on Tel: 07971-038365 or by e-mail isoame@mansell.plc.uk
JULIE and SEAN HUTTON (Black Belt 1st Dan)
Julie & Sean Hutton are a husband/wife team who own Leicestershire based East Midlands Karate.
A genuine family Martial Arts school, as both Julie, Sean, and eldest nephew Richard teach all of the classes between them. They also have Daniel (son) and Rachael (daughter) heading up the demo team together with another niece, that makes 6 black belts in Taekwondo so far.
Adding Kickboxing, Bushido & now Judo to their expanding curriculum, with more schools opening soon, Julie & Sean's East Midlands Karate have carved their own niche in the family Martial Arts business.
Visit their web site at www.eastmidlands-karate.co.uk
Julie & Sean can be contacted on Tel: 07984 424811or via e-mail info@eastmidlands-karate.co.uk
GARETH EDWARDS (Black Belt 5th Dan)
Gareth, together with his wife Meriel 3rd Dan runs the Zanshin group of Karate clubs. www.ZanshinKarate.co.uk. Gareth teaches Shukokai Karate and his specialties include impact training (pad work) and one step sparring/self-defence.
He holds a level 2 coaching qualification and is the association's Chief Grading Officer for North Wales. He is a qualified Driving Instructor and runs his own driving school in North Wales called the Caernarfon Driving School. Gareth also runs the official web site for the Royal Town of Caernarfon www.CaernarfonOnline.co.uk and www.VisitCaernarfon.com and builds affordable web sites to businesses large and small. He has been chairman of The Royal Town of Caernarfon Chamber of Trade and Commerce since 2003.
Gareth is a School Governor at the largest primary Schools in Gwynedd - Hendre School.
Gareth has been a member of United Kingdom All Styles Karate Organisation (UKASKO) since 1993 and was awarded his 5th Dan from Shihan Roy Stanhope 7th Dan in November 2005.
Gareth can be contacted on Tel: 01286-676166 or via e-mail: dojo@zanshinkarate.co.uk
STEVE LANGBRIDGE (Black Belt 4th Dan)
Steve started training in 1972 under Master Tatso Suzuki in Wado Ryu at the Judd Street Dojo in London. Sensei Meiji Suzuki took over the running of the club in 1974 and together with Sensei George Canning developed the Mugendo system where Steve continued to train for many years.
In 1978 he joined a small club at his home town of High Wycombe; the Sands Club which taught a style based on Kyokushin. In 1980 Steve also joined a local Wado Ryu club where he trained for 4 years before leaving to join a Shotokan club run by a student of Master Kanazawa.
In 1991 Steve obtained his Black Belt 1st Dan, and shortly after reformed the Sands Karate Club as the Prestwood Karate Club.
Steve has this unquestionable thirst for knowledge, and because of his open minded policy regarding teaching; he decided to look for a multi-style organisation with a reputation for non-interference. Eventually this search led him to joining the UKASKO, where he continues to train with some of this countries leading instructors.
Steve was awarded his 4th Dan by Roy Stanhope in May 2007 and currently runs clubs at Prestwood, near High Wycombe, and at the Bisham Abbey National Sports Centre. www.prestwoodkarate.com
Steve can be contacted on Tel: 01494 863949 or via e-mail steve@prestwoodkarate.com
PETER WILSON (Black Belt 4th Dan)
Peter was harshly bullied in school which made him think about defending myself in a type of Martial Art. This resulted in him joining a Wado club under the auspices of John Judge 4th Dan.
Several years later the club closed and Peter joined a Shotokan club in 1995. The instructor there was Ron Jones 3rd Dan with Vic Charles 6th Dan officiating at the gradings. A year later upon achieving green belt 6th Kyu was asked if he would assist in teaching the lower belts which he did and later this resulted in him conducting his own classes achieving the grade of 3rd Kyu.
Peter achieved his 1st Dan in 1997 and 2nd Dan in 1999. In 2001 he started his own Karate club at Thanet Judo Kwai in Margate and at the same time joined UKASKO.
In 2001 he passed his Level 2 Coaching Award and also achieved 3rd Dan under Phil Snewin. Later he attended the 16th Annual Gasshuku in Birmingham and won 1st place in the Kata Competition.
In 2004 he achieved his Level 3 Coaching Award.
In 2006 he was awarded 4th Dan under Kevin Barlow 6th Dan who is the associations National Coach, and at that same time qualified as a Dan Grading Officer.
He now considers Karate as a major part of his lifestyle, and especially enjoys learning new Kata's together with their applications. He also enjoys helping people to learn to defend themselves, together with a great sense of pride and satisfaction each time his students are successful at their grading examinations.
Peter can be contacted on Tel: 01843-280684 Mobile: 07890 461115
STUART MAXWELL (Black Belt 2nd Dan)
Stuart is a 52 year old Karate instructor. He runs the Shukokai Karate Academy Scotland based in Fife, Scotland.
Stuart is a builder by trade and teaches Shukokai Karate 6 nights a week with his main Dojo based at the Glenrothes Martial Arts Centre. Stuart started his Martial Arts training when he was 10 years old, starting with Judo and then on to Karate when he was 15 years old.
He started his Karate training with Brian Ferns and Jimmy Pace, whereupon Jimmy conducted all his gradings up to 1st Kyu. It was then that Stuart opened up a number of clubs in the Fife area. It was through contacting Sensei Stanhope in 1985 that he was encouraged to start training with Sensei Kimura, who he described as the best Instructor he had trained with.
He eventually gained his 1st Dan with Sensei Kimura on 10th October 1990, but unfortunately, Sensei died at the age of 54 and this left a big hole in Stuart's Martial Arts life.
After a period out of Karate, Stuart once again rang Sensei Stanhope about joining UKASKO and after a lengthy period of training (and a bit of arm bending) Stuart sat his 2nd Dan with Sensei in September 2007. As you can see, Stuart has never been big on gradings and emphasizes this to his students. And always states the importance of the person inside the suit rather than the belt round the waist, and stressing the core values in life to the children (which seems to have been forgotten along the way), is of paramount importance to him.
Stuart holds a Sport Scotland Coaching Award and works along side active schools in the area conducting taster sessions to get the kids of the streets and into Karate.
Visit his web site at www.glenrothesmartialarts.com
Stuart can be contacted on: Tel: 01592 650 862 or via e-mail stuartmaxwell04@btinternet.com