for sometime before becoming a Born-Again Christian, It was at this time that he decided that he could not continue to serve both God and teach Kyokushin. I then decided to take on a more active role within the club.
The club has changed over the years but the general ethos remains the same. We have seen many great participants of our art over the years come and go. We have been party to producing some notable fighters; not least, Michael Thompson who will be remembered for many great fights, but the one that will probably stick in some our minds was the quarterfinal fight in the World Championship against Kancho Matsui that Mike lost on a technical decision. We have also been associated with Shihan Nick da Costa, Sensei Felix Ntumazah and last but not least Senpai Andrew Payne who had a never say die attitude. They were all Kyokushin through and through.
We now have a new crop of up and coming competitors who I am sure will one day step up to the mark and continue the tradition of the past.
I see the likes of my own daughter Dominique trying to emulate her father; she has the potential if she applies herself to go all the way, if that is what she wants.
I see other youngsters who are starting to set their own mark by beginning to win tournaments not once or twice, but are continually being placed in the top three and that is rewarding in itself because they are already laying the foundation for their Kyokushin careers, people are starting to talk about them in a positive manner.
We are fortunate to train with people from all walks of life, accountants, lawyers dentists, business consultants, computer technicians, engineers, security guards, normal working class people. The beauty of it all though is that they come from all parts of the world. We have people from Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Malaysia, Poland, Russia to name a few. It is a true melting pot in every sense of the word.
People ask me why I do Kyokushin, and there are many reasons why I do what I do, but if I am being honest Kyokushin can be summed up in the following words “It’s a Way of Life”.
Kyokushin at the Tokei is different in many ways to other clubs, it is taught in a manner, which is not dissimilar to how I was taught by my previous instructors, the fundamental difference is that I try and inject a little mirth and humour within the training sessions.
Students want to train hard, but they also want it to be enjoyable. I have seen at other clubs how students become disaffected with their training because it becomes monotonous and boring and eventually the students leave. With that in mind I always try and change the schedule, some things we have to do, but in my opinion there is nothing worse than going into “auto pilot”, and becoming predictable whereby the students are already anticipating what you are going to next, what’s the point of having an instructor? With that in mind, it helps to keep me on my toes also. |
