Official Wado Academy Forum

Dear fellow Wado-Ryu Karate-Do Academy members,

Please find listed below the confirmed dates and venues for this year’s Wado-Ryu Karate-Do Academy National Squad training sessions:

Sunday March 23rd: BRISTOL
Sunday 18th May: BIRMINGHAM
Sunday 13th July: BRISTOL
Sunday 7th September: BRIDGWATER
Sunday 2nd November: BRISTOL

A big thank you to Arthur Meek Sensei, Bob Flowers Sensei, Nicky Hawker and Riaz Ahmed for helping with the above venues.

All sessions will be from 12.00pm – 3.00pm and are open to all Wado-Ryu Karate-Do Academy members who hold a current and up to date licence.

A flyer/poster will as usual be sent out at least one months in advance as a reminder.

Although the elite of the squad is small in number currently, there have been both some really encouraging performances and some quite incredible results.

Firstly, many congratulations must go to Jamie Bowen for winning the British All-Style individual lightweight category last year. This is truly a great achievement, but nothing more than Jamie deserves for all his hard work and dedication -Well done Jamie from everyone connected with the Wado-Ryu Karate-Do Academy!

At the same Championship Ben Welsh came a very credible 3rd in the tough Open Weight category. This is again such a great achievement so early in Ben’s tournament career. Many congratulations Ben from everyone connected with the Wado-Ryu Karate-Do Academy!

James Bolton fought incredibly well at last year’s English Karate Federation’s National All-Style Championship’s narrowly losing and giving current British and European Champion Alton Brown his toughest and closest match of the day. James is such a raw talent and with regular training and dedication has the potential to easily follow in Jamie and Ben’s footsteps.

Craig Hill continues to battle away in Kata at all style events, not an easy task as a Wado-Ryu practitioner! Currently though against fellow Wado contestants he is most definitely amongst the best and I am sure with continued hard work he will break through.

Last but not least a very important and vital part of any squad are the officials. Matthew Soanes and Andy Kilby have continued to work very hard travelling all around the country, with Matthew currently qualified as an English Karate Federation Kumite Referee Class ‘A’, Kumite Judge Class ‘A’ and Kata Judge Class ‘B’. Andy is currently qualified as an English Karate Federation Kumite Judge Class ‘A’ Their support to both the squad and to me personally has been invaluable and much appreciated.

In addition to the above listed squad training sessions, Corin Pegden is hosting his annual course with Sensei Wayne Otto on Sunday 26th January. We normally have our first Academy Squad training in January, but I will be away teaching on behalf of Shiomitsu Sensei in January together with additional commitments with our own group here in Devon. I would encourage therefore all Academy members especially those interested in competing to make every effort to attend this session in January instead.

Finally, could I ask all Wado-Ryu Karate-Do Academy instructors and dojo’s to please whether you are personally interested in the Shiai aspects to Karate-Do or not to encourage and support any young member who shows any interest or potential in furthering their study through squad training and possibly competing.

With Kind Regards,

Peter Hill