I started my Karate journey in February 2009 when I was seven at the Riseley Club learning from Sensei Saunders. My brother, Samuel, and I went because of my friend Ellis Isaac and I was interested to find out about it. I really enjoyed it and it was difficult to remember the kata even though they were quite easy thinking back to them now. I first graded in May 2009 and then graded every three months till I achieved 5th kyu. It was about this time the Riseley Club closed so I went to Clapham and trained under Shihan McClagish. There were lots more students at Clapham and it was more fun because of this. My Dad also took me to Kempston every once in a while to train under Renshi Kidby.
I had two weeks notice of my Shodan grading and I had to learn a lot of theory in this time even though my Mum and Dad kept telling me I should have done this a long time before. I was awarded my Shodan on the 21st of March 2015 after two hours and 20 minutes of hard work. It only took me six years to achieve this level.
This is only the beginning of my training because on the inside you are always a beginner. As we all say when we recite the Dojo Kun, strive for the perfection of character!