Tim Askey

I started training in 2015 under Renshi Kidby at the tender age of 45. Ten years later, almost to the day, I achieved Shodan under the tuition of Senseis Jan and Viv Wilson, and then Simon and Pam McMahon.

I took it up because I wanted to learn some self-defence with my son before he went to secondary school, partly as a father-son bonding experience and partly because my own experience had taught me that school could be a tough and chaotic place.

Having grown up with the Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris films, my idea of martial arts was shaped by the dangerous lone warrior narrative of the movies, so I was concerned that we would find the training too 'hardcore' as neither of us thought of ourselves as 'fighters'.

I was pleasantly surprised. Under Renshi Kidby's leadership our first session was a great experience, and it introduced us to a new group of warm and welcoming friends. We both still train today.

Ten years of training has taught me as much about patience as about technique. Starting in my mid-forties meant accepting that progress would be slow and that some things would take time to get right. What kept me coming back was the people I trained alongside, the satisfaction of completing a grading and the moment a kata or combination starts to feel natural.

My Shodan grading made it clear to me that karate is not just a sequence of moves to apply in self-defence situations. It is a body of knowledge passed down from person to person, in which there is always something new to discover.

I now see Shodan as a starting point rather than a destination. I want to keep refining the basics, deepen my understanding of kata and its applications, and help newer students in the same way that others helped me. I am grateful to the instructors who have given their time to my training.

Oh, and it turns out I rather enjoy freestyle (the 'fighting').