I started Karate in March 1993. I had wanted to join a club for some time and as luck would have it, a leaflet came through my door offering a six week self defence/introductory course with the opportunity to carry on as a student on completion. I decided to try it and to my surprise so did thirty or so other people. I really enjoyed the course and decided to continue, keen to progress as far as I possible. It must have captured our imagination as many other people did the same and this was the ‘birth' of the Wolverton Club.

I had a variety of reasons for starting Karate. Perhaps like many people of my age (44 now!), in the 70's I was influenced by programmes such as ‘Kung Fu'. As a boy some friends and I tried several clubs but at that time I never settled on one in particular. However the desire to learn some form of martial art stayed with me and when the opportunity arose I decided to ‘go for it'. Once I started, I found that the more traditional style of Karate, like Shotokan, suited me and aiming to achieve something as special as Black Belt, whilst learning to defend myself and keeping fit at the same time all sounded good to me!

For me the journey from White to Black Belt has been an enjoyable one, although I must confess that the anxiety I felt prior to some gradings led me to question my sanity!! No-one said it would be easy but it is worth every ounce of effort and the feeling of satisfaction once successful can never be taken away. The journey has been made even more enjoyable by being pushed hard to achieve the goal yet also being encouraged and supported not only by sensei Kidby but by other students in a similar situation, whether having already gained a Black Belt or are striving toward it.

I know if my son who is only nine months old wants to learn Karate in the future I would encourage him all the way and hope that he would benefit from it as much as I have.

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