My Martial arts history:
I have been training in martial arts for around 33 years. I began my love affair with Karate at the age of eleven shooting through my kyu grades and achieving black belt 1st dan at the age of sixteen and 2nd Dan a couple of years later, both under Enoeda Sensei...and both times he gave me a very hard time, if my performance wasn't perfect my grading was over! At this time I was training in England with the KUGB/JKA during Enoeda Sensei's rule! Without disrespect to my full time instructor I consider Enoeda my first Sensei, taking the opportunity to train with him once or twice a month. He truly molded the essence of my karate and effects the way I train twenty five years later. A truly inspiring character, I remember very clearly the adrenalin coursing through my system whilst waiting in the line up and the electricity in the room when he entered. My focus and ability shot up to way beyond my normal capacity when training with him, and when he stood in front of me...I would rather have died that not give 500%. A nod was all I needed to push on harder...it meant I was on the right way and that was inspiring to me as a young athlete.
During this time I was heavily involved in competition karate at regional and national level winning many titles in both kumite and kata, I was maturing very nicely in this area. But as time went on I started to feel uneasy about my 'real' karate abilities and as some of you may remember we didn't use mitts or shin/foot pads in the 80's/90's it was all about touch control, I became aware that I wasn't able to do anything else, I had the growing concern that if I was attacked for real, I was too highly trained in touch control, physically and mentally, to be able to help myself or anyone else. I also had this nagging idea as a young idealistic person, that Karate was so much more than being the best, winning and training until your body wouldn't work anymore. The result of these ideas caused me to retire at about seventeen from competition, I just wanted to go deeper into the art.
During these early years I began my coaching career and proudly helped nurture our first students to black belt. This experience inspires me even today to strive for excellence as a coach and I place the same demand for excellence on my students and they thrive.
The side effects from over training too young caught up with me and I was eventually in pain all the time. Training six to seven times a week, is too much for a growing body and this was not understood at that time. It was all about 'Budo spirit' then. I knew that I needed to study some sort of martial path and I started Aikido, training in both arts for about a year before moving fully over to Aikido. I found it to be SO completely opposite to Karate that it took me about eighteen months before I could even see what the teacher was doing with his hands and feet!! But I persisted and started to help with the children's group, eventually taking it on completely and growing it to be the biggest childrens club in England. I incorporate some of Aikido's principles into my Karate and teaching even today, and was over joyed to train with Rick Hotton last year who has taken the incorporation of Aikido into Karate to an amazing level.
After eight years of flying joy it was time to move on, due to a late start in university studies I moved away from my home town and had to shut the Aikido club. Feeling the urge to move away from the Japanese arts I found in my new university city an extraordinary school teaching Tiger-Crane Shaolin Kung-Fu, we studied the complete art, Chi-gong, Ti-chi, through to the iron shirt aspects. I consider my self every lucky to have studied this art for three years before I moved to Sweden in 2005.
Once I moved to Sweden, I couldn't find any interesting clubs to train with, I was so shocked that that they in general took 2-3 months off during the summer! I found it hard to believe that they were serious about what they were doing and became quite dishearten actually. So I continued by myself for a few years, with a brief encounter with the lovely style of karate called Ashihara. In 2010 a spent a breif but amazing six months in Scottland and found a SKIF club in Peterhead, taught buy two inspiring Sensei Mark and Libby Donaghy. I had the opportunity to train with Sensei Kanazawa and his son in the same year, their karate was perfect for me and inspired me to keep going once I returned to Sweden.
In 2014 I moved to Hagfors, Värmland (Sweden) and decided that my time of isolation needed to end and I sent up a club in 2014. The club presently has 35 members, 15 of those are under 25 years old. It has been an amazing so far. My karate and my skills as a coach have grow massively since opening the club, I have been over joyed to see my students achieved and improve. It has taken a lot of faith in myself which at times has almost failed me.
But as I keep moving forward on the this path I am growing and understanding more and more. Since meeting Richard Amos and the World Traditional Karate Organisation www.wtko.org last year (2015) I'm being blasted into the next levels and have become totally inspired to go deeper and look closer.
My plans for the future are to do the instructors course with Amos Sensei and somehow I feel passionately that there are just not enough women in karate at the 'top of the tree', so to say, and certainly not enough revered as top coaches. Yes, I know that they are there but have you noticed that they have to be the most amazing champions in the world to be there. I feel that women don't push themselves forward enough, and often are behind their follow men because of certain natural factors like having children. But we have masses to offer as women in martial arts and I have discovered since running my own club, in my own way, that a different quality is allowed to manifest itself. I am able to discuss and incorporate themes and issues that aren't normally brought out. This is one of my reasons for setting up a blogg, I want to discuss what I'm doing not only as a coach but also a women in a mans world. I feel vulnerable doing this and that perhaps I will open myself to attack, but this is not a reason to not do it.
Oss!
In 2014 I moved to Hagfors, Värmland (Sweden) and decided that my time of isolation needed to end and I sent up a club in 2014. The club presently has 35 members, 15 of those are under 25 years old. It has been an amazing so far. My karate and my skills as a coach have grow massively since opening the club, I have been over joyed to see my students achieved and improve. It has taken a lot of faith in myself which at times has almost failed me.
My plans for the future are to do the instructors course with Amos Sensei and somehow I feel passionately that there are just not enough women in karate at the 'top of the tree', so to say, and certainly not enough revered as top coaches. Yes, I know that they are there but have you noticed that they have to be the most amazing champions in the world to be there. I feel that women don't push themselves forward enough, and often are behind their follow men because of certain natural factors like having children. But we have masses to offer as women in martial arts and I have discovered since running my own club, in my own way, that a different quality is allowed to manifest itself. I am able to discuss and incorporate themes and issues that aren't normally brought out. This is one of my reasons for setting up a blogg, I want to discuss what I'm doing not only as a coach but also a women in a mans world. I feel vulnerable doing this and that perhaps I will open myself to attack, but this is not a reason to not do it.
Oss!
My back ground:
- Owner of an Organic Honey company, Swedish Forest Honey. www.swedish-forest-honey.com
- Qualified Injury/Sports therapist, have be practising for 25 years
- Presently studying Master of Science in Integrated Health Care.
- Seventeen years study with a meditation and mindfulness teacher.
- Masters Degree in Fine Art.
- 3rd dan Shotokan Karate
- 1st dan Aikido
