Category: Competition

Mie Nakayama

Firstly, I practise katas very accurately going through the basic again and again; I do this for about one hour every day. I then go through the katas imaging the attackers and how I would compete with them. I pay a lot of attention to imagination, feeling, and expression. Mie Nakayama Mie Nakayama can arguably …

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Elwyn Hall

There are obviously some absolutely fantastic Sensei around and some really fantastic karateka around. However, I do not think especially in this day and age of so much choice with regards to the proliferation of Martial Arts, and a propensity towards activities that deliver a quick fix, that the natural temptation is to meet the …

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Molly Samuel

No conversation about top female Karate competitors would ever be complete without mentioning the name Molly Samuel. She is arguably Britain’s most successful female competitor, winning multiple European and World titles. She was Britain’s first individual female World Karate Federation (WKF) World Champion. Fighting at middleweight (-60-kg), she was a pioneer of women’s competitive Karate, …

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Yuki Mimura

Following on from greats Suzuko Okamura and Mie Nakayama, Yuki Mimura was the next great female Japanese kata champion. Like her predecessor, Nakayama she was the winner of three consecutive World titles, not to mention World Games and World Cup titles. Yuki Mimura was born on 5 April 1970 in Ashimura, a small village in the mountains near …

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Vic Charles

Vic Charles has been described as “the epitome of what a Karate competitor should be”. As a competitor, he was tough, resilient and technically proficient, in equal measures. Jerome Atkinson, a former world champion, described him as “the greatest competitor he had ever seen“. A winner of multiple World Championships, he was part of a …

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Elisa Au-Fonseca

I want to show my children that it is good to dream big, work hard and be kind to those who support you. Elisa Au-Fonseca Elisa Au holds a number of firsts in her competitive career. She was the first American woman to win an individual kumite world title. She was also the first person, …

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Geoff Thompson

No true champion likes losing. We’re in the job of winning. Geoff Thompson Standing at an imposing 6ft 6in, Geoff Thompson is a multiple heavyweight kumite World Champion. Alongside Vic Charles and Jerome Atkinson, he took competitive Karate to the next level with his power and athletic ability. During the 1980s he was the face of Sport …

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Pat McKay

If you want to compete at the top in this sport then training has to become full-time. Pat McKay When one talks about the great fighters that have represented Britain, the name Pat McKay has to be in the mix. Fighting at light heavyweight (- 80 KG) his record is second to none. He is …

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Mervyn Etienne

….. the relentless desire to be better than you were is a key trait in the highest performers – they appear not to be happy with the status quo and are always looking for ways of improving and finding the marginal gains that will give them the milliseconds in reaction time and information processing speed that …

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Ray Dalke

If you want to win in both Karate and life you must be very determined and very deliberate. Ray Dalke Ray Dalke is a true pioneer of American Shotokan Karate. He began training in the 1960s and has trained with a who’s who of American and Japanese Shotokan Karate. A noted competitor, at one time …

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