It has been nearly four years since the last interview
with sensei Stuart I have managed to track him down to find out what has
been going on with the
Chelmsford
Dojo, the BKK and IFK and lastly; sensei himself.
Osu sensei Stuart how has the
Chelmsford
Dojo progressed in the last 4
years?
The Dojo is going really well.
The club celebrated our 25th Anniversary in
September 2006 and to mark this
occasion we went back to our first ever dojo to train. Over the
25 years we have changed dojos four or five times
so I thought this would be a great idea to go back to where it all started
to reminisce the old days. Over forty students turned up on the day;
some of them have been with me over twenty years, some only a few months.
We went on a four mile run then in to the dojo for some hard kihon. It did feel strange going back, it was 18 years since we trained in that dojo, but it felt good. We did two
hours of basics followed by pad work. To finish off the session we
did Sanchin and Tensho katas.
25 years is quite a milestone, I
must congratulate you sensei on your continued committment to the
Chelmsford
dojo and the BKK.
Has the
Chelmsford
club done well in
competitions?
Yes they have, we have had great success in full
contact Knockdown tournaments as well as Kata,
Nihon Shobu and Clicker. Our dojo has picked up a
lot of silverware with first, second and third placings on a regular basis in all the BKK tournaments.... but the outstanding
achievements are senpai Becky Garner who is the
British Ladies Kata Champion, this is a fantastic
feat for Becky.
Chelmsford
is the only dojo to have produced both a Ladies and a Mens Kata Champion; (senpai Mark Moore won the Title in 1999).
Senpai Jared Wright
won the Mens Novice Knockdown Middleweight in
2003 and senpai Paul Sebright won the Mens Novice Knockdown Heavyweight in
2004. Senpai Aaron Wright won the Mens Novice Knockdown Heavyweight in 2006. We have had
twelve students; senior and junior represent
England
in semi-contact and
full contact tournaments. I am very proud of all the
Chelmsford
students.
It must have been especially
rewarding for you seeing your sons become Knockdown Champions. I am sure
there can not be many Instructors that
have experienced that. Congratulations to both Jared and Aaron.
Have you had any more students
gain Black Belts?
When you interviewed me last time the
Chelmsford Dojo had 8 senpais since then we have
had 7 new ones.What is nice about that is 4 of
them were under 17 years old. I had been training them since they were 9
years old and had watched them grow up from juniors to seniors. Also, my
son Aaron achieved his shodan grade under Hanshi Steve Arniel at the
summer camp of 2006, so I now have my wife Helen and my two sons all black
belts. Currently
Chelmsford
dojo has 5 nidans and 7 shodans training regularly.
You must be very proud of the
dojo and your family's achievements sensei!
How is the BKK and IFK Kyokushin?
Both the BKK and the IFK are in very good shape; the 48
BKK dojos are all going strong. Karate
seems to be growing in popularity again at the moment which is great news.
The BKK celebrated its 40th Anniversary in 2005 to mark
this momentous occasion we held the Third IFK World Knockdown Tournament at
Crystal
Palace
in
London
.
It was a fantastic day with over 100 competitors from over 20 countries.
The fighting and demonstrations were top quality. That was a day I
will always remember.
We also had the first ever World IFK Junior semi-contact tournament+Kyokushin Cadet fighting in Switzerland
in 2006, that was a great two days of fighting with over 80 juniors+Cadets from 18 countries attending.
Its great news to hear both the
BKK and IFK are both in excellent shape.
How has your training
been and your very busy Karate life?
Busy is probably the key word. I instruct about
eight to ten hours a week, then there's the EC meetings (I've been on the
EC for the past 10 years), tournaments, courses and, of course, all
the admin that is part of an instructors life.
I still train regularly I completed BKK Summer Camp
number 14 this year. I still love training in the line and running,
swimming and weight training are all part of my week.
I started training Iaido three
years ago,I have
always been interested in the samurai sword along with Japanese history.I find this very relaxing and it complements my
karate training very well.
I have been fortunate to travel abroad to the IFK
Tournaments in
Spain
,
Poland
,
Switzerland
and
Germany
as a referee. I recommend this to everyone its a
great way to see how the other countries are training and make new Kyokushin friends.
Did I hear that in 2004 you were
selected for
England
to fight against
Wales
in semi contact clicker?
Yes, that is correct! I have been to countless squad
trainings simply to the support the courses. I felt if I went the
Chelmsford students would be more inclined to go too, I think
sometimes students are scared of what a squad training session is and the
fact that their instructor attends gets them over that initial fear of the
unknown. I
was never interested in
getting selected it was just to have a good work out.
It was senpais Jared
and Aaron that said I should try for selection as it would be great if
all three of us managed to get it the
England
team. That's what
happened at the young age of 47 I was an England International, senpai Jared was captain and senpai Aaron and myself were under his wing. I had not stepped on to a mat to
fight for nearly 20 years I still had the butterflies; the build up was
great, it was in
Wales
and those guys do know how to make a noise. The overall result was
Wales
just nicked it, all three of us drew our fights! I
had great feedback ... I guess I represented the older students of the
BKK on that day.
That will be a great story to
tell your grandchildren one day. Quite a day out for the Wright family.
Lastly sensei, what are your
thoughts on the next 10 years for the BKK, IFK and
Chelmsford
dojo?
Crystal
balls at the
ready then!! I really don't know... I do get the feeling that although
there have been many splits in Kyokushin since Mas Oyama passed away 12
years ago there is still the camaraderie of all Kyokushin students regardless of which organisation they
belong to.
The IFK has always been open to all Kyokushin practitioners ... our World Tournament showed this by inviting so many
different Kyokushin organisations to participate. Maybe in 10 years time when the dust has settled from
the departure of Mas Oyama some of the fractured groups will join up again.
But for me ... I will train as hard as I can
for as long as I can and continue to instruct at the
Chelmsford
dojo. The older I am the
more I seem to understand the
Kyokushin Way
. A favourite quote of mine from Mas Oyama to which I constantly refer
..... "only fear standing still do not fear going forward".
Thank you Sensei Stuart. I
am sure this interview will give many Kyokushin students, both old and new, inspiration with their
training.
OSU!
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