Sensei Kevin
joined Tenshinkan Karate at the end of 1981, Although he had at the time little
knowledge about martial arts he was invited to watch a training session by
a friend, Tam McDonald, a member who also went to achieve Shodan. He was so
impressed by Shihan Robert's personal skills that he decided he wanted to
join and started training the very next session. Four months after joining
he sat his first grading in the Castle Green Dojo in Broughty Ferry. Following
this he consistently trained 2 or 3 times a week, mostly in the St. Clements
Dojo, right up until the point where he achieved his Shodan Grading. This
took approximately 5 years when he sat his 1st Dan Examination at the end
of 1986.
During this period of time he also had some karate achievements in the freestyle category at both open and club tournaments. Sensei Kevin takes up the story. "My first ever competition was an open tournament in Newcastle which I entered as a yellow belt. I was however disqualified but learned a lot from this experience. Following this I entered a competition as a blue belt in Balingary, in Fife and I came second place. Then in the same year in 1985 I achieved the title of the Tenshinkan Kumite Champion and held it again in 1992. I didn't enter anything again for quite a few years until I was invited to another open tournament at the Leuchars Air Show in 1999. It was known as the "Battle of Britain" and believe me it was a very hard fought competition. I took the second place cup after a final which went into 2 rounds of extra time after drawing twice on points. Although I still enjoy freestyle fighting and training, and I'm still Tenshinkan Champion, it is more important to me now to concentrate on building my own Club. I want to teach what I know and pass it on to others".
Sensei Kevin
was invited to open up a karate club in Invergowrie Village, just on the outskirts
of Dundee, in 1999. The Club began training on Friday evenings as a children's
class and now is open on Tuesday nights also, with a new class for Seniors.
Sensei Kevin is now Dojo Cho of this Club and is assisted by Sensei John Young,
2nd Dan who restarted training two years ago after a break for several years.
While Sensei
Kevin's future plans are to consolidate his Club and build on a new Senior
class, he aims to sit another grading in the very near future, but his long
term plan is his intention to someday make the trip to Japan to train in the
Honbu Dojo.
