Sempai Darran Findlater

My karate journey came from watching my daughter in the Saturday morning classes.  I used to take work along to the sessions but could never get any done because I was always hearing or seeing something exciting or fun going on.  I started to feel a little envious of this enjoyment and so thought I would give it a go.  It wasn’t long before I was enjoying the challenge of learning something new and before I knew it I was practicing at home and asking my daughter for advice.  This new dynamic between my daughter and myself was brilliant for both of us, rather than being the usual parent taxi, I was sharing an activity with her and she in turn was getting to tell me what to do!

As my karate journey continued I realised that there were so many other gains.  Physically, my balance was returning to what it used to be and my flexibility was better than ever.  The biggest gain for me however was and still is the improvement to my mental wellbeing.  The time that I spend training or coaching gives me no capacity to think about work.  It provides a complete respite from everyday challenges and I can honestly say that Karate has enabled me, on many occasions, to get through to the end of the week. 

I am incredibly proud of taking the first steps in my karate journey and feel really lucky to have stumbled upon Katrina and David as instructors and guides.   Being asked to coach for them has been the most satisfying achievement to date.  I see the thought, detail and quality of their work and to be trusted to be a part of their club as a volunteer is an absolute honour.  In the short term I am aiming for a black belt but as many wiser karate people have said ‘a black belt is not the end of the journey but the start’.   I have no idea where the journey will take me but I know that I will have had fun on the way.