Name: John Semple
Grade: 1st Kyu
Email:
Stories:

I was first attracted to karate by the exploits of Daniel-San and his mentor Mr. Miyagi. Eventually though, I wanted to learn more than just the crane technique so I joined Kyle Karate at the age of 10.

I stuck at it, reaching my 4th Kyu before being distracted by school and a increasing social life (though not always in that order!). It took a further 7 years before I pulled on a gi again. This time the style was Wado Ryu (Way of Peace and Harmony) which was taught at my University. Wado Ryu is a more sport-orientated style of Karate. Being a University club, there were frequent League, Scottish and British Championships to compete in. Although I was part of the Kumite team that retained the Scottish University Kumite Trophy, I was more often than not a human punchbag.

So, upon finishing University a 4th Kyu (purple belt) and returning home to do a Ph.D., I decided to pick up where I had left off with Kyle. This meant starting at the beginning again, but it was worth it as I progressed rapidly through the gradings, reaching my 1st Kyu within 2 years.

Now of course, the human punchbag aspect has been replaced by more of a mental punchbag as I try to take on board all the information available from Katas, courses and the black belts. Having experienced two contrasting styles of Karate, I would have to say this is my favourite as I see more in each technique here than I ever did at university. Like university there is a steep learning curve, but you get out as much as you put in and more.