LICHFIELD & DISTRICTS KARATE CLUBS

INSTRUCTOR – Patrick D’arcy

CLUBS EMAIL ADDRESS
lichfieldkarateKUGB@msn.com

I first started training at the original Tamworth club under Richard Davison. This was mixed with some visits from Rick and Mick Jackson (they were some of the hardest lessons I have ever done). Richard left after I had been training for about 4 years, as I was the highest grade then (1st Kyu) I continued the instruction with help from the club secretary Derek.

To keep my training up I used to travel to the famous Coventry club and eventually became a member of the team that won the Centrals. In those days there were so many clubs entering the regional championships you could expect to be there very late. Their Dojo was the coldest place on earth but the hard training soon warmed us up with a typical lesson starting with 50 Mawashi's and 50 Mae Geri's on each leg followed by hundreds of punches.

I took all my early Kyu grades under Sensei Asano at Tamworth and Nottingham. I had a motorbike in those days and used to travel to Nottingham in all sorts of weather to train and grade under Asano; he was the first Japanese instructor I had ever trained under. Asano would fight grades down to yellow belts at the end of the lesson; although he did not go at full speed with the lower grades it was still very hard. My later Kyu grades were taken under Sensei Kawasoe (3rd to 1st Kyu) at Tamworth and finally I took my last grades under Sensei Sherry.

I have had some breaks away from Karate due to family commitments, redundancies etc. etc. now I am totally involved in some sort of Karate activity each night / weekend either taking a class or training.

I have always loved training and never really thought about running my own club until several years ago when I realised that I could utilise my skills and knowledge to train and support others to learn Karate. During the early stages of training others, I found I was working predominantly with children and got lots of satisfaction in both teaching them the art of karate and watching them develop their concentration and discipline. More latterly I developed classes for adults as well.

After working closely with the Burntwood and Lichfield Sports Partnership at the prestigious Chasetown Specialist Sports College, I have introduced Karate into the curriculum in Lichfield Schools and have also worked closely with Rawlett Community Sports College to introduce it into their curriculum.

I now also teach Karate in the 3 Special Needs Schools in Lichfield.

I currently have 9 very successful clubs, one at the new Fradley Village Hall, King Edward VI School Lichfield, Rawlett School Tamworth, Alrewas Village Hall, Shobnall Leisure Complex Burton, Shenstone Village Hall, Stonnall Village Hall, Friary Grange Leisure Centre and the Snowdome in Tamworth.

I am a member of the Karate Union of Great Britain (KUGB), which is a democratic and non-profit making organisation. The organisation was set up in 1966 for the development of Shotokan Karate in this Country and is the largest single style organization in the UK and has the highest Karate standards.

I am the central region secretary for the KUGB and part of my role is to set up and organize courses at the weekends with Senior Instructors from the KUGB all over the Central Region.

PATRICK D’ARCY CAN BE CONTACTED ON :-

01283 792060 or 07985 238 095

or on the Club Email
lichfieldkarateKUGB@msn.com