Students
were encouraged to move freely from side to side (a technique frowned
upon by the old style linear masters) sweep, throw, attempt double
kicks, we worked on target pads instead of the old style makawari
(punching posts) and nihon (2 point) and sanbon (3 point) shobu instead
of the favored ippon (1point) shobu competition style. We trained
like real athletes including stretching, running and body conditioning.
Ishinryu (of-all-one-heart) became
one of the leading competition styles in the U.K. turning out (my
self included) many competition champions (male and female) National
& International, but apart from this competition notoriety Ishinryu
still somehow managed to maintain the traditional side of karate with
emphasis on Kata, dojo etiquette, discipline and dedication.
I stayed with Ishinryu until reaching
the almost (to me) unobtainable 6th Dan, which was presented to me
by Ticky Donovan in 1991, along the way I had won many domestic and
International honors, I had captained the Ishinryu National team for
10 years, I was second in command only to Ticky, I had represented
England many times in International competition including 5 European
all–styles championships and Great Britain in the 1977 Official WKF
World Championships in Tokyo, Japan.
