Semapi Jason Thompson

"I remember my first lesson in Karate. It was back in 1985 and I was a pubescent 13 year old. After that initial lesson I was hooked. The style I began with was Shoto Ryu Karate Kai, which was based in Plymouth under Sensei Vivian Nash. It took me four years to get to 2nd Kyu (blue belt) training four times a week under Sensei Nick Moller in Bristol. Whilst training as a karate ka I also studied Yang and Chen along with push hands styles of Tai Chi. Shoto Ryu was a style that concentrated on the old fashioned essence of traditional Karate and was very similar to Shotokan. I have also tried Judo, and Kung Fu but have found that Karate to be the most enjoyable and rewarding.

"However having just been appointed as an apprentice electrician with SWEB I had to move from Bristol to Taunton to train, and as a poor apprentice, travelling back and forth to Bristol was proving difficult and costly so unfortunately training was put on the back burner.

"Having woke up one morning to find I was now a married 31 year old with two kids living in Cornwall I realised I had something missing in my life and needed an outlet... so having surfed the net for good Karate schools in Cornwall I came across the Sandokai website and contacted Sensei Whale who told me all I needed to know.

"I started on 1st July 2003 at the Helston Dojo instructed by Sensei Gilbert, Collick and Martin and suddenly realised how much I had missed Karate. The first couple of weeks were a nightmare as a fourteen year gap does leave you a little un-supple to say the least but I soon had the bug and trained a minimum of twice a week. I was allowed to continue as a blue belt and found the differences between Sandokai and Shoto Ryu remarkable. This meant learning new kata and theories to training. For example I now had to learn the Pinans instead of Heian kata. 2nd Kyu was fairly easy as I only had Saipai to learn. My 1st kyu (full brown belt) however was a lot harder as I had to learn five Pinan kata and Seinchin - six kata in total. I attended courses as much as possible and helped at demonstrations to promote the club and style.

"I now train three to four times a week at Helston, Camborne and sometimes Devoran Dojo whenever possible. I like to put back what I have taken out of Karate so that other students can advance in the art as I have.

"Karate has taught me how to focus the mind and be more tolerant of people and situations, and above all to be patient. If I find myself in situations where a person is showing violence towards me I would rather walk than provoke.

"As Gichin Funikoshi wrote;

'...There are always some whose only desire is to learn karate so as to make use of it in a fight... Only those with a higher ideal will find karate interesting enough to persevere in the rigors it entails. Those who do will find that the harder they train, the more fascinating the art becomes.'

"... I think that says it all!"