The club originally started in October 2001. We are quite small and our aim is not to have a large expansive club but to concentrate on teaching students on a more personal level. The karate that we practice is traditional Wado Ryu Karate Do as taught by the current Grandmaster of Wado Ryu, Hironori Ohtsuka II and Masafumi Shiomitsu.

The clubs is affiliated directly to the Wado Academy which is headed by Sensei Shiomitsu, 9th Dan Hanshi. The term Sensei is generally taken to mean instructor and Hanshi is a title often given to people who have attained the level of master in their art.

(Grandmaster Hironori Ohtsuka II and Shiomitsu Sensei in Tidworth.)

Beginners, from 13 years of age and above, are always welcome to join. All you need to start is a t-shirt and some jogging/track suit bottoms.

For those interested in competing, the Wado Academy holds regular squad training sessions as well as a National championship once a year. For those who excel, there are even competitions at European level as well as the Wado Ryu championships in Japan every year.

The club has had students from Bournemouth University training and would like to develop this side of the club with the aim of participating at future student championships. If you are a student from the local university or colleges, and are interested in starting or continuing your training then please do contact us.

The instructor, Gordon Fong (3rd dan), started karate in 1980 and has primarily belonged to the karate associations of the late Toru Takamizawa Sensei, starting with the Tera Karate Kai (with Eddie Byrne in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham) and then onto the Takamizawa Institute Of Karate in Sunderland and Birmingham.

There was an interim period on the closure of the first karate club that he joined Keith Bell's Sentenashi Karate Kosai. On the passing away of Takamizawa Sensei he formally joined the Wado Academy directly, under Shiomitsu Sensei.

Most of his training had been in the North East of England, under the likes of Frank Miller, Cliff Richmond and Peter Edwards as part of the Takamizawa Institute Of Karate. We still maintain very close ties with those clubs and instructors.

Other areas of training included 3 years at Birmingham University with Ken Hassell (Shotokan) winning British Universities championship titles at lightweight and middleweight levels in consecutive years, as well as representing the British Students karate team on national and international level.

Gordon was a frequent visitor to the dojo of Harry Cook (Shotokan/Goju Ryu) in Hexham before moving to Bournemouth, which provided a wider perspective on karate in general. After moving down to Bournemouth, he trained at Tim Stephen's club in Poole for a short while (and still visits occassionally) before starting this club under the Wado Academy.

There are many other excellent karate clubs in Dorset (which seems pretty strong in all the styles such as Shotokan, Goju Ryu and Shukokai/Shito Ryu), but if you are looking for a small friendly club teaching traditional Japanese Wado Ryu karate then please do come along and try us. We are not sports orientated although we do attend association events. Regardless of what style you choose to follow or what club you join it is important to understand that it is a long-term decision that needs application of your effort to make progress. Results are not instantaneous.

Yellow Belts going through their syllabus

For more information on the town of Bournemouth click <About Bournemouth town>. Bournemouth is a great place to visit or to have a holiday. Why not bring a gi down as well.