Beginners
The idea of joining our club to start-out in JKA Shotokan Karate may seem a bit daunting to most aspiring martial artists...Read more
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Affiliation
Stevenage Karate Club is proud to be affiliated to the Japan Karate Association.
Sensei Ohta
Sensei Yoshinobu Ohta
7th Dan JKA
Chief Instructor JKA England
Sensei Tom Peebles
4th Dan JKAChief Instructor, SKC
Tom Peebles was drawn into karate in 1987 when his son Paul asked him to take him to karate lessons at the North Hertfordshire Shotokan Karate Club.
Watching his son train raised an attraction to karate and Tom decided to participate in the lessons to support his son. As the class consisted mainly of children, there were hardly any adults in the club, Tom had a hard time settling in but he persevered and, inspired by his instructor, Scott Saunders, he trained hard and graded Shodan in May 1991.
From then on Tom found himself becoming more and more involved in teaching at his club and although this helped him to improve his own technical abilities it also effectively reduced his own training opportunities. So Tom started to train at other local KUGB clubs and when his club declined due to a lack of students he joined Stevenage Karate Club, which Tom had learned to appreciate as a good and strong club that was run by an outstanding instructor, Derek Oakley.
Stevenage Karate Club had a strong adult membership, as well as a youth section, and the training sessions were (and still are) very hard and rewarding. Tom graded Nidan in May 1993 and Sandan in 1996. He succeeded Derek as Senior Instructor for Stevenage Karate Club in the summer of 2003.
Tom recently, and well-deservedly, gained a ranking of 4th Dan in May of 2008 and the Stevenage Karate Club remains privileged to have Tom as its Chief Instructor.