Bristol Karate Academy joins JKS England

We are please to announce that Bristol Karate Academy has joined the JKS! We welcome them to our family.

Bristol Karate Academy is formed by four separate clubs, coming together under one banner to help people within the Bristol postcode area become outstanding at Karate, catering for all levels.

The Academy has had roots in the area for a long time. Three of its four core instructors were born in Bristol and all have a passion for the area and for making it a centre of excellence for Traditional Shotokan Karate. The oldest dojo in the Academy opened its doors forty years ago in 1978, while the newest dojo opens its doors in September 2018. The one thing they have in common is the aim of bringing the highest standard of Traditional Japanese Karate to the people of Bristol.

Chief Instructor of Bristol Karate Academy is Tim Griffiths, 5th Dan.  Tim began training in 1992, gaining his black belt four years later. Since then, he has trained with some of the most renowned names in Karate, including Senseis Enoeda, Asai, Kanazawa, Abe, Kagawa, O'Neill and Brennan. He qualified as an instructor in 2001 and was a member of the KUGB national kata squad for 12 years.

Tim recounts some of his most special training memories from training outside of the UK, having trained for short periods at the Japan Karate Shoto Federation (JKS) in Tokyo, at the dojo of WTKO Chief Instructor Richard Amos Sensei in New York and also in Los Angeles under the tutelage of the late Master Nishiyama, one of the JKA's founders.

In competition, Tim has had a number of successes at both regional and national level, having medalled at the Karate England Nationals, the British Universities Karate Championships and three times at the KUGB National Championship. He has also had major success in team events including being two-time JKS England Open team kata gold medallist

As the Chief Instructor at Bristol Karate Academy, Tim continues to train hard to develop personally and also to keep bringing fresh ideas to students of the club.

In addition to Tim, there are three other instructors at the Academy Bryan Gideon who has over 40 years of experience, Steven Connell who is a 3rd Dan and Dan Salter who is also a 3rd Dan.  You can read more about them at the Academy website (Link below).

We are really looking forward to working together with the Bristol Karate Academy in the future.

To find out more about the Acaemy please feel free to visit is their web link; https://www.bristolkarateacademy.com/