SUCCESS STORIES
SUCCESS STORIES
Success comes with hard work and dedication, so lets see what hard work delivers at Sport Karate East...
As this seasons event’s are poised to commence we are looking forward to sharing with you the success stories of our friends and fellow students here at Sport Karate East.
Sport Karate East Success Stories
It is with enormous pride that we can announce that the Scottish Karate Governing Body’s Performance Team have selected three of the SAKAI Association Dundee members to compete at the British Karate Federations Grand Slam Event on Sunday 22nd January in Penrith, England.
- Catrina Martin – Female Cadet Kumite -47Kgs
- Daisy Hutchison – Female Cadet Kumite +54Kgs
- Sophie Hocking – Female Cadet Kumite +54Kgs
But being selected by the Scottish Karate Governing Body’s Performance Team is just the first step in a long journey which will hopefully see these young athletes represent Scotland at an elite level for years and years to come.
But for now, your families, your clubs, your association and all of your friends and coaching staff at SAKAI/SKE look forward to seeing you realise your potential as an internationalist and we can’t wait to see you all step onto the tatami at the BKF Grand Slam on Sunday 22nd January 2023.
It is with enormous pride that I can confirm that SPORT KARATE EAST has a new SAKAI Association Black Belt.
Caitlin Dunn was awarded her Shodan from Sensei David M Coulter MBE, 8th Dan and our Assistant Chief Instructor Mr Kris Coulter 6th Dan, on Saturday, 26th November 2022 at our Hunbu [Head Quarters] in Kilmarnock.
CAITLIN IS A SAKAI BLACKBELT
The SAKAI Black Belt Grading is a right of passage, it was both physically and mentally challenging for Caitlin, but the reward at the end was PRICELESS.
In addition, to Kihon, Caitlin had to perform 44 different combinations from memory, 9 Kata’s, a written exam against the clock, and at the end of all of that, she had to fight over 42 Kumite matches.
Caitlin’s SHODAN [First Dan] is very important to SPORT KARATE EAST, her 1st Dan basically means that she has mastered the fundamental techniques of karate along with the psychological and mental development necessary to make her karate effective.
Congratulations Fraser and Daisy you did yourselves proud!
It is with enormous pride that I can confirm that SPORT KARATE EAST has two new SAKAI Association Black Belts.
Fraser Dingwall & Daisy Hutchison were awarded their Shodan’s from Sensei David M Coulter MBE, 8th Dan and our Assistant Chief Instructor Mr. Kris Coulter 6th Dan, on Saturday, 27th November 2021 at our Hunbu [Head Quarters] in Kilmarnock.
FRASER & DAISY ARE SAKAI BLACKBELTS
The SAKAI Black Belt Grading is a right of passage, it was both physically and mentally challenging for Fraser & Daisy, but the reward at the end was PRICELESS.
In addition too Kihon, Fraser & Daisy had to perform 44 different combinations from memory, 9 Kata’s, a written exam against the clock, and at the end of all of that, they had to fight over 36 Kumite matches.
Fraser & Daisy’s SHODAN’s [First Dan’s] are very important to SPORT KARATE EAST, their 1st Dan basically means that they have mastered the fundamental techniques of karate along with the psychological and mental development necessary to make their karate effective.
Fraser & Daisy’s first and foremost responsibility is to train, a 1st Dan has just started their journey. Part of the growth process that occurs in karate is just plain old everyday hard work that goes with doing something over and over again until you get really good at it.
It is with enormous pride that SKE can announce that Matthew Pratt has received his fourth call-up to represent the Scottish Karate Governing Bodies National Team at the forthcoming Cadet, Junior & U21 European Championship in Prague, Czech Republic on the 17th to 19th June 2022.
After such a challenging year and a half, this young athlete showed what with hard work, dedication and grit, you can achieve your goal regardless what obstacles are put in from of you. The selection process which Matthew underwent was rigorous and challenging but at the end of it he achieved his goal.
Matthew should wear the saltire with great pride and make sure that he adds to the national teams legacy with his performance on the tatami in February.
It is with enormous pride that SKE can announce that Matthew Pratt has received his third call-up to represent the Scottish Karate Governing Bodies National Team at the forthcoming Cadet, Junior & U21 European Championship in Tampere, Finland on the 20th to 22nd August 2021.
After such a challenging year and a half, this young athlete showed what with hard work, dedication and grit, you can achieve your goal regardless what obstacles are put in from of you. The selection process which Matthew underwent was rigorous and challenging but at the end of it he achieved his goal. Matthew should wear the saltire with great pride and make sure that he adds to the national teams legacy with his performance on the tatami in August.
Your Family, your club, your association and all the coaching staff here at SAKAI/SKE wish you all the best in your journey as a Scotland Internationalist..
It is with enormous pride that we can announce that Matthew Pratt has received his second call up to represent the Scottish Karate Governing Bodies National Team at the forthcoming Cadet, Junior U21 European Championship in Budapest, Hungary on the 6th to 9th February 2020.
Matthews first call-up was at the World Championships in Chile last October and now he has received what we hope is the second of many call ups for the National Team.
Your Family, your club, your association and all the coaching staff here at SAKAI/SKE wish you all the best in your journey as a Scotland Internationalist.
Congratulations Xander you did yourself proud!
It is with enormous pride that I can confirm that SPORT KARATE EAST has a new SAKAI Association Black Belt. Xander Dunn was awarded this from Sensei David M Coulter MBE, 8th Dan and our Assistant Chief Instructor Mr. Kris Coulter 6th Dan, on Saturday, 30th November 2019 at our Hunbu [Head Quarters] in Kilmarnock.
XANDER SAKAI BLACKBELT
The SAKAI Black Belt Grading is a right of passage, it was both physically and mentally challenging for Xander, but the reward at the end was PRICELESS. In addition too Kihon, Xander had to perform 44 different combinations not in sequence from memory, 9 Kata’s individually and in a group, a written exam against the clock, and at the end of all of that, he had to fight over 30 Kumite matches.
Xander’s SHODAN [First Dan] is very important to SPORT KARATE EAST, his 1st Dan basically means that Xander has mastered the fundamental techniques of karate along with the psychological and mental development necessary to make his karate effective.
Xander’s first and foremost responsibility is to train. A 1st Dan has just started their journey. Part of the growth process that occurs in karate is just plain old everyday hard work that goes with doing something over and over again until one gets really good at it.
Achieving the rank of a 1st Dan Black Belt is hard, really hard! Most people just don’t stick with it. Our experience shows that less than one percent of all the people who try karate ever make it to First Dan. So congratulations on achieving your first step on the ladder of what we hope is a life long karate journey, enjoy your achievement and keep training hard.
We had two spectacular evenings of entertainment for a great cause.
Based on the feedback we received from the audience we are pleased to be able to announe that we are going to make the “Fight Night Fundraisers” annual events to showcase the taleneted young SAKAI athletes.
Im sure you will agree that they deserve all of our support and encouragement. All of our athletes are self funded and as an association we are committed to assist them as much as possible and these events go along way to achieving this objective.
Thank you once again for all of your support.
The SAKAI Karate Association would like to thank each and everyone who supported the “Fight Night Fundraisers” to help our young athletes compete nationally and internationally. All proceeds from these events go to the athletes fund.
It is with enormous pride that we can announce today Sunday 10th March 2019, that SAKAI/SKE’s Matthew Pratt has been selected to represent Scotland’s National Karate Team at the forthcoming World Championship for Cadet, Junior & U21’s in Santiago, Chile, on the 23rd to 27th October 2019.
Dundee’s First athlete to be selected to represent the Scottish Karate Governing Bodies National Team in over 25 years!
What an achievement for Dundee’s very own Matthew Pratt to represent the nation in the Cadet +70kgs category at the World Championships but being selected for the National Team is just the first step in a long journey which will hopefully see this young athlete represent Scotland at elite level for years and years to come.
Becoming proficient at World Karate Federation competition karate is an extremely difficult task; which Matthew will be learning throughout his entire career. Those who like Matthew dedicate themselves too Karate and to their goals will always eventually succeed.
The World Karate Federation has open pathways for every karate athlete to find access to the chance of representing their nation at the Youth Olympic Games and Matthew has his mind set on being part of the Olympic adventure in the future.
But for now, your family, your club, your association and all of your friends and coaching staff at SAKAI/SKE look forward to seeing you realies your potential as an internationalist and we can’t wait to see you step onto the tatami at the World Championships in October.
It is with enormous pride that I can confirm that SPORT KARATE EAST has a new SAKAI Association Black Belt.
Matthew Pratt was awarded this from Sensei David M Coulter MBE, 8th Dan and our Assistant Chief Instructor Mr. Kris Coulter 5th Dan, on Saturday, 21st April 2018 at our Hunbu [Head Quarters] in Kilmarnock.
Today “SAKAI History” was made by Matthew Pratt becoming the youngest ever person to have earned the right to be called a SAKAI Blackbelt having dedicated the past eight and a half years to karate.
Matthew has achieved the coveted status of a SAKAI Blackbelt and has completed the 1st Stage of his karate apprenticeship.
The SAKAI Black Belt Grading is a right of passage, it was both physically and mentally challenging for Matthew, but the reward at the end was PRICELESS. In addition too Kihon, Matthew had to perform 44 different combinations not in sequence from memory, 8 Kata’s individually and in a group, a written exam against the clock, and at the end of all of that, he had to fight a minimum of 20 Kumite matches.
Matthew’s SHODAN [First Dan] is very important to SPORT KARATE EAST, his 1st Dan basically means that Matthew has mastered the fundamental techniques of karate along with the psychological and mental development necessary to make his karate effective. Matthew’s first and foremost responsibility is to train. A First Dan has just started their journey. Part of the growth process that occurs in karate is just plain old everyday hard work that goes with doing something over and over again until one gets really good at it.
Achieving the rank of a First Dan Black Belt is hard, really hard! Most people just don’t stick with it. Our experience shows that less than one percent of all the people who try karate ever make it to First Dan. So congratulations on achieving your first step on the ladder of what we hope is a life long karate journey, enjoy your achievement and keep training hard.
Congratulations Matthew you did yourself proud!
The SAKAI KARATE ASSOCIATION would like to thank each and everyone who supported the “Fight Night Fundraiser” to help our young athletes compete nationally and internationally. All proceeds from this event will go to the athletes fund.
A special thank needs to go out to the “Launch Pad Dancers” who kindly agreed to perform between each round. This was a spectacular evening of entertainment for a great cause.
Based on the feedback we received from the audience we are pleased to be able to announe that we are going to make the “FIGHT NIGHT FUNDRAISER” an annual event to showcase the taleneted young SAKAI athletes.
It is with enormous pride that I can confirm that SPORT KARATE EAST has a new SAKAI Association Black Belt. Kyle McLean was awarded this from Sensei David M Coulter MBE, 8th Dan and our Assistant Chief Instructor Mr. Kris Coulter 5th Dan, on Saturday, 18th November 2017 at our Hunbu [Head Quarters] in Kilmarnock.
The SAKAI Black Belt Grading is a right of passage, it was both physically and mentally challenging for Kyle, but the reward at the end was PRICELESS. In addition too Kihon, Kyle had to perform 44 different combinations not in sequence from memory, 8 Kata’s individually and in a group, a written exam against the clock, and at the end of all of that, he had to fight a minimum of 30 Kumite matches.
Kyle’s SHODAN [First Dan] is very important to SPORT KARATE EAST, his 1st Dan basically means that Kyle has mastered the fundamental techniques of karate along with the psychological and mental development necessary to make his karate effective.
Congratulations Kyle you did yourself proud!
Kyle’s first and foremost responsibility is to train. A First Dan has just started their journey. Part of the growth process that occurs in karate is just plain old everyday hard work that goes with doing something over and over again until one gets really good at it.
Achieving the rank of a First Dan Black Belt is hard, really hard! Most people just don’t stick with it. Our experience shows that less than one percent of all the people who try karate ever make it to First Dan. So congratulations on achieving your first step on the ladder of what we hope is a life long karate journey, enjoy your achievement and keep training hard.
Twenty of SPORT KARATE EAST’s young athletes participated in a 10,000 Kick Challenge to help raise much needed funds, to assist our athletes progression programme, today [Sunday 21st August 2016]. The challenge took place at our studio in Dundee and started at 11.26 am and continued until the goal of completing 10,000 kicks was achieved at 1.14pm. This took one hour and thirty-eight minutes and the young athletes between them averaged 102 kicks per minute!
SPORT KARATE EAST is very grateful to each and everyone who sponsored this event to assist our young athletes in their endeavors to compete, locally, nationally and internationally.
To date this momentous endeavor by Twenty of Sport Karate East’s young athletes has raised in excess of a FOUR figure sum, with still a number of our sponsors pledges to come in, we should see this figure grow further.
Here is a summary video of the action from SPORT KARATE EAST’s 10,000 Kick Challenge, we hope you enjoy it!
Hyakunin Kumite is the ultimate test of physical and mental perseverance. The hundred-man/woman kumite challenge might well be seen as the ultimate test of physical and mental perseverance in Martial Arts, or for that matter, many other sports today.
SPORT KARATE EAST’s Youth Development Director Richard Mallinson planned to undergo 100 X 2 minute rounds of fighting [kumite] to help raise much need funds for SKE’s young athletes. The Man/Woman fighting [kumite] challenge took place on Saturday 28th November 2015 @ Sport Karate East’s Studio in Dundee and continued until the goal of 100 matches was completed. There was an error in the rounds counted, Richard Mallinson actually completed 110 X 2 minute rounds.
Here is a summary video of the action from SPORT KARATE EAST’s Hyakunin Kumite Challenge, we hope you enjoy it!
To give you a better idea of what this challenge entail’s, it’s like running two marathon’s consecutively while people are trying to punch, kick, sweep and throw you and if this was not tough enough Richard arranged for former Scottish, British, European and [WKF] World Karate Champions to be some of his adversaries. Based on our research it appears that this is the first time that the Hyakunin Kumite Challenge has successfully been completed in Scotland. In fact there are only 23 other people in the WORLD who have successfully completed this challenge. We may well be the First in the World to have done the Hyakunin Kumite Challenge using World Karate Federation Rules.
SPORT KARATE EAST is very grateful to each and everyone who sponsored this event to assist our young athletes in their endeavors to compete, locally, nationally and internationally. To date this momentous endeavor by Sport Karate East’s Youth Development Director has raised in excess of a FOUR figure sum, with still quite a number of our sponsors pledges to come in, we should see this figure grow further.
After 9 years of dedicated training here at SPORT KARATE EAST it is with great pride that I can confirm that Bob Davidson has now achieved a coveted SAKAI 4th Dan [Yondan] on Saturday 10th October 2015 at our Humbu [Head Quarters] in Kilmarnock. Bob was awarded his 4th Dan from the SAKAI Associations Founder and Chief Instructor, Sensie David M Coulter MBE, 8th Dan and our Associations Assistant Chief Instructor Mr. Kris Coulter 5th Dan.
The SAKAI Black Belt Grading is a right of passage, it was both physically and mentally challenging for Bob but the reward at the end was PRICELESS.
The grading started with Kihon. Bob then had to perform 22 different combination techniques from memory. Next up Bob had to fight 20 Kumite matches, before having to perform our mandatory Kata’s and then a further 4 advanced Kata’s from SAKAI’s approved Kata list. Last but no means least he then had to perform a further 22 different combination techniques from memory.
Our experience shows that one in ten thousand make it to 1st Dan [Shodan] so you can workout for yourself how many martial artists make it to 4th Dan [Yondan], This is a very exclusive club, being a 4th Dan or above for sure.
So congratulations on achieving this significant milestone on your lifelong karate journey enjoy your achievement and keep training hard.
Congratulations Bob you did yourself proud!
It is with enormous pride that I can confirm that SPORT KARATE EAST has now achieved our 1st coveted SAKAI Association Black Belt. Caroline Parker-Smith was awarded this from Sensei David M Coulter MBE, 8th Dan and our Assistant Chief Instructor Mr. Kris Coulter 5th Dan, on Saturday, 12th April 2014 at our Hunbu [Head Quarters] in Kilmarnock.
The SAKAI Black Belt Grading is a right of passage, it was both physically and mentally challenging for Caroline, but the reward at the end was PRICELESS. In addition too Kihon, Caroline had to perform 44 different combinations not in sequence from memory, 8 Kata’s individually and in a group, a written exam against the clock, impact pad work and at the end of all of that, she had to fight a minimum of 20 Kumite matches.
Caroline’s SHODAN [First Dan] is very important to SPORT KARATE EAST, her 1st Dan basically means that Caroline has mastered the fundamental techniques of karate along with the psychological and mental development necessary to make her karate effective.
Caroline’s first and foremost responsibility is to train. A First Dan has just started their journey. Part of the growth process that occurs in karate is just plain old everyday hard work that goes with doing something over and over again until one gets really good at it. Achieving the rank of a First Dan Black Belt is hard, really hard! Most people just don’t stick with it. Our experience shows that less than one percent of all the people who try karate ever make it to First Dan. So congratulations on achieving your first step on the ladder of what we hope is a life long karate journey, enjoy your achievement and keep training hard.
Congratulations Caroline you did yourself proud!