Interests
My interests include family life, martial arts/fitness, music, movies, socialising, motor racing, digital photography and international travel.
Martial Arts/Fitness
Karate has been a passion of mine since my teens; my goal was to become a black belt and win a national Kumite tournament. Ultimately, I would like to follow in my instructor's footsteps and help others by teaching classes.
My journey started in October 1990 and had trained ever since, with breaks while my children were little, and to recover from life-threatening illness.
During my time I have trained with various regionals clubs and now with the Blackwell Academy Premier Martial Arts Centre. I have entered multiple competitions, attended numerous technical and refereeing courses, summer camps, teaching for my club, and actively help promote the sport through demonstrations around the community in addition to maintaining websites. Karate highlights include the following:
- Against the odds, achieving my black belt in 2018
- Winning in the men's 6-4th Kyu Kumite at the EKKA Nationals in 2007
- Receiving runner-up student of the year for 2008, second only to an outstanding student who graded to 1st Dan with the Flu!
- As a blackbelt keen to coach the next generation of martial artists.
Starting in 2007, I used Kickboxing to enhance my Karate technique, flexibility, strength and stamina. I found the pad work very useful to gauge the effectiveness of combinations and the sparring bolstered my fighting skills.
Since the kickboxing classes stopped, I trained at the gym, where I attended gym for 30 minutes prior to every Karate class in addition to an hour at least three times a week. This helped my strength and stamina.
I have now realised my goals of becoming a black belt in Karate and winning a national Kumite tournament and would recommend the sport to everyone of all ages and abilities. I am currently training for my 2nd Dan in Karate!
Digital Photography
I was a fortunate enough to obtain a Digital SLR camera a few years back and have since turned from a photography enthusiast to someone very passionate about taking quality photographs. My forte is landscape photography, however, have turned my hand to pretty much all genres of photography.
I have attended structured classes and obtained qualifications for photography, in addition to reading many books on the subject, networking and learning with individuals far better than me.
Recently, I have added Drone Photography to my toolkit, adding a new dynamic to the art.
Please see my portfolio on the excellent 500px photography showcase website.
