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Bridgend Kyokushinkai Karate Club History
The Bridgend Kyokushinkai Karate Club
started way back in the early 1970’s when Mike Watkins
came back from Japan and introduced Kyokushinkai Karate
to Wales.
The following piece of the clubs history
is from my old instructor and friend Sempai Dai
Llewellyn (1st Dan).
Dave joined the original Bridgend BKK
Dojo early in 1972 at the Pen-y-fai scouts hall. Peter
Davies was the instructor in charge, in the absence of
the number one at that time Sempai Mike Watkins of the
‘Cardiff Dojo’, who was very well respected by Steve
Arneil and also a personal friend. I remember being told
when I first joined, that there had been an earlier Dojo
run by a so called Sempai of dubious background,
apparently Mike Watkins paid a visit and that person
went away.
It would be true to say that training
under Mike Watkins was of a hard and extremely high
discipline, as expected by the then Shihan Steve Arneil.
Mike came to Bridgend very frequently, and was often
supported by Lee Costa who was becoming a very good
competition fighter.
There were other well respected local
members at the time that assisted Peter Davies out of
the Dojo. The club was run by a committee with a chair,
secretary, treasurer etc.
Jeff Philpots and Gary Kelly were also
members. After some time becoming established students,
my friend John Bolton and I became members of the
committee. When Howard Collins of Mountain Ash returned
to Wales after that year coming second in the all Japan
Knockdown championships, he was invited to train with us
and appeared on a regular basis. I had the
honour
of transporting him to and from Bridgend on a number of
occasions, and got to know him well on a high respect
basis.
Training was even stricter and harder
than it was previously, high grades quickly became
familiar with the shinai, but never in a bullying way.
Howard Collins had our utmost respect and will have mine
forever.
After the time that Howard Collins
returned, I remember the club continued to improve in
both size and quality until a period of dissatisfaction
crept in. If I remember rightly Howard Collins was not
able to give Bridgend as much support as previously, as
he had developed a lot of other commitments both
nationally and internationally. On agreement the
committee decided to approach Mike O’Brian of Shotokan
to see what he could offer. The committee liked the
terms (I was not at the meeting and when I returned from
holiday I was told that we were now Shotokan). After a
short period of training in that style, some of us
wished to return to the BKK and contacted Howard
Collins, and after a meeting with him at Bridgend
Recreation Centre a group of us returned to the BKK.
After the return to the BKK Ieuan Morris became the new
Sempai at the Dojo, and I became the assistant
instructor.
After passing my 2nd Kyu brown
belt I was asked to set up my own Dojo in Cornelly,
which was attached to the Bridgend Dojo for a while
until I became officially sempai of my own Dojo.
Osu,
Sempai Dave Llewellyn ( 1st
Dan ). |
