Goals, achievements and reflections

Konichiwa! Please introduce yourself when you come into the group so we can all get to know each other. I would love to know who you are why you are here? I will go first... I’m Sam, Sensei Sam to my students, I’m nearly 47yrs of age and been training and teaching karate for nearly 30yrs. I began my karate journey at the age of 17 as a way to learn self defence after an unprovoked attack at a high school party. I wanted to make sure that wouldn't happen to me again and if it did, I would be prepared! Unknowingly this led to me giving up a university degree in teaching to pursue a full time career, training and teaching karate. I did this for over 16 years training hundreds of students and instructors all over Australia and even in the USA. Building large karate clubs was fun and exciting and allowed me to follow my passion. In my mid 30's it was time for a new direction and I left my organisation to study and train in Goju Ryu under Seiwakai whom I had experience training with on occasion over the years. Since starting Goju Ryu I found it made sense to me for a number of different reasons both physically and from a self defence stand point. I founded Yushukan karate in 2020 as I wanted to bring my experience and my view points to training and teaching whilst still staying close to the roots of Goju Ryu through Seiwakai. I am graded in both Seiwakai and JKF Gojukai and have tested and trained in Japan and Okinawa. I am committed to my training and passing on what I love and I continue to train and learn from some of the best Goju Ryu exponents in the world. (Some of these you will see on this platform) I’m looking forward to helping more people discover the benefits of karate even if they can't physically get to a dojo. Done properly, karate is great for your health and longevity. When I am not doing karate I like to hit the beach, the sauna, ice bath, play golf, travel and listen to podcasts. Looking forward to chatting to other karate enthusiasts on Skool.