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UK KDS Karate-do Shotokai

Karate - Martial Arts

Karate Do Shotokai (KDS) Cardiff

Practising and teaching karate as taught by Master Mitsusuke Harada

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Training times

Saturday 10:00 - 12:00
Thursday 19:00 - 21:00​

Times and location are subject to change right now, as the sports centre has limited availability. Check with us to confirm.

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Our location

CMC Sports and Social Club,
University Hospital for Wales,
The Heath,
Cardiff,
CF14 4XW

Parking at the hospital is free.

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Contact

If you have any questions, or want to join a practice, please contact our Chief Instructor, Ian Mackenzie: [email protected].

Alternatively, you can contact us through our Facebook page, where we frequently post news, photos, videos and special offers.

It is helpful to know in advance if you are going to visit us, so we can welcome you on the day.

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Getting started

If you want to try Karate Do Shotokai, your first lesson is completely free

It is helpful to know in advance if you are going to visit us, so we can welcome you on the day.

We work hard, but our practice is friendly and informal. Many of our new members are either new to karate entirely, or have trained in other styles. 

What happens during a practice

All you need for your first lesson are some sports (or loose) clothes, and a bottle of water. We’ll ask you to sign a form to cover your insurance for the practice, and our Chief Instructor will email you after the practice with some instructions on how to join the club.

Normally, we start the 2 hour session with a 20 minute warm up (a mix of cardio and stretches). Don’t worry if you’re not very flexible or haven’t done exercise for a while,  you can take the session as slowly as you need to. You’ll find it gets easier after each session! 

The remainder of the session varies each week. We learn kata (learn more about kata), kumite (sparring), and practise how to move, defend, and attack through a variety of techniques. We don’t run beginner’s classes, as our sessions can cater for both new people as well as graded members. The club has 4 instructors who will take you through the stages of each training session. 

Do let us know if there is anything that might affect your warm up and practice. 

At the end of the session, we try to spend 5 minutes stretching the muscles we’ve used. 

There are showers at the sports club, with lockers and hairdryers in each set of changing rooms. Parking at the hospital is free.

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Cost

Per session / month

£5 per session
£34 per month (2 sessions per week)
£40 annual membership fee

Concession
£4 per session
£27 per month (2 sessions per week)

New member offer £40

1 year membership to KDS valued at £50
1 year training insurance
1 month of training fees valued at £45
1 new karate kit valued at £26

Cost to you - £40
Total value - £121

Welcome back offer £40

Former members who have been out of training for at least 12 months (membership expired for at least 12 months on KDS register).

1 year membership to KDS valued at £40
1 year training insurance
1 month of training fees valued at £45
1 new karate kit valued at £22 if needed

Cost to you - £40
Total value - £107

Junior member offer £30

1 year membership to KDS valued at £30
1 year training insurance
1 month of training fees valued at £36
1 new karate kit valued at £26

Cost to you - £30
Total value - £86

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Featured members

Father and Son Peter and Geraint Payton were awarded their 1st Dan Black Belts in December 2023. A well deserved achievement for their perseverance overcoming individual difficulties.
Peter - my health and karate

Peter being given his black belt

I am pleased to be training and to achieve my black belt at 74.

 

I trained in this style in the 1970’s however unfortunately I had to stop due to financial constraints.

 

I was diagnosed with Celiac disease in my late 50’s. I also have a few old injuries from working in steel.

 

Training in the KDS has allowed my bone density to stay high into my 70’s. As with
Celiac disease the bone density can be low enough to give me brittle bone disease.

 

The club has been very helpful tailoring how they teach me individually around my
injuries. 

Geraint - my autism and karate

Father and Son Peter and Geraint PaytonI was struggling with my confidence after a fairly recent life event before joining in 2017.

 

My father and I went to try a free first Cardiff club training session. The experience was of a warm welcoming extended family.

 

The club has always supported my neurodiversity. By continuing to work hard on my KDS journey, it has been worth it to feel myself grow in confidence.

 

KDS Cardiff have been nothing less than very supportive. It has helped some of the
comorbid conditions such as coordination, balance and sensory issues.

Neil - one of the best things I've ever done!

Neil receiving his blue belt from two instructorsI joined the KDS back in 2021 and it’s honestly one of the best things I’ve ever done. 3 years later and I’m in the best physical condition of my life; I’m stronger, fitter and more flexible than I ever felt before.

 

Karate has also helped my mental health enormously, and no matter how stressful the week has been, or what I’ve got going on in life, I leave training with a clear head, feeling like a million dollars!

 

In Cardiff we’re really lucky to have such a wealth of experience in our instructors, and each has supported me with different aspects of my training, helping me to work on continuously improving my karate, enabling me to push myself further than I ever thought possible.

 

The club is warm and friendly, and I’ve met some amazing people here who have not only helped me with my training but also become true friends who have been there for me during the ups and downs.

 

Karate has made me stronger, fitter, and healthier in a lot of ways but it’s also helped me to become wiser, calmer, more patient, and more focused. So with that said, and with almost three years under my belt, I know I’ll be doing this for the rest of my life.

Dan - my long and winding karate-do (path)

Dan Lindfield As a teenager I suffered from a degenerative bone condition and by the time I got to university in Southampton I was suffering from serious back pain.

 

The doctor recommended strengthening my back muscles, and so started my journey along the ‘karate-do’ with the Shotokai club in Southampton. I soon found my physical fitness and my back issues improved. More importantly though, the social aspect of the club, introduced me to lifelong friends that remain dear to me to this day. I was never a natural athlete, but I received my black belt from Southampton University in 1992 after 3 years of training. Access to Master Harada Sensei and his 5th Dans in those early years was inspirational and only now do I realise how lucky I was to have the first-hand experience of training with them. 

 

When I moved away from Southampton my karate practice became more irregular, with no clubs in my area I would meet up with friends and train one-to-one when we could, often travelling long distances to join club sessions elsewhere. In 2000 I moved to Japan for work, this is where I was introduced to the Shotokan style of karate and was lucky to practice occasionally with Yoshiharu Osaka Sensei.

 

My next adventure took me to Lilongwe, Malawi in Africa, this is when my instructor experience from the Southampton years came in handy and I helped run a local school karate club. Although run as a traditional Shotokan style karate club. The Sensei, Walter Ntho, had been trained in both Shotokan and Kung-fu so our personal practices took on a distinctive new flavour, I wish I could remember the bo kata’s he created at the time!

 

When I returned to Japan for the second time, I started teaching karate to a small group of school children in the British School in Tokyo, something I continued to do when I moved back to Penarth in the UK, returning to the Shotokai fold and helping out Jonathan DeClaire in his karate youth club.

 

I have now joined the Cardiff KDS club where I have found my new karate home, striving to better myself with the help of inspirational 5th Dan’s like Ian Mackenzie and Roy Margetts, welcomed open handed by an incredible family of karateka from all works of life that challenge me weekly to improve. And so, my karate-do meanders along!

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Videos

Our Chief Instructor, Ian Mackenzie, has been making videos for the club all through lockdown.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel for his demonstrations of traditional kata, kata for confined space, warm up exercises, and spotlights on specific techniques.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel  for more content.

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Gallery

1 - 3 March, Spring School all grades courseCourse information
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