I have just come back from a weekend at BUCS 2026 Championships in Sheffield where I was coaching the CUKC team. As a JKA person, I have never been a fan of sports karate. However I came away from the weekend with a different view. Here were 700 students, each committing themselves to hard training in between their studies, striving to get better, listening to their coaches, some winning medals but most coming away disappointed, vowing to do better in the next competition. In the world now where answers can be found and essays can be written within seconds, and any failures can immediately be rectified by a restart button on your console, this is a valuable experience in life where you cannot win everything immediately, there are always people better than you, and success, if it ever arrives, is built on layers and layers of failures, disappointments and hard work. As I watched students make bonds and shared memories through this experience that will last the rest of their lives, I saw the great value that this version of karate brings.
As I reflected on this I had further thoughts. Of course there are other versions of karate. There is a version that focusses on the self-defence aspects, building on the bunkai and oyo of kata moves. There are brilliant instructors out there who teach this, and I wish I had the time to study and practice this karate.
Instead I, and many in my circle of karate friends, spend our time studying the third version of karate, which is what I think of as the pursuit of perfecting the art of karate. Much like a gymnast or a figure skater, a karate-ka in this version spends months and years correcting tiny aspects of techniques. When I do oizuki, which joints, bones, tendons and muscles must move in what sequence and to what degrees of tension? This training will not win me medals or protect me from attackers, and it gets harder and harder as your body stops listening to what you want it to do, but the study of this version of karate (as also do the other two above) takes me to gasshukus in the UK, Europe and Japan, giving me the opportunities to learn from great Senseis and the pleasure of meeting many like-minded friends. It gives me the joy of the “Ah-ha!” moments, and the satisfaction of teaching it to the next generation.
Karate has so much to give, in different ways to different people. Best of luck with your karate, whichever version you choose to pursue.
Cambridge Karate Dojo 