Instructor profiles

Sensei began training in 1990 at the age of 6 years old, gaining his 1st Dan Black Belt at the tender age of 10 years old. He has since progressed through the ranks gaining 2nd Dan in 1996, 3rd Dan in 2005 and 4th Dan 2009.

From a very early age Sensei was interested in teaching and passing on his knowledge and experience, he was awarded his instructors qualification at 18 years old. At the beginning of 2004 Sensei John James decided to commit himself to KUGB Shotokan Karate even more by becoming the youngest full time instructor in the KUGB.

Along with his passion in teaching Sensei has had a significant competition career. Starting with success at local competitions and then at regional and national championships at the age of 14 years old he was selected to train on the England squad. After a particularly successful domestic year in 2000 he was rewarded with his England debut competing at the European Shotokan Championships in Lucerne, Switzerland, since then he has been a regular in the England team, which has competed all over the world.

In Vienna, Austria, 2001 Sensei John James was a member of the England Junior Kumite Team, which won European Gold. 2003 he added to his international honors with a Bronze medal in the Junior Individual Kumite at the European, in Sunderland, England also in 2003 Sensei John James was crowned World Individual Junior Kumite Champion in Zurich, Switzerland.

More international success came with the England Senior Male Team Kumite, winning the European title in 2007 (Porto, Portugal), 2008 (Crawley, England) and 2009 (Wels, Austria) as well as the World title in 2007 (Bydgoszcz, Poland) and 2009 (Cancun, Mexico). An individual Kumite Bronze medal came at the European Championships in 2009 (Wels, Austria).

Adding to his achievements internationally he has continued with success domestically winning various senior titles including 2009 Grand Champion (winning individual Kata and an Kumite)at the Shotokan Cup and 2010 KUGB Nationals Grand Champion (winning individual Kata and Kumite).

Marty Olver started Karate in August 1985 at the age of thirty-four at the Kushiro karate club, after much encouragement from his wife Carol and sons Christian & Stephen who had joined earlier. He is very thankful to them for introducing him to 'the most enjoyable and rewarding sport' he has had the pleasure to participate in.

He took his first grading with Sensei Bob Poynton in December 1985 and passed orange belt. In those early days it was common for people to would sometimes train seven days a week at different Dojo's and was inspired by Sensei's Bill Brazier, Jeff Barwick and Christine Pullen. Marty passed Shodan in February 1989 with Sensei Sherry, Nidan in 1992 and Sandan in 1997 with Sensei Enoeda. In 1997 Marty and Carol took over the running of the Kushiro Karate Club and ran it up until September 2007 when Sensei John James Bruce took over the running of the club. Marty continued training under the guidance of Sensei John James and passed Yondan in April 2008. Although he started karate relatively late in life over the past twenty-five years he has never felt that he was too old to do karate and enjoy it as much now as he did the first time he stepped onto the Kushiro dojo in 1985.

Holly began training in the southern region of England at the age of ten years old. She gained her 1st Dan Black Belt in 1999, at the age of twelve. She progressed to 2nd Dan in 2001 and her 3rd Dan in 2009.

At the age of thirteen Holly was selected to be part of the KUGB England junior kumite squad and in the same year, invited to be on the KUBG kata squad. In 2003 Holly was selected for her England debut competing at the European Shotokan Championships in Sunderland, and has since been a regular member of the England team.

At the European Championships in Wroclaw, Poland, 2005 Holly came 3rd in the Junior Ladies Individual Kumite event and was a member of the England Junior Ladies Kumite Team winning Gold. She continued her success the following year in Lucerne, Switzerland, by winning 2nd place in the Junior Ladies Individual Kumite 2006.

The year 2009 was a great year for Holly on the international stage. She came 3rd in the Senior Ladies Kata event at the World Championships (Cancun, Mexico) and at the European Championships (Wels, Austria) she was a member of the Senior Ladies Team Kumite coming 2nd. The 2010 European Championships (Koblenz, Germany) saw the Senior Ladies team continuing with their success coming 3rd.

Adding to her achievements internationally Holly has continued with success domestically winning various titles including 2009 and 2010 Grand Champion (winning individual Kata and Kumite) at the Northern Region Championships and has won the National Ladies Kata title since 2008.

In 2006 Holly moved to the northern region studying Illustration and Design at the University of Sunderland. Whilst studying at university Holly competed at the BUSA/BUCS championships bring home results for Sunderland three years running. In 2008 she won the Ladies Kumite, in 2009 she became Grand Champion winning both the Kata and Kumite events and in 2010 she took Gold in the Kumite and silver in Kata.

Holly continues to compete at the highest level and has also recently started up a new class at Wheatley Hill, County Durham, where she is passing on her vast knowledge and expertise to some potential future champions.

Having always been fascinated by the portrayal of martial arts in the movies, I decided to give it a go for myself and see if I was capable of pulling off the moves displayed by screen icons such as Bruce Lee and Jean-Claude Van Damme.

As a result I started my own martial arts journey under the guidance of Sensei Jeff Barwick and began training in January 1997 at Sunderland Sendai Karate Club, and after almost 14 years of trying, I can say that Hollywood certainly does not have a new action hero!

Despite this career set back, I continue to train regularly at Sendai Karate Club, now under the tutelage of Sensei John James Bruce, and achieved the grade of 2nd dan in October 2007 under the watchful eyes of Sensei Sherry and Poynton.

Mark is a talented karate-ka and instructor who practices what he teaches, Mark rarely misses a session and always shows a great attitude. Mark is a regular instructor at the Sunderland dojo's. 

Kim started training at Sendai in 1989 with Sensei Jeff Barwick as her main instructor. She would also train with Owen Murray and Christine Pullen who would teach alongside him teaching regularly. During this time Kim was able to grade up to 1st Kyu, training and grading with some of the most renowned instructors which included Sensei Enoeda, Kawasoe and Sherry.

After a long break she decided to start training again in 2002. Jeff Barwick was still the main instructor with regular lessons from Owen Murray.

One of her highlights was in 2003, when she was selected by Jeff to help with the running of European Championships which was held at Crowtree Leisure Centre, Sunderland. She was the steward for the Polish team and also helped look after the judges & referees prior to the competition. This was a brilliant experience for Kim.

Kim passed her 1st Dan grading in October 2005 at Alnwick, Northumberland with Sensei Andy Sherry 8th Dan and Sensei Billy Higgins 7th Dan. In February 2006 she was successfully assessed by Sensei Jill Kelly 5th Dan and awarded her instructors qualification. October 2007 saw Kim passing her 2nd Dan in Alnwick, Northumberland. This grading was taken by Sensei Andy Sherry 8th Dan and Sensei Bob Poynton 7th Dan.

Kim's future goals include passing my 3rd Dan and gaining her Judges/Referees qualifications.

Kim is a regular instructor at the Sunderland dojo’s and is also the main instructor at East Herrington class, which has been running since 2006.