Wayne began training October 1980, at the time he was only 6 and the age limit for starting was 7 years old at that time, he only went to watch his cousin who had started a few weeks earlier, but when the instructor, Sensei Alan Bainbridge, saw him trying to emulate the moves they were doing in the class, he took him from the bench where he was watching from and put in line with the rest of the class, the rest is history as they say.
If only, it wasn’t an easy ride, naturally shy and lacking in any aggression, he struggled, at his first grading he only got a temporary grade, he couldn’t do his kata and never kiai’d once, he says it was awarded more in pity than any ability. He got temporary grades in his next two grading also, before getting a full green belt, from there it was all full passes, but still it wasn’t plain sailing.
In 1984 he failed his black belt twice, both time passing the kumite side of the grading but failed both his basics and kata, so each time he had to repeat the whole grading, until finally on 10th November 1984 before Enoeda Sensei, he finally passed on his third attempt.
In 1982 he started competing, firstly on a regional level and then in 1983 competed in his first national championships as a brown belt. From there he has gone on to compete in 35 national championships, possibly some kind of record.
In 1986 he was runner up in the boys under 5ft kumite at the Central Region Championships, losing to a teammate in the finals, but beating that years National Champion in the semi finals.
In February 1987, after one failed attempt at his 2nd Dan, he passed once again in front of Enoeda Sensei. Later that year at the National Championship he came third in boys under 5ft kumite.
In 1989, Sensei Alan emigrated to Australia, leaving Darren Taggert, just 17 and Wayne, just 15, as club instructors, this was a big step up for both of them, although they had been teaching beginners and juniors for sometime, taking on a club that at the time had close to 100 members was a daunting task, but the support of some of the club seniors and Sensei Jeff from Bingham SKC, helped them both grow into the role of club instructors.
1995 was another good year, firstly in March becoming Central Region Men’s Kata champion for the first of four occasions and then later in the year passing his 3rd Dan at the first attempt, once more before Enoeda Sensei.
In 2003, after Enoeda Sensei passing and the split between the JKA and the KUGB, the club at the prompting of Sensei Wayne chose to join Ohta Sensei’s newly formed JKA England and stay with the JKA. All of Wayne’s grading at the time has been taken before JKA instructors, his kyu grades were all under Kawasoe Sensei and his Dan grades under Enoeda sensei, he wanted to continue that tradition.
After just a handful of training sessions with Ohta Sensei, he asked Wayne to try out for the JKA England Squad, as he wanted Wayne to compete in the individual kata at the 2005 JKA European Championships in Norway. This was Wayne’s first taste of international competition, he would go on to compete at four JKA European Championships and the 2006 JKA World Championships in Sydney, Australia.
Not only has Sensei Wayne been selected for the England Squad, but seven other students from Newark SKC have gone on to represent JKA England at either European and World Championships and a number of other students have had the opportunity to train with the England squad.
After retiring from the squad at the beginning of 2009, he began training for his 4th Dan, under the encouragement of Sensei Adel Ismail, one of his squad coaches and Sensei Mick Lowe or Shotokan Tokon Karate Club at Long Sutton. Sensei Mick also began his training at Newark SKC back in the late 1970s and was present at Wayne’s first training session back in 1980, even though he was only a yellow belt at the time, Sensei Mick helped train the juniors at the club back then.
In August 2009, Sensei Wayne passed his 4th Dan, before Ueki Sensei, Chief Instructor of the JKA, despite breaking his foot in two places in the kumite and still having kata to do, the doctors advised that he go to hospital for xrays, he decided to continue and perform the two katas required to complete the grading, adrenalin masked the pain until later in the evening!
In 2010 he finally won the JKA England Men’s Kata title, after previously winning silver three times. He won again in 2013, which was then his 30th national championships, where he decided to retire from competition.
After a year away from competition, he realised that not having a personal goal to aim for in his own personal karate was reducing his passion for karate in general, after a period of taking a back seat in the club running and teaching, passing the mantel onto Sensei Steve Davis, he returned to competing at 2015 JKA England National Championships, winning kata silver in a final against two competitors that were almost twenty years his junior, the fire was back.
2017 was a tough year, after an accident at work where his lower left leg was crushed, it came close to ending his karate, but luckily and against even the paramedics diagnosis, he suffered no breakages and didn’t need any surgery. The damage was only to the muscle, which required significant physiotherapy, but he was able to return to teaching almost immediately, although with some limitations.
In 2018, only ten months after his injury, he won his 3rd JKA England Men’s Kata title and followed that up in 2019 with JKA England Men’s Veteran Kata title.
Sensei Wayne believes that the true essence of karate is to learn from your mistakes and keep trying.
Defeat or failure is not the end, just another step in getting better.
After all, a little guy known as a kata specialist, started off by failing at kata.
NEWARK SKC 