James Wheeler

Bio

  • Grade - Sandan
  • Training Since - 1978

 

James is originally from Wotton-under-Edge in Gloucestershire and was first introduced to Shotokan Karate in 1978 at age 8 when, disinterested with mainstream sports like football and cricket, he persuaded his father to enrol him with the Karate-Do Shotokai (KDS) where he practiced for four years and was graded by the renowned Mitusuke Harada, a member of the original group that trained under Gichin Funakoshi.

James drifted away from karate during his secondary education but was drawn back whilst at college, joining the Karate Union of Great Britain (KUGB) and was graded to 1st Kyu in 1991 by Bob Poynton.

After a number of work relocations that interrupted his regular training, he settled with his young family in Tring in 2001 and returned to practice with the Shotokan Karate England (SKE) shortly afterwards. He was awarded his current grade, 3rd Dan, in 2012 by Rod Butler

Thoughts on Karate

The attainment of grades should be unhurried; the journey is more important than the destination - because the more we learn, the more we realise how little we know.