Oliver becomes first EKF Karate Squad member
We are proud to announce that Oliver Holyoak was presented with his EKF Southern Region Karate Squad badge today, while taking part at the EKF Karate National Championships at Leicester arena, whilst competing for the JKS England Squad.
Oliver is the first person at CDMA to represent an EKF squad and it is a big step up for our academy and shows the strength of the coaching we have at Can Do and the quality of the students that are coming through.
With Karate now an Olympic sport there has never been a better time to get your children involved.
Here is Oliver describing his own story into Karate and what he has achieved in a few years of committed training.
"I started Training 6 years ago at Drayton Primary School at the age of 7. I did my first competition 2 years later in November 2013 at the age of 9. It was the very first JKS nationals that CDMA went to. From that day on I knew I wanted to compete.
At the January 2015 CDMA Kids competition I entered and won gold. Then I knew my next goal was that I wanted a spot on the JKS England squad! So in late January 2015 I went to Leeds to try out for the JKS National Squad. I tired my best and had trained hard for it but the standard that our National Coach (Matt Price 6th Dan) looks fo is very high, and sadly, I didn’t get picked. Even though this was a knock back it didn’t stop me. I still competed as a CDMA squad member until the Cumbrian open in June 2015 when there, after a good performance, I finally got a place on the JKS England squad.
I was so happy and it later propelled me to get my black belt in August 2015.
For the next 18 months I competed in many competitions under JKS England. Winning Bronze at the 2016 Cumbrian Open and 2017 Yorkshire open. I went to my first EKF training session February 2017 and knew I wanted to take the next step in my journey so in April 2017 I tried out for the Southern Region EKF Squad and was selected. I hope to go on to get into the EKF national team and travel abroad to compete and hopefully make an appearance in the 2024 Olympics! "
A great story from Oliver and it just goes to show, that it is not easy getting where you want to go, but being told NO, doesn't mean you should give up. Look at what Oliver has achieved instead, a true inspiration!
Karate with the JKS , the UK's largest association, is taught at the Abingdon Dojo. We have classes Monday through to Sunday each week. For a free trial class please contact Office@candomartialarts.co.uk.