Matthew Ford, 1st Dan

 

I started karate in 1993 under Phil Shire at the kids club in Leiston. After about 10 years I achieved my black belt and during this time I was able to train with many other accomplished black belts enriching my experience and knowledge. Although we are not a competition based club I was more than able to hold my own in various competitions that I took part in both locally and in Watford.


As someone who has had to battle with severe dyslexia, karate has given me the strength and confidence in life to fight on, buying a frozen foods company at 19 and assisting a friend with his pub chain aged just 21.

In 2008 I was involved in a life threatening Road Traffic Accident (RTA) which left me with life changing injuries. I feel that my past in karate had put me in a much better position to survive the accident and having it as something to return to, it's helped massively in my recovery.

While karate has been a massive help in my life I am now able to use the many life lessons in my karate allowing me to understand each move to a whole new level. This has given me a much better ability to teach karate as I have to try and see things from a much broader range of angles than I ever could have without.

As part of my recovery I have also been exploring other forms of karate training and Jiu-jitsu. Whilst each have their own merits and have improved my knowledge and understanding they cannot compete with what the Sizewell club has given me over the past 28 years.