The Cambridge club is well established and was opened in 1989.
Classes are held every Wednesday evening, within the centre of Cambridge, making them accessible from wherever you are located in and around the city.
The club has members ranging from beginner level to 5th Dan Black Belt. Members come from a broad range of professional and social backgrounds. Students range from 5 years old, through to adults. All classes are mixed together, creating a relaxed, family-like atmosphere.
Gradings are held regularly throughout the year, where students take an exam to achieve their next grade. For many young students this promotes self-confidence and a sense of achievement and motivation.
Additionally, students participate in courses run by Shihan Sahota and take part in an annual TISKA National Competition, giving students the opportunity to demonstrate the skills they have learnt and developed through their training.
The Cambridge TISKA Karate club is run by Mr K Watson 7th Dan instructor. Mr Watson started training with Chief Instructor Shihan G Sahota in 1982 at his Dunstable club.
He started with a friend who had been attacked in the street for the self defence aspect. After a few years later his friend dropped out but Mr Watson had caught the bug and the rest is history. Since that time he started a Karate club in Cambridge in 1989. Some of his original students are still training having started when they were 5/6 years old. They have since graded for their 4th and 5th Dans’.
Over the years he has successfully competed and refereed in competitions both locally and internationally. He has also attended Masters courses in Italy, Dubai, and Spain held by Shihan Sahota Chief Instructor.
Mr Watson has a keen interest in application of the techniques taught in Karate, having the belief if you only do the moves it is like learning a foreign language without knowing what the words mean.
Mr Watson is enhanced CRB checked, holds his certificates in First Aid, and TISKA is a member of the UK Karate Governing Body.
Gusharan Sahota
Gursharan Sahota was born in Kenya, East Africa but moved to the UK at the age of 12. He took up Karate at the age of 14 in the local Bedford club and was awarded black belt 1st dan (shodan) four years later.
Now a 9th Dan, Gursharan has competed in a multitude of kata and kumite events, many at national and international level. But the most significant event in his career was the visit he made in 1984 to Japan. There, he fulfilled a great ambition by training in a Japanese dojo under the instruction of Sensei Hirokazu Kanazawa.
This experience proved to be a turning point for Gursharan. On his return to England, he realised the trip had been the inspiration he needed to dedicate his future to training and teaching karate as a way of life.
Gursharan’s first club was opened in Luton/Dunstable in 1981 and this is now the association’s hombu (HQ). Having been a teacher of the art for many years, he formed his own association in 1993 – TISKA (The Traditional International Shotokan Karate Association) which is now one of the biggest associations in the UK.
Gursharan’s love of karate has never diminished. He still teaches over 35 classes a week in the UK and regularly takes master classes internationally. All in all, he has brought hundreds of students of all ages up to black belt standard and beyond.
He is also involved in charity work, helping to subsidise trips for surgeons to third world countries to operate on underprivileged children. He has, for many years, funded many projects in India, and is at present helping to fund the building of a new school.
Gursharan lives in Buckinghamshire and is happily married with a son and daughter who already show signs of following in their daddy’s footsteps.
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