Sensei Ian Campion BGK 5th Dan (Chief Instructor)

It was my privilege to begin my training in Karate with Derek Lorrison in about 1982.

I’d followed my Dad into the Dojo out of curiosity as I’d always fancied having a go at Karate and after a few lessons at St Stephens’s church hall I knew that karate was definitely for me.

I remember watching how Derek taught and demonstrated his technique and skill to the class and his enthusiasm for practical and hard addictive training. Within a matter of weeks I entered for my 8th Kyu grade, which didn’t go fantastically well. Oh how things can change if you practice.

Regardless, I enjoyed the training and was in awe of Derek’s character. I remember him flooring a really rough looking bloke nicknamed ‘the urban terrorist’ with a maegeri /mawashigeri combination, and when the guy was rolling around on the floor collecting his teeth, Derek had the rest of the class in fits of laughter with a razor sharp quip about the economy cut of his Gi. It was a fantastic roundhouse and I knew this was where I needed to be.

Grading in my early days involved competition as more often than not, along with the usual technical side of the syllabus. I was lucky enough to be noticed by Derek, Tony Harris and the team captain at the time, Trevor Sherlock, during the Northern Karate Association tournament that preceded my 7th kyu grading. At that time, and still relatively new to karate I was training two or three times a week in the town clubs and developing some technical abilities. My modest success in the NKA and my attendance began to attract the attention of the senior grades. Frank Wild 3rd Dan, took the time to teach me Kata and free sparing stuff and Paul Herbert 1st Dan would partner me for oyo and sanbon kumite during the lessons.

By the time I reached 4th kyu I was running my own club in Leven village. In fact, in the late 80’s we had three town clubs and four satellite clubs on the outskirts of Hull. Richard Pickard, 2nd Dan, was one of our boys and later went on to become a Lorrison memorial champion in fine Gendo Kai style.

We had competitions almost every weekend against the University’s A and B teams and other clubs around North Yorkshire, all under the old ‘Ippon’ or one point system. Contact was allowed in those days much like modern Koyokushin-kai, and unless you just about killed the opponent, even blood didn’t signify the end of a contest until time was called.

By 1985 I was 1st Kyu and training regularly for black belt with a group of lads who had come up the ranks together. We were the ‘townies’ and ‘rougher’ than the uni teams, regardless I’ve seen some very good and spirited fighting people and it was always inevitable that the two would eventually come together. Derek’s unique ability to inspire took the University karate club to victory on many occasions not least being four times British university champions. (BUSA) more->