|
|
Chief Instructor Sensei Paul Uren 4th Dan
|
|
Paul began training in 1982 (aged 7) at the original Plymouth Karate Club and joined SEKU in mid 1983 when the club changed associations. Paul is one of SEKU’s longest standing members having trained continuously with SEKU for over 26 years.
In 1984 Paul travelled to Portsmouth for his first tournament (the coach had to leave at 03:30hrs!), he lost early on in Kata and Kumite, but the day was amazing. He will never forget growing up watching some of the most inspirational Karateka in SEKU's history. Many of these SEKU champions of the 1980's and 1990's became people for Paul to aspire too. Simon Staples and Stacey Crowe were the best Kata exponents Paul could wish to watch and learn from as a junior, and with the likes of Terry Oliver and Les Deacon always dynamic, powerful and often phenomenal (in many ways) in the kumite, Paul feels very lucky to have grown up at a time when these great role models were competing.
After years of training at Plymouth Karate Club, Paul attained Shodan at age 11 in May 1987 to be one of the youngest in SEKU’s long history and went on to become the junior instructor at the club for many years. Also in 1987, Paul trained on his first SEKU Gasshuku in the Isle of Wight, which was an unbelievably inspiring event. Paul trained on numerous Gasshuku after this, which still hold some of his fondest Karate memories.
Paul passed Nidan in 1991 and progressed well under two excellent Sensei (Karen Hicks and Shaun Eglinton) during this time. At the age of 16, Sensei Dewey asked Paul to train with the adult SEKU squad, which he did for the next 3 years. During this time Paul competed for the squad at many national standard tournaments including the EKGB championships and the SEKU run Home International. During this successful time with squad, Paul also passed his Sandan grading when aged 19 in 1994.
In 1995 Paul took a break from competitions and helped his then Sensei, Shaun Eglinton start a new club in Plymouth. This club did well for the next few years, until Shaun decided to take a break from training which is when Paul founded Plymouth Karate-Do. At 22 years of age, this was a daunting task, but Paul soon found his feet and began to build the club and improve as an instructor. In the early days running the Dojo, Paul was invited on to the SEKU instructor’s class. This was a huge honour and a gruelling day’s training each time. One session always comes to mind when Sensei Hazard taught the new Jiyu Ippon and Kaeshi Ippon format for about 5 hours, before Sensei Dewey ran through Nijushiho and bunkai. It seemed like weeks before a full physical recovery!
In 2003, the news that Sensei Hazard had left SEKU was a massive disappointment. He and all the SEKU Sensei had been so inspiring to Paul for so many years. Even after Sensei Hazard had left, he still made a major impact on Paul's Karate, making him realise that he needed to focus on doing his best for his students and for SEKU. With this in mind and after much encouragement from Keith Williams, Paul rejoined the squad in 2003. After waiting ten years between gradings (to adhere to the SEKU grading rules) Paul took and passed his Yondan grading in 2004.
From 2005 until the end of 2008, a great deal of Paul’s time (outside of club training) was taken up with competition Karate. Previous to this, Paul had been a junior and senior SEKU champion and had also achieved much success as head coach for Plymouth Karate-Do, with over 25 club members winning Kata and Kumite titles.
In 2005, Paul was honoured when asked to coach the SEKU squad. This came after Paul retired from competing in kumite when a previous eye injury was again affected whilst on a squad trip to Slovakia. The coaching role soon quashed Paul’s disappointment and he threw himself 100% into helping the squad. With constant guidance, advice and support from Sensei Dewey, Paul selected a senior kumite and senior kata squad which would train each month. The open squad sessions continued as before but (as suggested by senior squad members) were made regional to encourage more local attendees. Paul ran the Plymouth areas sessions, with Keith Williams continuing to run the Portsmouth area sessions. Over the next few years the squad made excellent progress, all working hard and helping each other develop. Each session was meticulously planned by Paul, with constant advice and support from Steve Hollister which saw innovation and development in the training methods. All of the other squad seniors at the time: Keith Williams, Dave Galloway and Matt Powell to name a few, had great input during this period, which also helped keep the squad moving forward. This planning, goal setting, commitment and hard work led to a very successful time for the squad. SEKU dominated the Shotokan Alliance tournaments and returned from the JSKA World Championships with three Gold medals in 2008. Just prior to the JSKA tournament, the coaching of the squad was developed once again, and a team of 5 instructors led by Terry Oliver would now move things forward. The benefits of this team of experienced Karateka will ensure many years of squad success for SEKU. In 2009, Paul retired from the squad and squad coaching team, and now enjoys the extra time with his young family, as well as developing his traditional karate. These years were the biggest development in Paul’s karate life, continuously learning from his mistakes and trying his best to help SEKU improve. There were so many great times for Paul with the squad, and he will always be grateful for this massive opportunity.
Paul is currently the SEKU individual Kata champion (2009) and still strives to inspire his students to do their best in Karate and in life.
Paul’s traditional karate progression has come with help and inspiration from some of the best Karate-Ka around, both in and out of SEKU. Listed here are some of the non-SEKU Sensei which Paul has trained under, over the years. Kanazawa, Enoeda, Higaonna (Gojo Ryu), Tabata, K Funakoshi, Hazard, Trimble, Ohta, Lavender, Staples, Hooper, Higgins, Rhodes…….
Thanks
For over 25 years Paul has been lucky enough to have had guidance from some of the finest Shotokan exponents around. Sensei Mick Dewey, Sensei Dave Hazard (now ASK) and Sensei Mervyn O'Donnell are three brilliant Karateka, who Paul is indebted to for their years of instruction and inspiration. SEKU are now led by Sensei Dewey, O’Donnell and Sensei Brian Smith, who all bring different and complimenting attributes to the dojo, which ensures SEKU are always progressing at the top level, in all areas.
At a local level, many people have helped Paul progress as a student and instructor. Most notably Karen Hicks and Shaun Eglinton gave Paul numerous years of great instruction and motivation which moulded him as a Karateka. Shaun is now a senior instructor at Plymouth Karate-Do and works tirelessly to support Paul and the club in improving all areas of Karate-Do. Shaun is an inspiration to Paul and all of the students at Plymouth. More recently Steve Hollister has been a great source of help and encouragement, whilst Sensei Donald McIntosh has given great advice, knowledge and innovative insight to Paul for over 25 years.
Osu!
|