Will Robards will be awarded his hakama tonight at the BFC from 7.30. Hakama are worn by instructors in our style, and it’s got me thinking of the large number of instructor grades that the club has produced over the years — and the huge amount of jitsu they’ve brought into the world. A few emails have turned up the following names and where they went on to teach. UCL is alarmingly good at producing alarmingly good instructors — many still teaching after a long time in the trenches. We might well be uniquely prolific when it comes to students opening clubs abroad:
- Steve Donaghy – opened the club in 1986 (Many thanks Odude)
- Sunil Shrestha – City Jitsu
- Fiona Milsom – set up Kings, Kingston, and Richmond Jitsu (now Tiffin)
- Andy Bickerton – taught at Tiffin Jitsu, now teaching in NZ
- Jon Burson – Southbank Jitsu
- Jacky Matthews – opened Fulham Town Jitsu
- Richard Brent Nidan – UEL, Westminster Jitsu
- Rob Stanway – opened Surrey Quays Jitsu
- Alex Fairweather, UMC – set up ULU Jitsu, Toronto Jitsu
- James Garvey – UCL Jitsu
- Simon Iron Balls Ogden – set up Jitsu in NZ
- Too Tall Tom O’Connell
- Rowan Searle – set up Jitsu in Australia
- Alex Mooney – opened Queen Mary Jitsu Club
- Harshana Fernando
- Andy ‘the Flying Dutchman’ Holland – opened Greenwich Jitsu
- Will Wimshurst – Westminster Jitsu
- Magic Stu Scott – opened London Institute, and Iraq Jitsu
- Ian Sillitoe – ULU, Westminster Jitsu
- Davis Cook – set up Jitsu in South Africa
- Bevis Man – Goldsmiths
- Sean Jennings
- Seye Bolade – Hackney, just opened South Norwood Jitsu
- Adrian Chew
- Ai Ishi – set up a club in London
- Peter Siderov
- Will Robards – set up Tadley Jitsu
No pressure Will.
You’ll hear this a lot, and it’s not very helpful, but getting to instructor grade in our style is actually straightforward: don’t stop training.
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