Raymond Montgomery

 
I started karate in 1995 back home in Antrim with the Northern Ireland Karate-Do Wado Kai.  I was working at the time with the club instructor Gary Patterson, who talked me into giving it a go. He had just come back with a silver medal from the Wado European championship and I was curious as to what it was all about. From the first night of training I was hooked.  I was never one for going to the gym as I found it boring, and going for a run is something you only do when you are being chased by a big dog...!!! I had found the perfect combination of getting fit and learning something new at the same time.
 
The biggest draw for joining the N.I.K.W was that they adopted the traditional karate approach, unlike other clubs who were purely into the whole competition scene.  I trained with the N.I.K.W up until the end of 1999 when I was forced to stop training due to a shoulder injury.  Then I got stuck in a rut of not doing anything until 2003 when I went along to the local Taekwondo club that my nephew trained with and decided to give it a try and ended up training with them until November 2004 when I moved to England.
 
When I first moved over I decided it was the perfect time to get back into Karate, but really struggled to find a decent club - there are too many that just want to make people black belts in 2 years, which defeats the purpose of training - if it was that easy you might as well just buy a black belt, doesn't mean you have earned it.  It was only after moving to Headley Down and searching the net that I discovered the Wado Academy.  After a telephone call to Sensei Corin Pegden I went along to the Haslemere club to see what they were like and was very impressed with the level of training and well, the rest is history as they say.

I always think that the reason for doing karate should not be about being better than other people, but about trying to be better yourself. Whether you have a good or bad lesson, you should always try and improve and take the positives from a bad lesson and work on them. You should set yourself goals that are achievable and manageable and just keep trying to improve on them in my opinion. I'm just trying to get a deeper understanding of making my body work correctly and to be able to move in a more natural way. I think the biggest struggle for me is the kicks, possibly down to my flexibility, but it's something I'm working on and improving slowly!
 
The Wado Academy, and in particular Sensei Pegden has given me the chance to train to under world class instruction by having regular sessions with Sensei Shiomitsu and other guest instructors such as Wayne Otto, George Grimes, Arthur Meek, Tyrone Pardue to name but a few.  This was new to me as I have seen some clubs that have just got a mediocre instructor who lets ego get in the way of instruction - not to mention charging a small fortune for the privilege.  Training with Sensei Corin is refreshing, as he is always looking for ways to improve and puts in a hell of a lot of effort to maintaining his clubs in Haslemere and Farnham.
 

My best moments have to be the first training session we had with Sensei Wayne Otto in 2007. I thought I was go to die from exhaustion that day, but it was really rewarding to be pushed that hard, have to dig deep and come out the other side having succeeded. The other one would have to my last grading for purple belt. I took it with Cathy and Simon and we worked really had together to get through it and it was nice to have all passed.

Karate is something that has helped me grow.  I know it sounds like some sort of corny cliché, but it really does gives you a massive sense of achievement when you have a good session, and is humbling when you don't.  It is very much like life - you get out of it what you put in.  Along the way I have made some very good friends and had a lot of laughs too.  It always amazes me when you get to watch someone like Shiomitsu Sensei who makes everything look so effortless and has devoted his life to perfecting his training. It's mind blowing to know that he's already that good and yet is still wanting to improve and develop his technique. He is an inspiration to so many of us.

Raymond is moving back to Ireland in April 2008, so we hope you enjoy reading his thoughts on karate here. We thought that it would be an appropriate way to say goodbye and a thanks to him, for all his efforts and dedication over the past few years.

Archive student of the month

Lesley Deans

Darcey Birch