Sensei Mark Owers 3rd Dan

As a teenager in London I was fascinated by Martial arts on TV and at the cinema. I initially tried Judo and then Boxing, but neither of these fulfilled my needs as I was looking for something that was a combination of the two. A good family friend was a black belt in Shotokan Karate and he invited me to my first Karate Class at the age of 14. I was immediately captivated and I passed my 9th Kyu in January 1981. I continued training twice a week and eventually qualified as a 1st Dan Black Belt in 1986. For the next two years I co-ran a Karate club with Sensei William (Bill) Goldie and Sensei Dennis Grey until 1988 when we lost our venue (dojo) to a fire, and subsequent closure. Training was temporarily placed on hold whilst I focused on raising a new family and dealing with the 80’s recession. Despite casually participating in other martial arts such as Shokukai Karate and Yin Wu Kwan Kung fu it would be more than 26 years before I returned to Shotokan Karate. After moving to Lowestoft I met Sensei Chris Broadley in 2014 and he encouraged me to get back into training. This reignited my original love and passion for the art. I passed my 2nd Dan in 2017 and after training through the pandemic I achieved my 3rd Dan qualification in September 2021. Going forwards, as my fascination for Shotokan Karate increases, my ambition is to absorb, develop, adapt and share the art with other like minded karateka.