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Soke (Founder)
Steve Yates
Steve was born on September 30th 1949, the
son of a miner in Clifton, Nr Swinton Manchester. As a schoolboy he preferred
individual sports rather than team events and at 14 was a schoolboy champion
at pole vault. Steve says that in those days they used an aluminium pole
which he could lift - being only 4'6" tall - however when he was
selected to compete for Lancashire the school bought him a new fangled
fibre glass pole which weighed considerably. (and he could hardly lift
it) Steve was already going to Yoga classes to help with his flexibility
and as luck would have it, the next class in the hall was karate. In those
days there was only one major style called Shotokan and the deep powerful
stances and explosive movements complemented his vaulting skills. However
by the time he was sixteen a career had to be chosen, professional sportsmen
were unheard of, even though he now had a second athletic event - javelin
- throwing a javelin uses much the same muscularity as throwing a punch!!!
He is qualified to instruct both pole vault and javelin with the Amateur
Athletics Association.
He was apprenticed as an electrician and
gained his H.N.C. in electrical and mechanical engineering and sad to
say the Martial Arts training was put on hold. During this time Steve
met and married Pauline the club secretary and started a family Steve
jnr and Chris, he was also playing squash to maintain his fitness level.
After a shock knee injury which required surgery (actually Steve is still
on the waiting list to have this done after about 35yrs!!!!) a physio
recommended building up the leg muscles to support the injury, and it
was at the gym where Steve noticed an advert for a new style of karate.
He went along to a demo to learn more, because the style - Shukokai -
had been founded by a Japanese high school teacher who had studied the
bio-mechanical applications of the techniques. Steve decided that this
was the system for him and rather than convert his Shotokan grade as some
did he resolved to start at the bottom again. His sporting knowledge and
previous training stood him in good stead and he was awarded 1st Dan within
two years. It was inevitable that his sons would become interested but
rather than teach them himself he sent them to study with a respected
friend.
The next chapter starts with Steve beginning
to teach to friends after his fitness training classes which he ran two
nights a week. At this time Steve became involved with Bury's Sports development
unit - although in its infancy a very far sighted team. The increased
demand for his coaching abilities meant a decision had to be made and
the family came down in favour of a full time sports coach ( Steve recognises
that without their support he may not have survived the transition). He
began to obtain the coaching qualifications that the development unit
needed, Squash, Badminton, Tennis, Basketball. Lacrosse, Volleyball as
well as outdoor pursuits B.E.T.A.!!!! Steve is now an examiner for the
Greater Manchester Open College in sports leadership and a full member
of the National Association of Sports Coaches. Over the years Steve has
coached thousands of people in a wide variety of sporting activity, and
some of his proudest moments have come not from Martial Arts, although
this remains his enduring passion, but from unexpected sources. For instance
the club was involved in the Krypton Factor Charity event at Holcombe
Brook army barracks for about ten years and for six consecutive years
Steve and his sons and his sister were unbeaten in the mixed team event,
but he is especially proud of the four lady shop assistants (two with
extreme vertigo) who asked him to prepare them for the event, this he
did and they came third in their section.
Steve has also been involved with Bury's
entry in the annual Greater Manchester Youth Games for many years. But
his best memories of the fantastic atmosphere he witnessed were as Bury's
Team Leader, pushing a wheel chair athlete as they led out the parade
of competitors at the G-Mex centre as part of Manchester's bid for the
2000 Olympics in front of the Olympic Committee and what seemed like the
whole of Manchester.
The club had also grown as students opened
their own branches and all branches of Seiken Ryu or Yama Arashi Ryu are
exclusively taught in his more westernised approach with all the benefits
that correct coaching methodology bring. With the encouragement of Bury's
sports development unit Steve began to liaise with police officers and
prison officers, youth and community workers with a view to providing
a course of self defence instruction. This course was officially recognised
for use in schools in 1993 and Steve is still the only professional Martial
Arts instructor in the country teaching an externally moderated approved
course. Due to the success of this course which has now been adapted and
accepted for use by staff of child care centres and local government departments,
Steve is hoping that some of his students can become instructors.
Seiken Ryu has also been featured on T.V.
a number of times including winning the Busman's Holiday game show, they've
appeared on Elton Welsby's Sport Northwest where reporter Paul Crone spent
a day training with the squad and with Fred Talbot on the weather show.
On a visit to Japan to train with Sofue Sensei,
Steve was intrigued to notice that in Japan there are very few specialist
Martial Artists i.e. those who practice one art, karate for example. When
he asked Sofue Sensei about this he explained that the original method
of teaching was in the practice of Kata and within the Kata are all the
skills necessary for defence. For true understanding of the content of
the Kata it was essential to study all the arts of the Samurai, after
all the Samurai didn't only practice Karate!!!! Fascinating to Steve was
the fact that Sofue Sensei held grades in several disciplines and that
his senior grade Karate student was actually a higher grade than Sofue
Sensei in Ai-Ki Ju-Jitsu! Immediately Steve returned he sought out the
instructors that Sofue Sensei had recommended and began to fill in the
gaps in his understanding of the Kata. Steve has to admit that up to this
point Kata practice had been boring but with the new skills they became
a rich source of instruction. Although in Japan children are routinely
taught Ju-Jitsu, Steve realised that the joint locking principles could
be potentially dangerous to growing bones and so does not instruct his
Ju-Jitsu techniques to juniors although he does try to explain the applications
within the Kata.
Steve continues to study the empty handed
arts of the Samurai and having received instruction from Toyoshima Sensei
in Japan (Takeda Ryu Ai-Ki JuJitsu), started training in Yama Arashi Ryu
in the UK. His intention is to continue to practice and hone his skills
and present them in a modern coaching format to the widest possible audience.
Steve says that in Japan everyone knows some form of Martial Art so there
is very little violence because you never know what skills your adversary
might possess ( how long this will continue with the increase in contact
with the West no one knows) but the old maxim "those who desire peace
should prepare for war" rings true in the ever more violent world
in which we live.
There have been many people who have helped
and guided Steve and he would especially like to thank these : - (in no
particular order)
Kimura Sensei, Sofue Sensei, Toyoshima Sensei, Peter Constadine, Denis
Casey, Kirby J. Watson, Henri Robert Vilaire, Tommy Kwan, John Bolwell
and most of all the Seiken Ryu students for the inspiration they continue
to provide.
Compiled from an interview for Traditional
Karate.
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