Karate, a lifestyle and no sport

With 33 years’ experience in martial arts, Sensei Frik Willemse doesn’t regard karate as a sport, but a lifestyle.

“My love for martial arts came from a combination of two things. Firstly, my dad loved watching old Bruce Lee Kung Fu movies which I also watched and found exciting. Secondly, when my friends joined a karate club at school, I joined them,” he said.

Little did he know his passion for karate would intensify through the years.

Since starting his first karate lesson in the early 1980s, Sensei Willemse has trained with top level international karateka from Japan and Greece, obtained his national colours and even made his way to the world championships in 1996.

Now running a dojo of his own, Sensei Willemse said he was currently experiencing the ultimate karate reward.

“Karate is a reward upon itself and sharing my knowledge with students, seeing them grow and develop into good karateka makes it worth it,” he said.

While he found it unsettling that many viewed karate as a mere sport, Sensei Willemse was adamant martial arts were not only for athletes.

“Karate is a civilian self defence tool and karate styles which have become sport forms have lost all the good stuff. I have been lucky to instill the knowledge in my students that karate is a lifestyle and no medal is as big a reward as being part of the Okinawan culture,” he explained.

As a sensei, moulding and teaching others is a never-ending process.

“As a sensei, you are a role model and should never stop learning. The hunger to learn should always be there,” he concluded.