Rob Selby
Rob began his training in Wado Karate in 1982 joining his local club ‘Scorpion’, run by Joe Coleman, which was a member of the United Kingdom Karate-Do Wado-Kai headed by T Suzuki Sensei. When “Scorpion” left the UKKW, Rob continued his training under Nick Keown remaining part of the association with its strong ties to traditional Wado Karate and the Grandmaster of the Wado-Ryu Karate-Do Renmei in Japan. The club later joined the ‘Suhari’ group led by Jon Wicks.
Having first trained with Sugasawa Sensei on one of the UKKW Summer Courses, Rob received further instruction from him when visiting Suzuki Sensei’s dojo in London where Sugasawa Sensei often taught. Rob took his 3rd Kyu (brown belt) grading with Sugasawa Sensei in 1984. In 1990, and by now a regular student with Sugasawa Sensei, Rob joined Shikukai when it was formed by Sugasawa Sensei after the UKKW split from Grandmaster Ohtsuka II’s leadership in Japan.
In 1993 Rob became an Assistant Instructor at ‘Hook Shikukai’ until he left in 1997 to pursue his career as a secondary school teacher in Devon. He attained his 1st Dan (black belt) as a member of Shikukai Karate-Do International in 1999 and, with Sugasawa Sensei’s approval, Rob began his own club in 2000 originally called Otter Valley Shikukai Karate Club. He passed his 2nd Dan in 2002, 3rd Dan in 2008 and 4th Dan in 2013. Rob was awarded his 5th Dan by Sugasawa Sensei in July 2020.
Tom Wilkins
Tom first began his training with Rob in June 2012. Throughout his training Tom has shown himself to be dedicated to developing his practice in Wado Karate and makes the most of every opportunity to train with Sugasawa Sensei and other Shikukai seniors through regular attendance at courses. After achieving his 1st Dan (black belt) in 2022, Tom was able to build on the assistance he had provided informally during lessons to quickly became a regular and invaluable assistant instructor in class and steps in to run sessions on Rob’s behalf when he is unavailable. In October 2024 Tom was successful in his 2nd Dan grading in front of a panel of seniors overseen by Sugasawa Sensei, marking his continued progress.