Colchester Wado Ryu Karate Club

My family recently started training at Colchester Wado Ryu Karate club. I was instantly impressed with the pace and content of the classes, and was especially impressed with the instruction from Darren Reynolds. I have viewed several karate classes from other academy’s and had never previously been tempted to don a Gi and take part. Darren instilled me with the confidence I needed to go forward and give it a go.

It was a really brilliant move for me as my general health, fitness and weight have all improved from training as little as once a week.  I particularly like the fact that the club is available to people all over the town as there are classes close to my work and my home.  Another happy coincidence is the fact that my whole family are able to train at his sessions, and we are surrounded with other families which has helped us make friends too, the nice thing is that we now all share a common interest and it has brought us much closer!! And were keeping fit!! What more could we want??

Marks out of five, well I’d give it six.

Peter Hooper

16th June 2009

I am lucky enough to have trained under Sensei Darren Reynolds at the Colchester Wado Ryu karate club for the past four years. I came to the club after training in several local dojo's, and not quite finding what I was looking for. I immediately took a liking to the atmosphere, finding the training challenging but fun. The club is a family venture, with Darren's two young sons now both teaching and training, and his lovely wife Sharon dealing with any enquiries. The junior lessons are fantastic, with lots of games and running around, but discipline and respect are always present. The senior lessons can be hard sometimes, but we all encourage each other and there is a great team spirit. Sometimes I have turned up and not really been in the mood for training, but the atmosphere just pulls you in and you're always glad you made the effort. There's always plenty of 'friendly' banter to make you push yourself just that little bit harder!

No two lessons are the same, and I found myself learning and improving in every area. My overall fitness, flexibility and technique are all improved and more importantly, my confidence, awareness and manners have also grown. Under Darren's guidance I have done things that I would never have had the courage to do before, and applied these lessons well in the Police force. I have gained the skills necessary to deal with any attacker, but more importantly, to have the courage
to walk away if I can. 

We cover all aspects of Wado Ryu Karate, from the traditional to the modern and you never know what awaits you when you bow into the Dojo. The club runs regular courses and I have been lucky enough to train with some of the countries most senior instructors, not just in Karate but in other martial arts as well, which I have really enjoyed. Over the years the club has continued to grow, and now that we have a full time Dojo, things will only get better. The club has several Black Belt instructors (of which I'm honoured to be included), all teaching under the supervision of Sensei Reynolds, which can give a nice variation to the training. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend the Dojo to anybody, in fact my own niece is due to start training at the Dojo when she's old enough. If you've ever been interested in martial arts, wanted to learn to defend yourself or just fancy losing some weight and improving your fitness, then come down to the Dojo and have a chat. It might just change your life.

Cheers
Darren
Darren Horner

4th November 2009