The History of Leeds Karate Academy

Leeds Karate Academy was formed in January 2001 by Nick Heald 5th Dan and Matt Price 4th Dan, both KUGB National Team members. The Academy has quickly established itself as one of the most successful clubs in the KUGB. Due to winning the Team Kumite title at the National Championships two years consecutively, along with Matt being crowned Grand Champion in 2002, the Academy has reached a high profile very quickly.

In July 2002, the Academy became one of the largest clubs in the UK when it merged with the Harrogate Shotokan Karate Club run by Matt and the Leeds Shotokan Karate Club run by Randy Williams 5th Dan. Randy was a former National Team member and KUGB and EKB National Champion. This was a natural progression as Randy, Nick and Matt were already the joint instructors at the Leeds University Karate Club. They had also formed the 3-man team that won the KUGB National Championships in 1999 whilst competing for Leeds Shotokan.

The Academy can trace its origins back over 4 decades to a point where Karate was not only new to Leeds, but to the UK as a whole. All 3 instructors were students of Bob Rhodes 7th Dan, one of the most senior instructors in the KUGB, and himself a former GB International. For over 30 years Bob was the Chief Instructor of the Leeds Shotokan Karate Club. Bob was himself a student of Ronnie Wade, a GB International in the 1960's.

In every decade since the 1960's, Leeds has produced KUGB International competitors. Next to the Red Triangle Club from Liverpool, Leeds has been the most successful club at the KUGB National Championships, having won the Men's Team Kumite title no less than 7 times.

In December 2007 Sensei Williams decided to leave the LKA and run Leeds Shotokan independently.

Below we have included a table showing all the KUGB National Champions that Leeds has produced. We have also included some photographs showing Leeds Karate dating back to the 1960's.

Year	Event	Competitors
1973	Male Team Kumite	Ronnie Wade, Bob Rhodes, Steve Cattle, Andy Harris, Jack Hodgkinson, Ken Commons and Geoff Williamson
1980	Boys Kata	Sean Roberts
1981	Boys Kata	Sean Roberts
1984	Male Team Kumite	Randy Williams, Geoff Fletcher, Norman Gomersall, Kevin Rushworth, Barry Howgate and Keiran Brady
1986	Boys Kumite Over 5'5''	Corin Gibbon
1991	Boys Kumite Under 5'	Simon Haggerty
1992	Team Kata Junior Kumite	Sean Roberts, Nick Heald and Matt Price Richard Backhouse
1993	Male Kata	Sean Roberts
1994	Male Team Kumite Team Kata Male Kata Boys Kumite Over 5'5''	Randy Williams, Nick Heald, Matt Price, Wilbert Liburd, Mike Smith, Sean Roberts and James Holdsworth Sean Roberts, Nick Heald and Matt Price Sean Roberts Simon Haggerty
1995	Male Team Kumite Team Kata Male Kata Female Kumite	Randy Williams, Nick Heald, Matt Price, Wilbert Liburd, Simon Haggerty, Sean Roberts and Mike Smith Sean Roberts, Nick Heald and Matt Price Sean Roberts Brenda Heald
1996	Female Team Kumite Team Kata Male Kata Male Kumite	Caroline Quansah, Maria Borg and Viv Rowland Sean Roberts, Nick Heald and Matt Price Sean Roberts Randy Williams
1997	Female Team Kumite Team Kata Male Kata	Caroline Quansah, Maria Borg and Viv Rowland Sean Roberts, Nick Heald and Matt Price Sean Roberts
1998	Male Kata	Sean Roberts
1999	Male Team Kumite Team Kata	Randy Williams, Nick Heald, Matt Price and Duncan Randall Sean Roberts, Nick Heald and Matt Price
2000	Male Kata	Sean Roberts
2001	Male Team Kumite Male Kata	Nick Heald, Matt Price, Guy Noble and Duncan Randall Sean Roberts
2002	Male Team Kumite Male Kata Male Kumite	Matt Price, Duncan Randall, Liam O'Grady and Nick Heald Matt Price Matt Price
2003	Male Kata	Matt Price
2004	Male Team Kumite Male Kata Children's Team Kata Children's Ippon Kumite	Nick Heald, Matt Price, Duncan Randall and Scott Watson Matt Price Jamie Bending, Jordon Probst and Ryan Tucker Michael Gale
2005	Male Kumite Boys Kumite Over 5'5'' Boys Kumite 10 and 11 Yrs	Matt Price Ryan Tucker Jordon Probst
2006	Male Kumite Boys Kumite 5'- 5'5'' Boys Kumite Under 5' Boys Kumite 10 and 11 Yrs	Matt Price Tom Little Jordon Probst Michael Gale
2007	Male Team Kumite Female Team Kumite Junior Kumite 16 and 17 Years Childrens Kata Under 4th Kyu	Matt Price, Ryan Tucker, Joe Hart and Tom Little Natasha Balyckyi, Ashley Scott, Adwoa Hughes-Morley and Zoe Starr Ryan Tucker Lucy Nunn
2008	Adult Team Kata Junior Male Kumite 18-20 Yrs	David Wright, Ryan Tucker and Ashley Scott Ryan Tucker

There are a selection of photos covering the history of Karate in Leeds dating back to the 1960's in the gallery section. For a description of the picture, hover over the image. For a larger image then click the photo you want to see. Many thanks to Bob Rhodes and Tom Crane for their kind permission to use many of the pictures shown here.