WASHINKAI - Key Persons
Two Japanese instructors, Hironori Goda, a Goju stylist and Takao Yamamoto, a Shito-ryu stylist, stayed and trained with Washinkai for long periods. Over the next few years a grading syllabus was established that took the student from beginner to Shodan (black belt).
Lionel Zeffert started karate in 1998. Lionel served for 33 years in the Army and because of this travelled and trained with many different clubs and instructors. He has been fortunate enough to travel to Japan and train at the JKA HQ in Tokyo and has trained with many notable instructors of different styles, including Sensei Ohta (7 th Dan JKA), Sensei Wayne Otto (9 x world champion), Sensei John Gilliland (7 th Dan) and Sensei Chris Thompson (9 th Dan) to name but a few.
Whilst serving in the Army he became the events manager for both the Army and the Combined services martial arts teams. This introduced him to some incredible instructors from different martial arts including Olympians in WTF Taekwondo, Jujitsu, Kendo and ITF Taekwondo.
It was during his time in the Army that he first met Sensei Chris Thompson. On leaving the Army in 2013 he was invited to join the BTKA. He has been there ever since and not looked back.
Lionel is a keen martial artist who entered many competitions in his younger days, although he had limited success winning some medals, he always thoroughly enjoyed the learning experience and training and competing against great opponents. Lionel now runs his club in Andover Hampshire which he has been running since 2005.
Job Titles:
- Chairman and Chief Instructor of the British Traditional Karate Association
Now Chris is elected Chairman and Chief Instructor of the British Traditional Karate Association, an organisation that has had and continues to have many competition successes in Kata and Kumite, both nationally and internationally.
2019: Chris Thompson resigns as Technical Director of the EKF