Welsh Bushi-Kai Karate Association

The Calendar page has been updated to provide our Association dates for 2026.
This page will be amended / updated as and when changes occur throughout the year.
Several of the course & grading dates are currently listed as Sat / Sun but will be updated when
we confirm which day the event will take place.

The WBK Karate Association look forward to another successful year in which we continue to further
nurture and develop the Karate of our Students.

Please keep an eye on our various, Association and Club Social Media Platforms for additional information as they tend to be visited most frequently.

Well Done Team !

A massive congratulations to our students who competed today at the Yokoso Karate Novice Competition.
Thank you to Matthew James and your team for providing such a fantastic opportunity to introduce less experienced students from across all clubs to competition karate.

A superb effort from everyone who took part today, with excellent attitudes and discipline throughout.

A special mention to those who tried Kumite for the first time, we are incredibly proud of you. It takes real courage to step out there, and you made us all proud!

Special congratulations to our medal winners:

7 & 8 Girls: Skye Prosser & Rhiannon James – Bronze

11 & 12 Girls: Aleisha Gilbert- Silver, Elyssa Richards & Lexi Jones – Bronze

Huge thanks to Richard and Ruby for helping with coaching and supporting our students. Many thanks to Gemma for capturing our fantastic photographs. Finally, thank you to all the parents and supporters who came to cheer on our students.

Futures bright for our squad! Next stop WKL 2026

EKA Open Championships: Sunday 1st Feb, Leigh Sports Village

What a successful day at the EKA Open Championships! After a 6am start and not getting home until 10pm, it’s been a long one. A fantastic tournament with 8 tatamis running like clockwork, with plenty of mat time for our three fighters.
Huge well done to Sam and Tom, both going out in the Top 16 against some seriously tough opponents, with Sam missing out to the overall winner. An outstanding performance from Ruby, fighting with real intelligence and flair to take home a silver medal

First competition of 2026 done, and plenty to work on back at the dojo.
Well done again team!
Jordan
Welsh Bushi-Kai Karate Association

Our Swansea University Club wrapped up tonight for the winter term.
Congratulations to Alex, Willow & Jack on passing their Green Belt Grading, and to Ben & Deniz
on passing their Yellow Belt Grading. Well done to all.
Many thanks to Club Instructors, Tom Barnes and Helena Sykes on all your efforts and tuition.

Dan Grading – SUCCESS
A huge congratulations to our four successful candidates on passing their Dan Gradings yesterday. Your hard work, dedication, and determination have truly paid off. Your progress over the past few months, especially during the intensive week-long course has been notable. You listened carefully, applied the feedback given, and continued to push yourselves. Well done!

Our New WBK Dan Grades:
Amahrae Evans – 1st Dan
Ava Gregory – 1st Dan
Gareth Williams – 1st Dan
James Stanton – 2nd Dan

A massive thank you to Richard and Mark for partnering Gareth and James for Blocks.
Thank you as well to everyone who came to support the grading. We hope you enjoyed watching and appreciated the outstanding standard of karate demonstrated by WBK. And of course, an enormous thank you to all our instructors for your continued coaching, commitment, and support.
To our new Dan Grades, this is just the beginning. The real journey starts now!
Congratulations once again!

Joanne John – 4th Dan Promotion

The culmination of yesterdays Dan Grading was the presentation of her 4th Dan Certificate to Joanne John of our Neath Club. Congratulations on your deserved promotion to Yondan.
Just reward for your dedication to the Association & your hard work in assisting with the running of the Neath Club.

WKL6 Results:

Well done to the WBK squad on their efforts and results at the Final Welsh Karate League Event held in Merthyr last Sunday.
Excellent performances throughout the day from everyone. These events have been a great experience for our developing squad with plenty to work on going forward.
Great way to finish the tournament circuit for 2025.
We would like to thank and congratulate the Welsh Karate League organisers on another successful series of events.

Medalists:
Ffion Davies – U10 Girls – Bronze
Alby O’Flynn – U12 Boys – Bronze
Under 14’s Boys Team – Bronze
Samuel Waters U16 Advanced – Bronze
Thomas Williams – U18 Male – Bronze
Ruby Davies – Senior Ladies – Silver

Season Medalists:
Ruby Davies – Senior Ladies – Silver
Richard Evans – Veterans Male – Bronze
Well done to the rest of the squad that didn’t make the podium – great performances regardless!

Some exciting opportunities in the pipeline for 2026! Keep committed, keep learning and the hard work will pay off!

Congratulations to Tom Barnes on his well deserved and long overdue promotion to the rank of 4th Dan.
Tom was awarded his promotion at the Association general course and grading held in Margam yesterday and was presented with his Yondan (4th Dan) Certificate by WBK Chairman Jordan Hopkins 4th Dan, Danny Flynn 4th Dan & Paul Bridge 6th Dan on behalf of the WBK Executive.

WBK Winter Kyu Grading Success.
A huge congratulations to all WBK students who completed the Winter Kyu Grade Course and Grading, and achieving their new grades in Margam yesterday.
Well done also to our Senior Kyu students who took part in the Brown Belt Course.
Your dedication and hard work truly paid off. Instructors were highly impressed with the standard of karate demonstrated today, outstanding effort from everyone!
A big thank you to all instructors who generously gave their time to deliver the grading, and to the families and friends who came along to support our students.
Keep up the fantastic work!

Brown Belt Course & Grading, Cwmafan 19/10/25

Brown Belt Grading Success
Huge congratulations to all students who successfully passed their Brown Belt gradings at last Sundays’ Grading. Some good improvements noted and your dedication and hard work really showed.
For some, it was their first time at an Association Brown Belt Grading and we hope you enjoyed and benefitted from that experience.

Well done also to everyone who attended the course; a fantastic effort all around. Keep pushing forward and make sure to take on board all the feedback given throughout the day.
Plenty of valuable points to work on and improve.
A big thank you to our Dan Grades for helping to run the course and grading sessions , your support and guidance are greatly appreciated. Thanks as well to those who partnered up for blocks.
Finally, a thank you to all the families and friends who came along to support. We hope you enjoyed watching and could see the step up in standard from a regular Kyu grading.
Congratulations once again.

Updated Grading Dates:

Due to unforeseen issues with venue availability our Grading dates have been altered as below:

Brown Belt Course & Grading – Sun 19th October (Cwmafan)

Kyu Grading & Course – Sun 9th November (Margam)

Dan Grading – Sun 7th December (Margam)

The week long Dan Grade course will now be 1st – 5th Dec.

Details of times and any further information will be published on here and on the various Club
Social Media platforms in due course.

Polite Reminder:
Association Licences must up-to-date in order to train and grade.