I don't exactly know what initially made me interested in martial arts. As far as I remember I always wanted to train in martial arts but there wasn't any good clubs around. I received my first tuitions from two senior students in the boarding school I attended. One of my personal instructors was a humble gentleman and the other one an arrogant bully. That's why at the very early stage, I realized the existence of two distinct attitudes in martial arts. The following year (1984) I started training Kung-fu at a local club. Boarding school administrators were not very keen on students having martial arts training and they did their best to prevent me going to the dojo in the city. I still remember the school's PE teacher advising my caretaker that martial arts were not appropriate for pupils and that I should take up another sport, such as cycling.
Anyway, things got better when I moved to the University. After a period of Taekwando training, I met my Shorin-ryu instructor in 1987. He had recently arrived to Turkey and did not know much Turkish then (did I mention I am Turkish and that all these are happening in Turkey!?). He was a young, energetic (and a tough) instructor. As senior students a few of us would train up to 4 hours without having any break at all. It was not uncommon to have students faint at sessions because of various reasons. Over the years, I became one of his very few top students (possibly because the others did not last very long). This hard training had to come to an end in 1992 when I left Turkey for England, to do my PhD.
On my arrival to Southampton University, the first thing I did was to look for a suitable club among the 10 or more martial arts clubs. Unfortunately, I didn't find any of them suitable for what I expected. I also realized that most people were unaware of the old system karate. Eventually, I decided to found the very first Shorin-ryu club in the University. At the time, I didn't realize that it was also one of the very few Shorin-ryu clubs in the whole country. After its foundation, I also took the responsibility of Club Captainship for the first three years. Now, we have an established and healthy club running in Southampton University with some of the senior students preparing for their black belt degrees. We have established our Association, Okinawan Shorin-ryu Karate Kai (O.S.K.K.) to cater the natural progress of our group and we have close contacts with the other Shorin-ryu groups in UK and abroad. The future of Shorin-ryu in UK looks brighter than ever and I hope Southampton University club and its current members will be remembered in the future as the pioneers of authentic karate in this country.
As well as teaching to my beloved students, I continue my own voyage in martial arts. I love the style, Okinawan Shorin-ryu, and I am amazed with its foundations. However, I keep an open mind about other martial arts and believe that they all have something to offer. After all, I came to realize the similarity of principles behind different styles. Having this in mind, I enjoy training and exchanging ideas with other martial artists. Shorin-ryu is a fast, no-nonsense style that aims clear results for self-defence; but this did not stop me experiencing other slow, 'internal' styles such as Okinawan Seido-ryu from its European representative and, Yang Long Form Tai Chi from a Chinese gentleman. Now, I got another Chinese friend who is a Pak Mei exponent. I believe it is good to keep an open mind, train together and exchange ideas!