We were initially introduced to the Zen-Shin Academy by a family friend who highly recommended we take our two boys along for a trial lesson.

We contacted Sensei John Richards and were immediately impressed by how approachable and welcoming he is. Sensei Richards is one of the nicest people you could wish to meet, his passion for Shotokan Karate and The Zen-Shin Academy, is accompanied by the great pleasure he gets from passing on his expertise to students both young and old.

Sensei Richards suggested we bring the boys along for a trial lesson, this we did and following their first lesson both couldn’t wait to train again.

The Neville Family

Sensei Richards believes in trying to always enforce the positive with his students. He is able to recognise any strengths and weaknesses in both kids and adults character and abilities. We were absolutely amazed how quickly and accurately he assessed our boys, instinctively knowing how to motivate them as individuals.

After a few lessons, Sensei Richards took the trouble to telephone us at home. He wanted to see if everything was ok and to make sure the boys were enjoying the training sessions. He took the opportunity then to explain in some more detail how he sees Shotokan Karate as not only a Martial Art but as much more besides. The discipline, the confidence and of course the fitness you achieve in Karate, can easily be applied to all other parts of your life, i.e. school or work.

Whilst we were more than happy as parents to take the boys along to their Karate classes and watch the lessons, we soon realised that we could also benefit from this and decided to make this something we did as a family. Now almost twelve months on we look forward to each training session and have all benefited from improved fitness, learning self defence and made some great friends along the way. Our only regret is we didn’t become members of The Zen-Shin Academy much earlier.

We would happily recommend to anyone considering learning Karate as an individual or a family, to contact Sensei John Richards and come along to one of the Zen-Shin Centres where I know you’ll be given a very warm welcome.

Charlie, Sue, Matthew & Christopher Neville