Black Belt of the Year 2010

Each year consideration is given for the award of a Black Belt of the Year within the Shorinjiryu Kenyukai Watanabe Ha Karate Australia organisation. Nominations are invited from the various Dojo Instructors, with those nominations reviewed by Shihan Jim, Shihan Max and the senior advisory council. Ordinarily, the award is made at the Annual Black Belt Camp, although this was not so this year for logistical reasons.

For this years award, four individuals were nominated for the Black Belt of the Year. Each of these individuals is very committed to Shorinjiryu, and is a consistent contributor to various events and aspects of the organisation.

On behalf of Shihan Jim and Shihan Max, I am pleased to announce that the Black Belt of the Year award for 2010 goes to Sensei Tony Fletcher of the Shishikan Dojo. The below information is copied from nominations received for Sensei Tony:

Sensei Tony works tirelessly for the betterment of Shorinjiryu as a whole, and works hard to maintain a healthy dojo.

Sensei Tony’s contributions, past and current, to Shorinjiryu Australia and the Koshiki method are outstanding.

Sensei Tony has shown that he has a deep understanding of the budo way in and out of the dojo.

Please join us in congratulating Sensei Tony on his well deserved award of Black Belt of the Year.