History Of Hamilton Karate
The karate journey of John McIntosh started with a fascination of people who became experts in their field , no matter what it was. The Martial Arts was one such field of expertise. In 1967 he joined a Judo club but one year later moved to Portland to work in the WoolIndustry. It was there he met Sensei Roger Dundas who invited him to train with him, as he was a Shodan in Shotokan karate.
Roger and John became friends and trained for a couple of years with Roger’s club which was over seen by his teacher Sensei Paul Guerillot. Paul was an ex French Legionnaire and when John trained at Sensei Paul’s dojo in Melbourne he experienced a very strong and combative style of martial art. It was very appealing. In July 1977 John was graded to Shodan and his Karate life really began. The boarding master at Monivae College Mr Terry Walshthen asked him to Train the Cadet Unitat the College.This began an association with Monivae that lasts to this day, as the club that started then is still in operation in 2023.
After Sensei Paul died some of John’s earlier students went on to University in Melbourne, and introduced John to Sensei John Haitidis. This was with Sensei Kanazawa in the Shotokan Karate International organisation (SKI), in 1991. The style was a more refined version and was also very strong under Sensei ‘s leadership. After two years the club which now incorporated about seventy students from John’s Hamilton club at Monivae, was invited to join Sensei Hitoshi Kasuya in his World Shotokan Karate-do Federation. This became a fundamental aspect of the continuing Karate for the Hamilton club. After training for a short period at another private school the club continued back at Monivae College.
John was graded by Kasuya Sensei to Sandan in 1993, and Yondan in 2010. He has trained manytimes with Sensei , in Hamilton , Melbourne, Portland and in Noosa , and with Bryan Dukas Sensei. Sensei Bryan trains regularly with people from the Hamilton club and is a strong influence,now as some original practitioners are becoming highly ranked and involved in running the club at Monivae.
John is now approaching seventy- seven years of age, and feels Karate is a large part of his life and never wants to stop. He still manages to teach and train with the Hamilton club once or twice each week and does some private classes as well. He says he gave Karate the energy and enthusiasm of his youth and what he gained in return was immeasurable. One of the great thrills was the fact that now many people that he trained are now far better than him. A young Lady by the name of Steph Granziera started training at the age of nine, and now seventeen years later is running the Monivae club in a brilliant manner, with the help of other senior students. She also has a great deal of support from our Ju-jitsu instructor Sensei Steve Jones.
John wishes to thank these people and instructors for their influence in his fifty- seven year Karate journey;
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Sensei Roger Dundas,
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Sensei Paul Guerillot,
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Sensei John Haitidis,
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Sensei Hitoshi Kasuya,
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Sensei Frank McKenzie.
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And all those who train with him.