Suzy
stepped onto her martial arts path in 1987 with Judo
and at the age of 7. Being also a Dancer and a Gymnast
her life began to be very demanding, making it difficult
to focus on Judo.
Early in 1994 at the age of 14 her path unknown to
her was about to be awoken. Suzy was assaulted, and
soon after determined that she needed to pick up her
confidence and ability to defend herself. With the
help of her father in her Dorset Town of Weymouth she
kick started her training again with International
Okinawan Go Ju Ryu Karate, taught by 3rd degree Stuart
Edwards.
Suzy continued to train when her dojo had closed down
in 1999 but supported her efforts with Tae Kwon-do
taught by 4th degree Nick Bale until she started her
Law Degree at Brunel University in 2000. Suzy's passion for
martial arts led her to the Brunel Kobujitsu Dojo, Peat sensei was
aware of her previous Go Ju Ryu experience and welcomed her
to join the dojo family.
In 2002 she was drafted into the University Tournament team for
British Universities National Karate Championships.
At this tournament she was very successful and won Gold, becoming
the BUSA British National Universities Kata Champion 2002.
Whilst at university Suzy supplemented her karate
by travelling to Florida and being taught American Kenpo
by 9th degree professor Manny Reyes.
After some years of training Suzy attained her Black
Belt in Go Ju Ryu Karate in 2005 at an international
grading under Shihan Giovanni DeMeglio
Being
a Black Belt was nothing that Suzy had expected, in
fact she felt like she was a White Belt again with
plenty yet to learn. With this feeling in mind she
made her way to Canada for 4 months to train at a family
dojo ‘Shuhari’.
Shuhari, home to Shihan
Harrow, became to open Suzy’s eyes to differences
in training styles and teaching. With the help of Sifu
Harrow at Shuhari, Suzy began to grasp the true basis
of Sigung Chong’s Shaolin Kung Fu (literally
translated to ‘skill from effort) and she continues
to train with Sifu David Ramsey who heads the Shaolin
for the U.K.
During this 5 month trip Suzy had a unique training
experience when she was invited to stay at the home
of Shihan Yamanaka in 2005. She had experienced his
life style and personal teachings which expanded her
views again of the martial arts wider than she had
imagined.
Suzy although now graduated from Brunel with her Law
Degree has also completed her Legal Professional Course
and is well on track to becoming a Solicitor. Amongst
being a lawyer Suzy still continues to train under
Nathaniel Peat sensei, David Ramsey sifu and Barry Mitchell shihan
now with over 18 years experience
in Martial Arts her Karate strives to aid others in
their self defence and their own mystery paths of martial
training.
From her experiences before and after stepping onto
her path, she remembers always her dojo motto being:
“Before your hand goes out pull your anger
back, before your anger goes out pull your hand back”
And will always remember:
“If you know your martial arts well, you
will never have to use it” “If you train hard,
you will never have to use it” ‘Shihan
Harrow’ |