Welcome Our History Chief Instructor Jim Ross 6th Dan started Karate in May 1975 at the John Wrights Sport Centre in East Kilbride, withthe Scottish Budokan which was run by former Scottish Karate Coach Alex McGregor.  During this period Jim attained the grade of 1st Kyu but had to take some time out from his training due to ill health. Jim returned to his training in 1979 with local East Kilbride instructor Eddie Welsh who was at the time with Sensei Asanos SKI International. Jim passed three Dan grades during this period and also established himself within the SKI Scotland squad representing them at their home International matches in Nottingham. In 1986 Jim started his own club in the Utd Reformed Church Hall in East Mains followed by clubs in Rutherglen (1989) and Strathaven (1990). By this time he was part of Roy Stanhope's UKASKO organization, which is based in Manchester. During this period Jim became the Association Kumite Champion at u/75 kilos at both Regional & National Association events as well as winning the UKASKO Senior Male Kata title. His teams were also proving to be a formidable force with his Senior Male squad winning the Scottish UKASKO team title in 1991 & 92 then taking the British team title in 1995, having lost in the final the previous two years. Not to be out done the Yamakai Senior female squad of the time were dominating the Scottish Association scene winning their team title three years running from 1993-95, with the Junior Male squad winning in 1994 & 95. At the same time Jim had been approached by UKASKO Chief Instructor Roy Stanhope to manage the Scottish UKASKO squad which at time were the Association whipping boys. In there first outing under Jim's leadership the squad took silver at the Home Nations Championships in Nottingham. The squad continued to progress taking silver on three more occasions, before finally taking gold in six out of seven team events at the Home Internationals in Manchester as well as the over all team cup. While with UKASKO Jim also sat and passed his Fourth Dan Black Belt in May 1991 at the Associations Dan grading in Manchester. Further Dan gradings came in September 2004 when All Styles Karate Federation Chief Instructor Danny Thompson 7th Dan awarded Jim his 5th Dan in a grading in East Kilbride. Jim was recently awarded his 6th Dan by the Yamakai Association Dan grading panel (June 2010) Jim maintains that his time with Roy Stanhope was invaluable in that Roy was one of the best organizers he had ever worked with, his only regret was not getting to train with him that often. In 1995 Jim watched the finals of the old Scottish Karate Governing Body Championships in Monklands Sport Centre, and decided that was the direction he wanted to go in. After leaving UKASKO Jim set about becoming a member of the SKGB using his three clubs to form a small Association. In 1997 the group were granted full membership of the Governing Body. In November of the same year at their first appearance of the National Championships in Glasgow's Kelvin Hall the group won their first National titles in Campbell Allan and Karen Lithgow. Since then they have over 20 National Kumite titles two National Kata titles four British Kumite titles and five Scottish Team titles. There have been six members selected for the Scottish under 21yr National Kumite Squad, Stewart Cameron one Europeans, David Forsyth two Europeans and a Worlds, Emma Boyle three Europeans one Worlds, member of the Snr Female Gold medal winning Commonwealth Championships in 2008 and selected for a five Nation International friendly in Paris in 08, Greg MaCaulay two Europeans selected for 2009 Worlds in November and was involved in the friendly in Oslo in 2007 and was part of the Scotland senior squad at the recent Grand Slam event in Dublin where Scotland took bronze, and more recently Marc MaCaulay has been selected to attend the World under 21's in Morocco this November (2009) and followed it up by being selected for the 2010 Europeans in Turkey, along with Robert McEwan who will make his first appearance at International competition at the same event. For many years the Association had participated at the English International Open in Crystal Palace and the Northen Ireland International Open in Belfast, but in 2001 the group travelled to the Haag to compete in the Dutch International Open Youth Championships where they collected two Gold medals in Nicole Blair and Kirsty McFadyen, Nicole took gold again the following year in Rotterdam as did Kirsty when we returned to the Haag in 2003. During this period the group also won numerous silver and Bronze awards. The squad have also travelled to the Brussels International Open as well as attending the Belgian International Open Karate Championships which is held each November in Leuven. Last year we won a silver in Cammy Gibbons and two bronze with Emma Boyle and Shaun Arrowsmith. It was during our first trip to Holland that Chief Instructor Jim Ross decided to install jigsaw matted areas into each of his Dojos. At the time the training surface in his East Kilbride hall tended to be very slippery and he was contemplating the investment. After conversations with various coaches during this trip he realized that this was the way to go. Since then not only have his own classes, but also the two other clubs based in Uddingston and Eaglesham have followed suit making the Yamakai Karate Association the only group in Scotland that can boast every training session is conducted on these state of the art training surfaces. We believe this has helped make our competitors even more successful in the competition arena, as they are training on similar surfaces’ to which they are going to compete on. Also it has helped make our Athletes stronger physically as the muscle groups in the legs needed for competition become stronger and more durable by constantly training on the matted surface as opposed to wooden floors. Clubs looking for a change of direction should not be put of by this, we do not insist that all clubs have this facility, but we do stress that from a health and safety angle any club wishing to join our organisation should look long term at investing in jigsaw matted area's. Thinking back to the various halls in which I trained in, it cannot be good long term for the joints and tendons to be banging about on wooden or concrete floors, I have lost count of the amount of ex-karateka I have bumped into over the years suffering with Arthritis. These type of matted area's definitely help with the constant pounding your body takes during sessions. Running Karate classes has changed drastically in the last ten years with health & safety becoming more prominent, in our opinion it will become an insurance issue in the not to distant future. At present our Association consists of six clubs based in East Kilbride, Rutherglen, Chapelton, Uddingston and Eaglesham and more recently Hamilton. All of these clubs are Shotokan based. This is not to say we would not accept clubs from other styles into our organization. We are open to any club or group whose Instructors are open minded and willing to get involved in Association activities. We try to provide something for everyone, whether it be competitive sport karate, Refereeing, to the more traditional elements of Karate with our grading system and willingness to allow students to have the freedom to train with any club within the Governing Body. We have on occasion guest Instructors come along to provide a different angle and prospective, for example we have the National Coach Gerry Fleming out once a year for our kumite squad, we also had Sensei Eddie Welsh do a session for our older more mature students, with more planned for the future. In August this year(2009) we plan to start a class on Tuesday evenings in Stonelaw High geared towards 18yr old and above to cover all aspects of Shotokan, which will see each of the club Instructors taking sessions. We will also be using this session to dabble into different styles of Martial Arts. We are affiliated to the Scottish Karate National Governing Body Ltd. We have a member trained in Child Protection, contact us for further details. © Yamakai Karate Association, 150 Strathaven Rd, Hamilton, Lanarkshire ML3 7UX, Tel. 01698 421790  [site index]