Caroline began her karate journey at the age of 6 years old. She achieved her 1st Dan in 1996 at aged 10 and has now been practicing Shotokan Karate with the Karate Union of Great Britain for almost 32 years. She was recognised and awarded as a KUGB Long Standing Member (LSM) in 2023 for 30 years dedicated to the KUGB. Caroline successfully graded to 6th Dan in October 2024.
Caroline is a qualified KUGB Instructor and became a KUGB Judge in 2017 and was promoted to KUGB Referee in 2019. In 2023 she came a qualified KUGB Assessor. Caroline has also supported the KUGB as a Mental Health Ambassador since 2017, and recently took over as KUGB Mental Health Officer in July 2024. In September 2024, Caroline also took on the position as National Safeguarding Officer for the KUGB.
Caroline has competed nationally in the KUGB at both junior and senior level winning national events in both Kata and Kumite. She was selected onto the KUGB National England Kumite Squad in 1999 at aged 13 and was dedicated member of the Squad for 23 consecutive years.
Caroline consistently represented England internationally throughout this time picking up medals at the ESKA European Championships and WSKA World Championships as both a Junior and a Senior, in both individual and team events.
Caroline’s international debut was in 2003, aged 17, where she represented England in the ESKA European Championships in Sunderland, England, where Caroline picked up a bronze medal in the Junior Ladies Team Kumite.
Caroline continued this success into 2004 winning the Junior Ladies Individual Kumite title at the KUGB National Youths Championships.
2005 saw Caroline become Double European Champion, winning both Junior Ladies Individual Kumite and Junior Ladies Team Kumite at the ESKA European Championships in Wroclaw, Poland.
After many years competing nationally and internationally as a junior, Caroline transitioned into the Senior Ladies and in 2013, Caroline finished in 2nd place in the Senior Ladies Individual Kumite at the ESKA European Championships in Portugal, as well as coming 3rd in the Senior Ladies Team Kumite. Caroline also fought as part of the Senior Ladies Kumite Team in the WSKA World Championships in 2013, where the ladies were crowned runners up finishing 2nd.
Caroline’s international success continued at the 2016 and 2017 ESKA European Championships, where she finished in 3rd place in Senior Ladies Individual Kumite at both events. She fought in the Senior Ladies Team Kumite at these championships making it to the finals in both. In 2016, the England ladies fought the final against tough Polish rivals. After two hard fought matches by England colleagues, Caroline won the deciding match by Ippon to secure the title for England and become 2016 Senior Ladies Team Kumite European Champions. In 2017 the ladies won by a 3-0 victory to take the European Title for the second year running.
2017 also saw Caroline selected to represent England in the WSKA World Championships in Italy. Caroline and her colleagues narrowly missed out on the Senior Ladies World Title after finishing the final with a tie and England narrowly losing on one final deciding match.
In 2019, Caroline was crowned Senior Ladies Individual Kumite National Champion. She finished 2019 with success at the ESKA European Championships winning a bronze medal in the Senior Ladies Team Kumite.
After a distinguished national and international competitive career, Caroline retired from competing in December 2022, after finishing strong with medals in every single KUGB Senior Ladies Individual Kumite event across the year and medals in the Senior Ladies Team Kumite at both the WSKA World Championships and ESKA European Championships.
