Trish began her karate training at Ashington SKC in 1992. She was encouraged to join by Sensei Jill Kelly after watching her children train from the sidelines.
Trish believes that karate is a continuous personal challenge offering many rewards. Her main personal highlight and reward was when she passed her 6th Dan in October 2018. That special feeling of personal achievement will be something that she will never forget. It is without a doubt a great honour to be a 6th Dan in the KUGB.
Trish is co-Instructor at Ashington Karate Club with Sensei Jill Kelly where they are proud to be the only KUGB club to have two female 6th Dan instructors.
Some of her proudest moments in karate are the successes of her children, including the day her daughter Tracy won the Children’s Kata event in the National Championships in 1995, and when her son John won the Under 21 Kumite World Championship in 2003; John continued his success with many regional, national, and international titles in kata and kumite and went on to teach and develop his own karate club where Trish trains with him on a regular basis.
Trish said “I believe in continuously improving all aspects of my personal training to further develop my role as a Sensei; helping me to achieve a higher standard of instruction. I am very passionate about supporting students to believe in their individual abilities, helping them to develop their skills, and encouraging them to realise their full potential by creating a positive environment in which to train”.
Her desire to bring out the best in every student extends to mentoring club members who are pursuing their Instructor Qualifications. Some of the club’s qualified instructors have since gone on to develop their own dojos. She hopes to inspire more to do the same.