SSKI INSTRUCTOR PROFILES
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Assistant Chief Instructor
Tony Bunting Sensei 8th Dan (Renshi)

Born in London in 1969, Tony was introduced to Judo at a young age. He quickly progressed through the belts, attaining his 1st Dan black belt in Judo in his early teens. He was an accomplished Judoka who competed at regional level and successfully won a number of junior championships.

In 1981, he was introduced to Shotokan Karate by his Judo instructor. His first Shotokan instructor in Borehamwood was Sensei Brian Field (2nd Dan) within the Bukonkai Karate International association whose Chief Instructor at the time was the late Sensei Colin Williams (7th Dan); Tony was an avid competitor who travelled the country competing for his club and association. It was in the early 80’s when he moved to a new dojo, which was affiliated to ASKA, that he was introduced to Sensei Malcolm Phipps (then a 3rd Dan). Tony was part of the newly founded association in 1984 – Seishinkai Shotokan Karate.

Tony has been a loyal supporter and part of Seishinkai for many years and is the SSKI Assistant Chief Instructor. He currently holds 8th Dan, which he was awarded by Sensei Malcolm Phipps on 07th October 2023. Apart from being a Kyu and Dan grading examiner, a member of the association technical committee and part of the squad management team, he is also a qualified and experienced referee and is often asked to support in competitions nationally, as well as internationally on occasions.

Aside from all these ‘duties’ to the association, Tony’s dedication for Karate and Seishinkai goes above and beyond. He has been instrumental in the last few years in obtaining sponsorship for the association squad and has also travelled to other SSKI clubs in the UK and assisted Sensei Phipps teaching on seminars in the USA. He believes that the only way to achieve your best is to train regularly and hard with the best Instructors available. He continues to train at the Honbu dojo and maintains this practice by training at minimum of twice a week.

Tony has been an instructor for over 20 years now and confirms that his personal sense of fulfilment was achieved in 2011, when his club team, Slip End, won the SSKI National Championships for the very first time since the competition had begun back in 1984. He was once again the proud instructor when Slip End won the SSKI Nationals Championships again in 2012. Tony also opened up a new club in 2012 at Verulam Boys School in St Albans, where he is the resident instructor. This has become very successful and currently has over thirty boys from the school training!

What Karate means to Tony in his own words: “SSKI is an integral part of my life as I have studied and trained in Shotokan Karate for the past 30 years. I have been privileged to train with some of the best Japanese and English Instructors in the world and truly enjoy training and teaching at my dojos. I was also honoured to present Sensei Phipps with his 8th Dan Certificate in 2011!”

Contact Us

Chat with Malcolm now on +44 01442 266048
Email: Malcolm at: phipps@globalnet.co.uk

Malcolm Phipps
No. 3 The Copse
Hemel Hempstead
Hertfordshire HP1 2TA

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