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Hanshi Steve Arneil was
born in
South Africa
in 1934. At the age of seventeen he became a black
belt in Judo, as well as being reasonably versed in both Kenpo and
Karate. In 1962 he travelled to
Japan
to study karate under Kancho Mas Oyama.
By the time he left
Japan
in 1965, he had gained the rank of 3rd dan and had
been the first person to complete the 100 man kumite (which he completed
in one day not two as has previously been reported) after Mas Oyama.
Steve Arneil was "adopted" by Mas Oyama, in order to allow
Steve to marry a Japanese woman.
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Hanshi Steve Arneil (9th
Dan)
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After his marriage, Steve Arneil travelled with his new wife to Great Britain in 1965. In the same year, he and Shihan Bob Boulton (now resident in Australia) founded the British Karate Kyokushinkai (BKK) organisation. The first full time dojo was located in Stratford, in East London. The number of clubs expanded such that today there are between 65 and 70 throughout Great Britain.
During the period spanning 1968 and 1976, Steve Arneil was the team manager and coach for the All Styles English and British Karate team which became the first non-Japanese team to win the World Karate Championship in 1975/76. In 1975 the French Karate Federation also awarded him the title of the "World's Best Coach".
In 1991, Steve Arneil and the BKK resigned their 25 year long membership with the Japan based
International Karate Organisation (IKO) and founded the International Federation of Karate (IFK) which currently has a membership of over 100,000 in up to 30 different countries. He currently is the President of the BKK and head of the IFK. He holds the rank of 9th dan.
Steve Arneil has authored a couple of books on karate and a book outlining the kihon techniques and sequences thereof required by the IFK syllabus. (Source -
BKK
Website)
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