Seishinkai Shotokan Karate International

Malcolm Phipps Sensei, 7th Dan Kyoshi

Malcolm Phipps is a 7th Dan in Shotokan Karate and is the Chief Instructor internationally to ‘SEISHINKAI SHOTOKAN KARATE INTERNATIONAL’. After his school years he spent ten years in the Royal Navy where he already had become a prominent footballer playing for the R.N. throughout the world and for local amateur teams in Hertfordshire. He left the R.N. in 1968 and then worked in London for a Merchant Bank and Commodity Brokers respectively. In 1973 he felt he needed a new challenge and following-up an advert in his local paper went along to witness his first actual Karate lesson. He was extremely impressed with the discipline involved and the very next lesson became part of the class. His original club was based in Hemel Hempstead, which was a part of Shotokan Karate International (S.K.I.). He was hooked by this new way of life and trained hard passing his grades up to Shodan with Kanazawa Sensei and Asano Sensei. Sadly, and through no fault of his own a split happened in his local club and he found himself having to travel nearly thirty miles twice weekly to train with his sensei. Working in London this was unacceptable and he had to look for a new Association to join. A good friend of his put him in the path of the Amateur Shotokan Karate Association (A.S.K.A.) where again he spent many happy years. Through a difference of opinion between certain ‘traditional’ aspects within this group he left to form his own Association, Seishinkai Shotokan Karate in 1984.  In 1995 the decision was made to become an international group and therefore S.S.K.I. came to be. Malcolm has taught Karate now for well over 30 years and thousands of Karateka have passed through his extremely capable hands.

In competition Karate he has had numerous successes, including many World, European and National Champions. At this moment in time (2007) he has produced thirteen World Champions, two European Champions and countless British and English Champions.In traditional Shotokan Karate his black-belts are, without doubt, and grade for grade, amongst the very finest. He is one of the top and most respected Karate teachers in Europe today. He is a National Grading Officer and a Senior National Coach (NCF) and is also one of England’s top Nunchaku (rice flails) exponents and teaches this art regularly in his Nunchaku Association ETNA (English Traditional Nunchaku Association), where again he is the founder and Chief Instructor.

He was awarded ‘Sports Personality of the Year’ for the county of West Hertfordshire in 1985 and has been runner-up on a couple of other occasions. Malcolm is also an accomplished author and has had six books published to-date. Three of these books are on the very art of Karate, Uchi Deshi and the Master, The Ah So! Stories and the Little Book of Seishinkai, with his three novels, Wild Oats in Cornwall, The ConEquest and the newly published Wild Oats making up the six.

He has appeared on English National TV in such programmes as, Michael Aspel’s, Six O’Clock Show, Afternoon Plus with Mary Parkinson, Thames News with the late Andrew Gardner and Anglia Sport and was interviewed ‘live’ on BBC Radio by ex-Blue Peter presenter, Simon Groom. His Association also appeared on the BBC’s top children’s programme Blue Peter and also featured on the BBC TV News in 2005. He has had numerous magazine articles published in Traditional Karate, Combat, Fighting Arts International and Shotokan Karate Magazine and articles published in the Daily Mail and Guardian national newspapers.

Malcolm is a highly respected and accomplished instructor who has been training in Shotokan Karate for nearly thirty-five years and holds the following positions: