INSTRUCTORS
David Stewart – Chief Instructor, Kenshin Karate Langwarrin, 2nd Dan 
My first experience of karate was in 1992 when I was 12 years old. It was the year I started high school and I was worried about bullying. A friend of mine trained with a style known as Zen Do Kai and he invited me along. I loved all aspects of karate especially learning how to use karate in real life situations and defend myself. Knowing I had acquired some handy skills gave my self confidence a boost. I trained with Zen Do Kai for 3 years, achieving the rank of brown belt. Most of my school friends had started playing football (afl) and I wanted to play too. It was then that I was given the choice by my parents, continue karate or play football. I succumbed to peer pressure and chose to stop the karate training and play football (which was an unfortunate decision as I reflect on this now).
A few years later, another friend of mine had started training in karate at a style known as GKR. My interest peaked again and I was back at training. I felt at home training again and it wasn’t long until I was accepted into the Victorian state tournament team for that style. After a shaky tournament start, I found my feet and then began winning every division I entered.
In 1999 my passion for martial arts grew so I started training in a second style called Fudoshin. Fudoshin is a mixed martial art that involves judo, jujitsu, aikido, karate and kung fu. I became a more rounded martial artist having acquired different skills from the two styles I trained with.
Also in 1999, I met a girl who shared the same interests as me. After attaining my brown belt in this style, Leanne and I were both looking to further our talents so we left GKR and started training with Ishinryu. We trained at Ishinryu with Matthew Charles, a student at the time, who also shared the same passion we did for martial arts. It wasn’t long before I hung up my Gi again and focused on a different path my life was taking – marriage and family.
In 2006 I came across an advertisement for Sensei Matthew Charles dojo. When we last saw him he was still a student and to see him with his black belt and own dojo I just had to pay him a visit. Of course as soon as I stepped in the dojo I was back in action and the Gi was out again. Sensei Matt was entering an exciting phase in his Martial Arts career having outgrown the hall his club was training in. I was fortunate enough to have helped Matt build his new dojo in Cranbourne and his students were given a state of the art facility to train in.
After the birth of our second child, I had another short break from karate (colic, reflux need I say more). It wasn’t long before our son was old enough to own his first Gi so I took him down to Matt’s dojo and once again I was back at training. I started my journey where I left off, brown belt. As it was a different style, it was challenging to learn a new syllabus, but I trained hard a finally advanced from brown belt to 1st kyu (brown/black) in 2010. Next step, the long awaited goal of Black Belt. In the lead up to black belt I was training harder then I ever had and my fitness levels were pumped. It all came crashing down (or so I thought at the time) four weeks before my Black Belt Grading when I suffered a devastating knee injury. I was shattered. I thought that the goal I had been chasing since first putting on a Gi when I was 12 had been whipped out from under me. But, after a pep talk from my good friend and head instructor, Sensei Matt, I decided that I was not going to let this defeat me. I made the decision that I would schedule my knee reconstruction for the end of the year, push on, gain enough strength in my knee and grade just before my surgery.
In Dec 2011, I faced the biggest challenge in my life. After three and a half hours of being pushed beyond my physical and mental limits, I graded to my 1st Dan Black Belt. Then four days later, I had my knee reconstructed.
Opening the Langwarrin dojo has been a dream of mine for a while now and I look forward to passing on my diverse skills onto my own students. Some advice for those starting their karate journey; be patient. Don’t expect to know everything all at once, it will come with time and persistence. Train hard and you will see the results
OSU!
N.B. David has his current level 2 first aid certificate and working with children check
Leanne Stewart – Assistant instructor – Kenshin Karate Langwarrin, 2nd Dan
From naming my first doll ‘HIYA!’ to watching many karate/kung-fu/kickboxing movies, Martial Arts have been a passion of mine for as long as I can remember. As a child I participated in many activities such as bike racing, calisthenics, jazz ballet, tap dancing, music but there was something missing and I never stuck it through; my heart just wasn’t there. I idolised many martial arts figures firstly ‘the Ninja Turtles’ followed by Bruce Lee, Brandon Lee, Jean Claude Van Dam and Mark Dacascos as I got older.
When I was 14 years old (1994), the time came to ask Mum if I could join Karate. A friend from school was starting and asked me to come along. Mum said ‘No’ but as a typical teenage girl I joined anyway. I trained in a style known as GKR. I progressed quickly through the ranks, competing in a few tournaments along the way. I really loved my karate, especially kata and trained 4 times a week. I attained my Shodan Black belt through GKR in 1998. I started teaching classes and it was here that I met a guy just as passionate about Martial Arts as I was. His name was David Stewart. We obviously hit it off. We stayed with GKR until the year 2000 (I had attained my 2nd Dan Black Belt by this stage) and then left to further our karate skills. We trained for a short while with Ishinryu karate where we met Matthew Charles (Seishin karate-do Australia) who was also a student there. Being young and in love, David and my time for karate became less and less, we had a wedding to plan and pay for.
I stopped training for ten years. In between that time I got married, had 2 kids and gained about 15 kilos! I made the decision to start my journey again and came back as a white belt to Seishin. I had lost a lot of confidence and thought that I would have forgotten everything after the 10 years I had not trained. Also the abilities of the other students were better then I had experienced in my previous style. I was however mistaken, my skills came flooding back and it didn’t take long to learn some new skills from my sensei's guidance . The extra weight fell off and I was better then I had ever been before.
Opening our own dojo had always been a dream of mine and David. We love passing on our knowledge to our students an shaping the into better versions of themselves, having a lot of fun in the process.
N.B. Leanne has her current level 2 first aid certificate and working with children check
