The Jamestown Karate Club founded by Gerry Scherbenske began in October 1973. Sensei Scherbenske was the first North Dakotan to achieve the level of black belt under the Japanese Karate Association (JKA). The JKA focuses on traditional Shotokan Karate.
Back in 1973, training was difficult. Sensei Scherbenske had to drive back and forth to Minneapolis and train under Sensei Robert Fusaro (http://www.midwestkarate.org/sensei.htm). Sensei Fusaro opened the first U.S. JKA School in 1958.
Among Gerry’s students was Dean Jensen who after training under a different style of karate joined the Jamestown Karate Club on January 1974.
In the beginning there was only one class a week and that was held at the Jamestown College Student Union Building even though there was no association with the college.
The Jamestown Karate club became associated with the Jamestown Parks and Recreation Department and moved to the Armory building (currently across the Jamestown Middle School) at the end of summer 1974. This move added an extra day of training per week.
On Feb. 5th, 1975 the Jamestown Karate Club became the Jamestown Karate Association. This new change brought Greg Allmaras to become president, Terry Mickelson as vice president and Dean Jensen as Secretary Treasure.
Sensei Jensen took on the role of teacher in 1977. He shared the responsibilities of weekday classes with Sensei Scherbenske and taught the new Saturday classes.
In the early 1980’s the James River YMCA took over the Armory building and the Jamestown Karate Association became affiliated with this organization. When the Y moved to the Larson Sports Center, it brought the Jamestown Karate Association with it in 1983. Sensei Jensen took on even more responsibilities as lead instructor in the late 1980’s with up to 16 classes a week. Sensei Jensen has also taught an accredited class that the Jamestown College.
Currently, All classes are taught at the Two Rivers Performing Arts School as of October 2018. The majority of classes are taught by Dean Jensen with Gerry Scherbenski still teaches one class a week.
The Jamestown Karate Association is affiliated with the Japan Karate Association, whose headquarters are in Tokyo, Japan. Along with this affiliation is a connection with the Japan Karate Association of the United States (JKAUS), the American Amateur Karate Federation (AAKF) and the International Karate Federation (ITKF). Sensei Jensen also serves as the North Dakota Chairman for the AAKF and is the certified regional instructor and coach for the ITKF.