Hanshi Malcolm Phipps

Chief Instructor/Examiner

Malcolm Phipps Sensei 9th Dan (Hanshi)

Malcolm Phipps is an 9th 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 RN throughout the world and for local amateur teams in Hertfordshire. He left the RN in 1968 and then worked in London for a Merchant Bank and Commodity Brokers respectively. In the early 1970’s 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 started out as a JKA club but then became a part of Shotokan Karate International (SKI) with Kanazawa Sensei. 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 30 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 (ASKA) 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 with clubs in the UK, USA, India and Kazakhstan, and therefore SSKI came to be. Malcolm has trained in Shotokan Karate now for over 48 years and has actually taught for well over 44 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. 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 ten books published to–date. Four of these books are on the Martial arts (Uchi Deshi and the Master, The Ah So! Stories, The Little Book of Seishinkai and Nunchaku) and three novels: Wild Oats in Cornwall, The ConEquest and Wild Oats. His autobiography, Out of the Tiger’s Mouth, was published in December 2009. Malcolm is also a poet and has had two books on poetry published: I Pondered Lonely as a Cloud! and I Pondered Lonely as A Cloud, Once More! The royalty on both books was sent to the NSPCC and Save the Children respectively.

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. The 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 UK national newspapers. He also has his profile on Wikipedia.

Malcolm is a highly respected and accomplished instructor who has been training in Shotokan Karate for over 48 years and holds the following positions:

• Chief Instructor, Founder and Examiner to SSKI (Seishinkai Shotokan Karate International)

• Chief Instructor, Founder and Examiner to ETNA (English Traditional Nunchaku Association)

• Chairman SSKI Executive and Technical Committees

• SSKI National Team Manager

• Founding Fellow of ISKS (International Shotokan–ryu Karate–do Shihankai)

• UK Director of the World Martial Arts Hall of Fame

• Member of the UK Combat Hall of Fame

• Member of the USA Hall of Fame

• Member of the Global Martial Arts Hall of Fame

• Awarded 8th Dan and the title of Hanshi in September 2011 by the ISKS & SSKI Executive Committees

Instructor- Ram Babu Singh