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Renshi Nico started training in Jan 1969. (He had injured his knee playing rugby and decided to do Karate while he was recuperating)
After training for a while he became “hooked” and did not return to paying rugby.
He trained every evening at our first dojo at 33 Loop street, Cape Town and in October 1971 he was awarded Shodan.
In 1972 he received Western Province Colours and was part of the All Styles Springbok B team in 1973.
He was the Karate Do Grand Champion in 1974, 1979 and 1980. In all three events he won the Kumite section and came second in Kata.
In 1975 he started coaching the Western Province Kushido squad.
In 1981 he captained the Kushido Springbok team to Israel, Switzerland and the United Kingdom and that same year started coaching the Kushido Springbok squad, taking them to Europe in 1983.
In 1987 he was appointed Chief Judge of Kushido
Besides his passion for karate Renshi Nico also participated in Offshore Powerboat racing and in 1991 achieved Western Province colours in this sport. From 1990 to 1995 he was the South African Champion in offshore Powerboat racing in the 2 litre class.
In March 2003 Renshi Nico was appointed Chief Instructor of Kushido Karate Do.
In July 2004 he was inducted into the South African Karate and Martial Arts Hall of Fame.
In December 2004 he attained Nanadan (7th Dan) and was awarded the rank of Renshi.
In 2006 Renshi Nico was invited to teach at the International Gashuku in Switzerland. He has also taught at all our South African and International Gashuku from 2003 in Stellenbosch to the 2010 Gashuku here in Cape Town.
After Hanshi died in 2009 Renshi Nico took over as the head of the system.
Kushido Karate do is privileged to have him as our head. He has always been passionate about teaching and puts all his energy into every student to make them the best they can possibly be.
He is known to be extremely strict but fair and does not expect any student to do anything that he himself has not done and experienced.
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