KARATE has long been touted as a major factor in personal development and residents of several communities were treated to an exhibition of such when the Guyana Karate College teamed up with the Police ‘A’ Division on Saturday.
‘A’ division Commander, Assistant Commissioner of Police Clifton Hicken,partnered with GKC head,Sensei Frank Won-A-Tai to hold the session for residents of several ’A’ division communities to help people understand what the sport is about.
Sensei Woon-A-Tai, who is also the founder of the International Karate Diagaku (IKD) based in Canada, contended that karate has come a long way in developing and is not just a sport, but rather a lifestyle.
“We are here because we believe the Guyana Karate College can help the young people at risk or not at risk, find direction in life; keep them off drugs,off the streets and to help to break the cycle of crime and violence.”

According to Commander Hicken, “We see this as a benefit to the society at large and we want to ensure that we create an atmosphere that they keep on board with us so we can develop as a collective.”
“Community development is based on what the community needs and we’ve been doing that through the community leaders,” He added, saying, “this by itself created interest for the community leaders and parents of the children and we can see it from the stands. Just a simple exercise we had today [yesterday] and the stands are filled.”
The commander added that the idea came about after a meeting with Sensei Woon-A-tai during which two objectives were achieved.
“We’ve managed to coordinate and join Epic [Enhance Potential Inspire Change] to ensure that the Juveniles holding centre at Sophia will now be doing Karate classes weekly under the auspices of the GKC.”
The club is under the guidance of senior instructor Sensei Jeffrey Wong.