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 Shihan Mike Tan 5th
Dan Cheif Instructor
Sensei Mike Tan was born in 1955 in Georgetown, Penang, West Malaysia. At
the tender age of five, he was introduced to Martial Arts by his late uncle
Tan Wee Kwang, a master of ‘Hainan Fist’ Chinese Kung Fu. As the youngest in
the family of five he began training Budokan Karate at the age of 14, in
Kulim, Kedah, Malaysia.
In 1970 Sensei Mike Tan advanced his martial art training at the
Georgetown (Y.M.C.A) martial art training centre, Headquarters of the Penang
Karate Association of Malaysia. Sensei Mike Tan advanced his training with a
group of close friends who trained in other forms of martial art mainly,
Kung Fu, Tae Kwon Do, Muay Tai and Tai Chi Chuan. An open minded martial
artist and a firm believer of practicality, even now Sensei Mike Tan
occasionally teaches his practical knowledge of oriental martial arts to his
students. On completion of secondary school Sensei Mike Tan started
instructing Budokan Karate at the Electronics Factory at Bayan Lepas, Penang,
and managed to train a group of champions at the 1972 Northern Malaysian
Karate Championship held at Ipoh, Malaysia. Sensei Mike Tan was also a
former kumite champion in the 1972 Northern Malaysian Karate Championship.
In 1974, Sensei Mike Tan came to Cardiff, South Wales to
further his higher education. At that time, karate in Wales was not that
popular and there were only a few black belts in South Wales. The first
Budokan Karate class was conducted at the former Llandaff College of
Technology, Western Avenue, Cardiff, in 1974. In 1976, Sensei Mike Tan
pursued a Civil Engineering degree course at the Polytechnic of Wales,
Treforrest, Pontypridd. He then opened the 2nd Karate class in 1977 at the
Polytechnic which led to the formation of the third Budokan club at the
University Of Wales College Of Medicine, at Heath, Cardiff.
In 1980, still loyal to Budokan Karate, Sensei Mike Tan decided to be
affiliated to the Budokan Headquarters in Malaysia. At that time, there were
other KBI clubs in the UK located in Liverpool, Manchester, Isle of Man, and
Stoke-on-Trent. Sensei Mike Tan was fortunate and had the privilege to be a
close family friend with (now the late) Grandmaster Chew Choo Soot, Mrs Chew
and (now the late) Madam Chan and to have benefited from his wisdom . The
Grandmaster visited Cardiff several times en-route on his world tour to
conduct grading tests, advance weapons training sessions and was master of
ceremony for KBI Open Karate Championship in the early eighties.
| Sensei Mike Tan is one of the very few
remaining Chief Instructors in KBI in the world to have benefited from
training with the late Grand Master Chew Choo Soot, Sensei Tan Kee Siew,
the late Sensei Ooi Ken Peng, Sensei Lam Kong Beng and Sensei Sunny Yeoh,
Sensei Clement Soo, Sensei Koe Beng Soon, Lim Ti Ti, Miss Tang, and Soke
Richard Chew, who were all Karate Budokan senior instructors of
exceptionally high qualities and standards.
In 1981, Sensei Mike Tan gained recognition from the Sports Council
for Wales through membership of the Welsh Karate Federation. Membership
of the Karate Budokan International in Wales had flourished under the
able leadership of Sensei Mike Tan. The late Grandmaster Chew continued
visiting Cardiff until the mid eighties. In 1987, Sensei Mike Tan took a
team of 10 students to participate in the 1st K.B.I. International
Karate Championship held in Penang, Malaysia. Eighteen countries
participated in the four day event, with the KBI Welsh team winning
substantial trophies in the individual events. At the closing dinner
ceremony of the International Championship, Sensei Mike Tan was awarded
Yondan and the Grand Master’s representative for Great Britain amongst
other senior instructors from other countries in the world.
| In the 1990s, Sensei Mike Tan was
invited to the University of Bergen Karate Club to hold karate
courses and referees seminars. He accompanied the late Grandmaster
Chew Choo Soot to participate in the Bergen Open KBI Championship
and was Chief Referee for the tournament. Soke Richard Chew the
successor, and Sensei Wayne McDonald visited Cardiff in November
1996 because of Sensei Mike Tan’s support and loyalty to his father
and awarded him 5th Dan in recognition of his standard in Karate,
dedication and loyalty to Karate Budokan International.
To-date, Sensei Mike Tan still has links with Karate Budokan
International in Australia under the leadership of Grand Master
Richard Chew and Wayne McDonald (International Chief Instructor),
and other KBI organisation countries in the world. Sensei Mike Tan
has been Vice Chair and Chair of various Sub committees in the Welsh
Karate Federation for numerous years and has attained Welsh, British
and European kumite refereeing status. |
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