SA:      You are recognised as one of the greatest Karate to have ever come out of Britain, can you please tell us how you started Karate.

AT:      I started in about 1972, during the Kung Fu boom and I used to go with my father to see all of the films, and I became fascinated with Bruce Lee, and that got me started really. I began training with a brown belt, because you had to be eighteen to train in a legitimate club. I was eleven at the time. It’s taken for granted now that clubs are filled with kids, but there weren’t any back then. I was training with this brown belt for quite a while and he got me training with another chap who was a black belt., and when I was about fourteen I got to train with Asano Sensei, having to lie about my age to get in.

SA:      That follows quite nicely onto my next question. Asano Sensei is highly regarded for his fighting spirit, would you say that this has rubbed off on you, and the way that you teach?

AT:      Oh yes, that was his forte, not being disrespectful, but he was never known for his technical teaching ability, he wouldn’t explain anything about individual techniques, he wouldn’t do bunkai, or anything like that. Basically, he would give you the numbers as you work along in the class, but his main thing was to get everyone out and fight them. And he would do this every week, so you would end up fighting him every week, and he did instil this fighting spirit. You never went down, and if you did, you get straight back up and he did instil that, and all his students were like that. They had tremendous fighting spirit, and that certainly helped me. Don’t get me wrong, I think you’ve either got that in you or you haven’t, to a degree, but he certainly brought it out in you.

SA:      I would imagine that it did help you, because you were amazingly successful. How do you think that success has set you up for the rest of your Karate career?

AT:      When you’re young and you’re interested in competition that becomes your focus, and it was, I loved it. It was difficult when I first went on the all styles team though, that was a different kettle of fish all together. I was sweeping people up in the air, stamping on people, because that was how we fought, very similar to the KUGB was as well, obviously we were all from the same stamp, if you like, and people were saying “Calm down, take it easy.”. We just went in there crash, bang, wallop. We had to choose our angles and see what was going on. That was valuable, because I learned a different way of fighting and that helped me. All these bits go into the mix, and made me a more rounded competitor really. At the end of the day, when you finish your competition career, you realised that the most valuable lessons you learn were right at the beginning.

SA:      How did you feel when you were listed as one of the top ten greatest fighters in combat magazine?

AT:      It’s great to have someone to say that, but there are a hell of a lot of fighters that I know that are absolutely excellent, and I would put above me.

SA:      As a fighter, Enoeda’s trademark move was his infamous leg sweeps, what would you say was Aidan Trimble’s trademark technique

AT:      Mine were the ashi-barai, I liked the sweeps, and then I suppose the one I was known most for was the yoko-gei. Not a lot of people used it, so I developed it initially just to learn and initial attack. I used to do fake-uraken, and then follow with the kekomi. I used to try to think of lots of different ways to draw people onto it. I never liked to be known for one thing; because I always thought once people worked that out, that’s it.

SA:      Do you think that the legacy of being a competitor like yourself and Frank Brennan has gone, or do you think that people like Rory Daniels will be remembered by the next generation?

AT:      Oh god yes, there are some great fighters now. When I think of fighting now, it’s always going to go up a level I think, with each generation that goes by. I think each generation will bring a new level to it. I think probably in my time, the fact that you did karate meant that you did karate, whereas now, people have started running and doing training other than karate. It’s like if you played football, your training would be your match on the Saturday, but now all that’s changed, now everyone is a super fit athlete. I’m only talking in a competitive sense, but I think the attitude has changed a little bit now sadly. That’s a really big generalisation, but there’s a slight lack of respect with some competitors. I must say, I don’t find that in Shotokan. It’s more when you move onto the open circuit where you get that kind of attitude. But not in Shotokan quite so much. 

SA:      How would you say the way you trained for competition differs from the way you now teach for competition?

AT:      I would say there’s more emphasis on attack, rather than defence, but at the end of the day, a fight’s a fight and I don’t think it changes that much. Because at the end of the day, we still have two arms and two legs. And I suppose it comes back to your question about Asano, you’ve either got it or you haven’t. It comes down to whether you’ve got that fighting spirit, that bottle to go in there and have a fight, at the end of the day that’s what it’s about. I was teaching in Norway some time ago and I was speaking to a friend of mine who used to be on the Norwegian team, who’s a woman, she said that in the early eighties that the Great Britain team, was the team, I’m talking about in the all-styles now and Norway were relatively pampered. They were well supported, they didn’t lack for anything, but we had that bite, and now I think we are a little bit pampered. The fighters get funded, they get everything. All the equipment they want, all the support that they need and quite rightly, but then you’ll get some kid whose just come off some rough estate in Kosovo, whole come out and give it everything and take everyone out. What’s that about? That’s not because he’s got a team of sport scientists behind him. It’s because he’s a fighter, he’s got the heart to go out there and take everybody on.

SA:      During your training career, who have you trained with, apart from Asano who has inspired you?

AT:      Well, I’ve trained with so many people, and I still do. As far as Karate is concerned I’ve trained with all the Japanese instructors at one time or another. Shirai, Kase, I trained in Japan with Yahara, most of the Japanese I’ve trained with at one time or another. Obviously, I did quite a lot of training with Ticky Donovan once I got onto the all-styles team, which was very different. The way he taught his fighting was very clever. I trained with Dominic Valera and that was inspiring. Later on in my career, I trained with the likes of Terry O’ Neill, Billy Higgins. And then of course I became great friends with Dave Hazard, and he had a big influence on me. He’s incredible, I think his ability is great, but also he has a fantastic karate mind. It’s always an inspiration to train with him. I’ve trained with different people who do different styles; I’ve trained with Tommy Morris from Shito-ryu. That was the first time I actually did bunkai, which was probably in the early eighties. We didn’t do bunkai, we just did the kata and that was it. And then I’ll just train with anybody in any kind of Martial Art.

SA:      Considering the state of political chaos that has existed in the world of karate over the last couples of years, one name that cannot be associated with the politics of Karate is yours, how do you feel about the over-attention being paid to the politics of Karate? Do you think it takes emphasis away from actual karate?

AT:      Yes I do, but having said that, whenever they used to ask you in magazines what do you dislike, everyone used to say politics. But it’s a bit naive to say that we don’t need politics, because we need politics for everything. Even your own karate club involves politics. When you deal with another individual there’s politics involved. That’s always going to be there. The unfortunate thing is that you tend to find the ones who are good at it don’t want to do it. I did get persuaded and that was the truth. I was persuaded to become an executive on the governing body for what was then the EKGB. Unbeknown to me, now you can’t do that. You have to put yourself forward. But at the time, they put me forward, and I didn’t want to do it, but they said “come on, we need people like you.” so I gave it a go, and I did it for a couple of years. I found it to be a complete waste of time. Well, it wasn’t a waste of time because it gave me an insight into how politics work and I’m not very good at it. It’s because you have to play the politics game. There people saying “are you in this camp, or are you in that camp?” and I would say “I’m friends with everybody”. But you end up being in no-mans land and when you’re in no-man’s land you can’t get anything done. You have to be with one group or another and I found I agreed with the last person I spoke to, which wasn’t good for politics, you’ve got to have your own ideas, but I always listened to what other people had to say. Everybody has their own view of things, and unfortunately, a lot of people have their own agenda for politics in karate. We’re Martial Artists. We’re not very good at following to a degree. We want to be at the top, which is the mind that we have, so it doesn’t work. It won’t be long before this governing body goes up the wall I’m sure. I think I’ve been through about four governing bodies now. It’s ridiculous, they’re chasing this goal of the Olympics and we’ve got so close and so far away. I don’t like to be a defeatist, but I don’t think it’ll happen to be honest with you.

SA:      If we did get into the Olympics, do you think that’d be a good thing?

AT:      In some ways I think It’ll be good, in other ways not. It’ll bring huge amounts of money into the sports side of things, and I think that’ll rub off onto the other sides I would hope. On the other hand, we’d be giving immense power to the people in Madrid and France who run karate. I think it might be Greece now. And some of the characters there are a bloody nightmare. They just dominate everything in karate; I’ve got no time for them.

SA:      We have recently reviewed your applied Karate series with Sensei Hazard, and we would just like to congratulate you on three fantastic DVD’s. One thing that many of our readers commented on was how inspiring it was to see such a tall man moving as quickly and nimble as you do. What would you say are the benefit of your height?

AT:      I mean, I’m six foot, and I’m quite a stocky build. It’s more my build, I’m being very complementary to myself by calling myself stocky. Slightly over weight might be a better term in the recent years. I mean, I had comments from people saying, “you don’t wanna be moving like people like Dave Hazard, you wanna follow the way this person moves”, but I don’t agree with that. I always think that if I can move as fast as somebody like Dave Hazard or Yahara, and people like that then I will. I look at people who are lightweights and I see their footwork and the way they move and I think its fantastic and I try to emulate that. It doesn’t mean I can’t use my size but the more I can move like that, obviously the more advantage I have. The thing with karate competition as well is that you get these big guys and they move like lightweights. They’re not lumbering around, so I follow that. I don’t follow some great big lump that just waddles around the fighting area, I move well on my feet. Footwork is one of those things.

SA:      What is it about Sensei Hazard that impresses you so much?

AT:      I think it’s because he ticks all of the boxes, because he is a fighter anyway, I think he’s always been a fighter; he’s got that fighting brain. I think he had a fairly rough upbringing in the East-end; he got involved in fights before he ever did karate. But then, he took that attitude into his karate. He went to Japan, but he was a top competitor before he went to Japan. There’s a story in itself there with the stuff he was subjected to in Japan, but of course he got that technical ability or improvement if you like from Japan. He brought it back, so he’s got that great mix of the classic Shotokan and that quality of movement that people have when they spend a lot of time in Japan, but mixed in with the practicality that he has. He’ll do a classic movement from Shotokan, and he’ll apply it in a street situation. I know I have spoken to people who said Enoeda Sensei said his karate is genius. That’s Enoeda saying that so that’s a fair old comment. His knowledge of kata, and the way he applies it, he’s just very clever. His classes are never boring, there’s always a theme behind his classes and they’re always enjoyable. That’s what I like about him. He’s got a great depth, and he’s not just copying somebody else who taught him. He developed his own way, which is what we are all trying to do. And the fact that he can still do it! He’s got an incredible kicking ability, at a mature age, I won’t say how old he is, because he might bash me one when I see him.

SA:      I own your Kata Application series, and often reference the book for your excellent kata applications. How much emphasis do you place on Kata application?

AT:      Not a lot. Every now and then I’ll do it, and don’t get me wrong, I do it a lot more than we used to do years ago, but I don’t do applications every time I do kata. What I try to do is get people to get their body movement correct, and then I’ll do the applications. To keep the interest there and to keep their focus so they are not just doing a dance. Those kata books that you are talking about were done in the late eighties and it’s great that they are still about. I’ve had nice comments about them and some not nice comments as well (laughing). At the time, there were no books like that on the market. Now there’s a lot of books there but people still use them. Some of the techniques I don’t do the same way, because obviously, our karate changes and ideas change. It’s a good reference for people to use; some of the applications are better than a lot I’ve seen.

SA:      Everyone who trains with you comments on how technical you are. Please tell us your opinion on how important Kata is to your everyday training?

AT:      It’s very important. It’s something that has kept me grounded really. I‘ve always liked kata. Sometimes when you get a good fighter in the dojo, you have to force them to do kata, but I loved it. Even when I didn’t really understand it at all, I loved the performance of kata. I loved that attention to detail within the technique itself. I think that helped me in my kumite, because I put the same attention to detail in kumite. Where’s my hip going to be, where’s my foot going to be, that same attention to detail from combination to combination. Then we would just forget about it and just do it. In a really practical sense, when we talk about competition, I liked kata because when you used to go to competition, kata was on first. You’d get out there, do your kata, even if you didn’t win, you got those nerves out of you. You got nice and warmed up. I always did kata and kumite. Now you get people who just do kumite, or just do kata. I you look at the likes of Frank Brennan and his peers, they were always kata and kumite. A lot of them won both. I try to do that with my students now, and luckily I’ve had a lot of success doing kumite and kata, which makes you more rounded.

SA:      What is Sensei Trimble’s favourite Kata and why?

AT:      I can tell you which kata I don’t like! I don’t like Chinte! (Laughing). I had to do it on a course recently, so I had to study it again, it was quite good actually. I was in Norway teaching, doing a course with Richard Amos, and Scott Langley and Tom Conti were there. Richard always does these Asai katas, which were quite interesting. We’ve done them a few times when we’ve gone there and I’ve never remembered them. I’ve got enough with the katas I’ve got to remember. Last time I was there I did practice it quite a bit but I still don’t know if I remembered it, but I did like that. It was very much like a Nijushiho type kata, which are the type I like, very flowing. This other one - I think it is called Henka - has a lot of spinning and turning which I’m not crazy about. But I like that; I suppose I’m drawn to the katas like the Nijushihos, the katas that are flowing. I’m not really a fan of Bassai Dai, and those sorts of katas. I get a lot of people say “I’m surprised you don’t like that sort of kata”, but I don’t, I like that katas that flow.

SA:      Do you still train, privately or under anyone?

AT:      I train on my own now, because it’s very difficult to get somebody to train with. Having said that, I’ve got a friend who does Shito-Ryu, Kenny Johnson, we were training partners years ago; we get together and do a bit. I went to Spain and we spent a week or two training with each other. He does combat training for the Military, so we spent a week doing that. It was great, we had people from the Police and different disciplines there, and it was great because they didn’t have a clue who I was. So they didn’t care. Dave Hazard is now living in Nottingham, so we get together every now and again, more often than not now, now I’ve got my own dojo in Nottingham, we get to train in my dojo quite a lot. The dojo opened in January, it’s something I’ve avoided doing actually for years because I travel around and teach a lot so I thought I didn’t want to be tied down to running a place. It’s a lovely dojo and it’s taking up a lot of my time, and it gives my association a headquarters. It’s very nice; I’ve got a nice traditional feel to the dojo itself. I’ve tried to keep a Japanese feel; we’ve got nice hard mats so it’s nice to train on.

SA:      Who inspires you now?

AT:      Nobody at the moment really. I get more inspired by things outside of karate. You relate everything back to karate, so if I see somebody in another sport with any kind of skill, I try to relate it back to karate.

SA:      If you could change one thing about the world of Karate at the moment what would it be?

AT:      What a question. It would just be all the backbiting. But I think just to change the political structure of karate in England. We’ve been trying the same structure for years and years and it never worked, so why keep repeating it. I’ve heard that in the states they use a system, where nobody tells you what to do. You all come together for squad training, you get picked and that’s it. They don’t get involved in anything else. It works for them. Places like France, and Spain are doing the same, it’s very government controlled, and they do it according to regions. Basically, karate associations are lots of small businesses, and it’s more like the states really. It would be better to follow the model of the states for us rather than the European countries, so that we get together when we need to, we do the regional thing where people get picked, and other than that don’t get involved. I think at the moment, governing bodies want to be like a super- association, and take over the jobs that associations are already doing. I’ll give the KUGB their due, they used to get a lot of sick in the eighties for being very closed, and they wouldn’t get involved in anything. You look at it now, I’ve had fighters who once they get onto all-styles lose their focus and forget where they came from, and I don’t think its right and I don’t think it’s good for them. It’s not good for the FSK, which is my association. At the end of the day, when they finish their competition career, they have nothing, if that was the case; I would have finished twenty odd years ago. The opposite was the case; I actually started karate to be honest with you when I finished competition. I learned more at that time than I ever did. So yeah, it would be the political scene.