Wado Ryu Karate has existed in Jersey since c.1993 when Sensei Liam Ahearne (5th Dan) had been asked out of retirement by many former students and their families and asked to set up his own club.
Liam famously said “If you find me a venue then I will teach”.
Not unlike the famous Kevin Costner movie Field of Dreams “Build it and they will come” !
But Liam was not alone. He had his son Steven (1st Kyu at the time) to assist.
The Ahearne family is a formidable one !
It was within the first year that Liam approached a former student, Ryan Lambotte, and asked him to pop up and train.
Ryan was 17 at the time and had trained with Liam at Ken Yu Kai and had held a Black Belt for 5 years by then.
Ryan was a keen athlete and had represented his Island on a number of occasions across several disciplines.
Initially Ryan wanted to just go in the line and train but Liam had other ideas and on his first night Liam casually asked Ryan to warm them up and show the class a few things and Ryan soon realised his old teacher had used his Jedi mind tricks on him again!
We are fortunate to have a long and successful history in Martial Arts and the three primary Instructors, Ryan Lambotte, Steve Ahearne and Martin Rutter have c.120 years of combined knowledge and experience between them, despite their youthful good looks!