More about Simon

Simon Staples has been practising Shotokan Karate since 1981 and holds the rank of 6th Dan. In the course of his Shotokan career, he was privileged to have mentors who guided and inspired him. Also, he had the opportunity to train at the Hoitsugan and Honbu dojos in Japan with the elite of the Shotokan world.

Simon had a successful competitive career, winning kumite and kata events which earned him the title of Grand Champion for several years in succession.

Simon has been teaching Shotokan for over 25 years and named his first dojo “Kihaku” – which means spirit and soul. After retiring from competition, he concentrated on his own training and refined his teaching methods. Some of his students went on to become English and World champions.

However, after a few years, Simon started feeling dissatisfied with his training because the grading syllabus became the training. So he started searching for a more relevant approach to Shotokan other than “making shapes and movements to timing”. As an instructor, this became more and more frustrating for him because it prevented him from developing his own interpretation of Shotokan.

Initially, while on his own, he didn’t run a dojo, choosing to train with a few of his senior students. During this time he forged his way of training and teaching, also mixing these with other combat arts – boxing, wrestling, BJJ and MMA – to see how he fared. He soon started to develop himself in the way he wanted to in the martial arts.

After a couple of years, Simon missed running a dojo. At first, finding a location was difficult because the venue would either be unsuitable or in the wrong area. Eventually, he found the right place, naming his new dojo KDCombat.

Simon always knew he wanted to teach Shotokan in a certain way. Today, he is more honest with his training, “keeping it real” rather than making shapes or adhering to certain criteria for the next grading belt.

When asked how different it is from the past, Simon says:

Funny enough, it has come full circle. When I first started, Karate, in general, was raw – it was real. Then it became a bit more technical until the technical side took over so much that how you looked became more important than how you applied it. For me, I wanted to catch the rawness back again.

Simon has been developing his own teaching method – the KDCombat System – for at least 13 years. It is not a shortcut system, it is based on reality rather than learning from a grading syllabus for promotion up the ranks. It is his breakdown and development of the way he thinks Shotokan should be trained and taught to make it more practical and relevant.

Because of this method, Simon’s students have a greater knowledge and ability to apply the Shotokan techniques and adapt them to any environment and situation, or possibly against a different art. Nowadays, for Simon, teaching is more fulfilling.

Simon decided to share his KDCombat System to put the “soul, spirit and fight” back into Shotokan. This is what he offers anyone who would like to train with him. Regardless of ability, what you would get is training like no other, skills which you can apply in real life.

Simon’s martial arts qualifications and experience range from successful national and international competitions, tournament refereeing and the co-founding and organising of one of the largest European tournaments – the Shobu Ippon Competition – between 2006 and 2010. He also helped produce English and world champions.

Simon continues to self-train, develop his own martial arts and teach in his KDCombat dojo.