Honour for local karate shihan Dave
His contribution has been immense, to say the least.
IN 1965 Dave Millar started his karate career with Kempo in Johannesburg.
Five years later, when his family moved to Natal (now KwaZulu-Natal), he wanted to share his knowledge of karate with others and started the first ever karate school on the South Coast.
By 1974 Dave visited Japan as a member of the South African team. There he trained and lived with Master Gogen Yamaguchi (then 10th Dan). Two years later he was graded to Shodan.
Back in South Africa and training under Sensei Ray Ryan, he continued his pursuit of the art and became involved in refereeing. About 10 years later he qualified as national referee and judge. He had reached Sandan by then.
One of the highlights of his career was when he trained started training under Sensei Tommy Morris in 1992, who graded him to Yondan. Sensei Tommy Morris trained directly under Sensei Tani of Kobe, Japan.
For five consecutive years starting 1992, Shihan Dave was invited to Scotland to take part in the annual KOI (Kobe Osaka International) gusshuku and World Championships.
By the turn of the century, Shihan Dave qualified as a WKF judge and conducted referee courses across South Africa.
By then he had refereed at several Zone 6 tournaments, the Kobe Osaka World Championships in Scotland where 12 countries took part.
He was appointed Chief Referee of South Africa, representing his country at a two-part series, Tri-Nations Tournament in Auckland and Wellington, New Zealand.
Finally in the year 2000, while still competing and taking gold as the SA Shukokai Masters Champs, he qualified as UFAK (All Africa) kata judge and A-class referee.
Shihan Dave has served on both national and provincial karate association committees since then.
In 2007, he was graded to 7th Dan by Soke Takeshi Masuyama in Japan, and till this very day, after 50 years in karate, he still teaches the art in his self-built dojo in Margate.
He will be honoured at the Ruyshin Kan International Championship held in Bloemfontein.
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