Leland Vandervort
3rd Dan, JKA
Leland began training in Karate in 1984 at the age of 15 at the Portslade Karate Club (SEKU) with sensei Kevin Hall (then 1st Dan), and at the Brighton Karate Club (SEKU) with sensei Dave Hazard (then 4th Dan, currently 7th Dan), as well as a number of courses organised by SEKU with senseis Mick Dewey (then 5th Dan), Dave Hazard, and Mervin O'Donnel (then 4th Dan). In addition, Leland trained at a number of open KUGB courses with the late sensei Keinosuke Enoeda (9th Dan).
From 1988 to 1994, whilst serving in the United States Air Force, Leland trained with sensei John Elliott (6th Dan SKCM) and sensei Bill Alexander (4th Dan, SKCM). He eventually attained Shodan (1st Dan) in the spring of 1990, Nidan (2nd Dan) in the autumn of 1993, and was awarded Sandan (3rd Dan) with the JKA in November 2011.
After an eight-year break from training from 1995 to 2003, and having returned to the United Kingdom, Leland trained regularly with the Yamakai Karate Club at Cranfield University, Silso (SKKIF) with sensei Stephen Marriott (4th Dan) and Sue Sylvester (4th Dan), and with the Ataru Shotokan Karate Club (JKA-England) with sensei Jamie Thomson (3rd Dan). In 2004, Leland obtained his EKGB (English Karate Governing Body, the national federation at the time) Instructor's certification with the JKA-England, and assisted Jamie Thomson at the Ataru Dojo.
After relocating to France in 2008, Leland has embarked on embracing a larger view of karate-do, by training alongside practitioners of other styles, most notably Shukokai and Goju-Ryu at the Karate Do Club, Limeil Brevannes (Val de Marne) with sensei Said Slimani (5th Dan), and encompassing a wider range of techniques from those styles and their associated kata. He continues, however, to keep his "roots" in Shotokan, and trains with the JKA in France at the JKA Shotokan Paris 11 dojo with sensei Daniel Lautier (7th Dan, JKA). In addition, he began training in Aikido, studying under Christian Tissier (7th Dan, Aikikai) and Bruno Gonzalez (5th Dan, Aikikai) at Cercle Tissier Dojo in Vincennes , though has migrated over to a related discipline called Kinomichi (an art created by master Masamichi Noro, an uchi-deshi of master Ueshiba, the founder of Aikido) at Spirales et Presenses with Bertrand and Valerie Delamotte. Leland also studies Muso Shinden Ryu Iaido at the Shobukan Dojo in Paris with senseis Jean-Pierre Réniez and Emmanuel Laurier (himself a pupil of sensei Réniez) to further expand his martial arts horizons.
Leland is a kata specialist and regularly performs and analyses the 26 (or more, depending on the organisation) Shotokan Kata, as well as few Kata either directly from other styles, or adapted into Shotokan from those styles (for example the katas "hyakuhachiho", "nijuhachiho", "gankaku-sho", and "seinchin"). He also studies organisational differences between the Kata, as well as adaptation of bunkai from other martial arts into the interpretation of the kata techniques.
