Bristol Karate Academy

A huge congratulations to the four Academy members who passed their black belt today!

We’re delighted to announce that Olive Davies, Scarlett Jones, Luke Mashford and Cameron Mitchell all passed their shodan exams on Sunday 7^th December, under a grading panel led by Alan Campbell Sensei, 8^th Dan JKS and Head of JKS England.

Olive Davies has fast tracked herself to black belt through hard work and determination. With her first lesson being in February 2022, she’s in the top ten of members who train the most, having trained over 150 times in the last year alone. This has certainly shown in her impressive rate of improvement, which has seen her pick up EKF (English all-styles), BKF (British all-styles) and JKS England medals in 2025, in her maiden year on the JKS England squad.

Finishing the year as a black belt is the icing on the cake and we hope it gives Olive the motivation to keep up her efforts to see what heights she can truly reach in the years ahead.

Scarlett Jones’ passion to improve has led her to train hard regularly at our Nailsea, Backwell and Long Ashton dojos since starting in 2021. She is a ferocious karateka, which has led her to success at both gradings and competitions, picking up medals over the last couple of years at the JKS England Nationals, Welsh Open, JKS Development Series, Murayama Cup, UK International Open and Central England Open.

It’s fantastic to have such strong female teenage role models in both Olive and Scarlett for other aspiring girls and women. We hope they both continue to light the way for others to follow.

Luke Mashford has had an impressive year. In January he was selected for the JKS England national squad, opening up the door to high level competitions such as the BKF International Open, where he picked up gold in Under 12s Pairs Kata and was also part of the winning Under 12s kumite team. Just last month he also picked up five medals at the JKS England Nationals, including being part of the winning Under 11s kata and kumite teams and also becoming Under 11s kyu Grade kata champion.

Luke now ends the year having been selected for the JKS World Shoto Cup in Brazil and with a black belt around his waist.

Cameron Mitchell has been working hard to reach his black belt since first walking into the dojo in 2017. As someone with more physical barriers to overcome than most it’s been a pleasure to see his spirit and determination shine through as he’s grown in age and confidence. Cameron entered his competition last year, winning silver in the inclusive kata at the JKS England Nationals and has followed that up this year with a silver in Para Kata at the Central England Championships and a gold in Inclusive Kata at the JKS England Development Series event.

We’re delighted for Cameron that he’s been able to reach his goal of becoming a shotokan karate black belt and look forward to seeing him continue to progress in the art in the future.

A massive well done to our newest black belts! A wonderful example of hard work paying off and a fantastic way to end the year.

We look forward to working with more of you in 2026 to reach your own goals, including our next cohort of 1^st Kyus – our next candidates to attempt their black belt exam!

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