Women In Sport With Katie Catherall

With karate set to make its Olympic Games debut in Tokyo with both men and women competing in Kata and Kumite events, athletes will finally have the chance to showcase their incredible skill in a sport that traces back thousands of years.

Georgie Holden has been training in Shukokai Karate for more than 13 years, based at Tenei-Na Karate Club in Dukinfield.

Priding themselves on being family orientated and traditional with highly experienced instructors, Tenei-Na offered an unmissable opportunity for Georgie to train with her stepdaughter and three children over the years.

Shukokai loosely translates as ‘way for all’ which Georgie believes is so ‘endearing’ about the sport, saying: “It unites all people, families, cultures, age groups and communities together.”

She has always been fascinated with martial arts, training in judo as a child before transitioning to karate as an adult to return to fitness.

Taking a break away from training after the birth of her second child, Georgie was ready to quit and it wasn’t until her friend convinced her to accompany her to a new club that her mindset shifted.

“I was apprehensive at first about being unfit after having a baby and being around loads of young, fit people, but I soon found there were many different people who trained and other mothers who attended which put my mind at ease,” she said.

Managing to recover her love for the sport, she found it just as difficult to return after her third child, but had her mind was set on ‘getting to black belt’.

“I found that by midway through brown belt I wasn’t in such a rush to get to black belt anymore,” Georgie said.

“I was enjoying the journey and discovering all sorts of books about Japanese and Chinese martial arts. They teach philosophies that can be applied to both training and life in general.”

Continuing her life with karate has brought some remarkable achievements for Georgie, who reached her black belt in 2014 before continuing onto third dan in 2019.

Following this, she was awarded first place in Kumite 2018 at the EKO Karate competition and is the current 2020 Kata EKO Champion.

“I never thought I would have the courage to enter a competition, but I found it to be important for facing and managing fear,' she added.

“I learned a great deal from competing and watching other competitors from different styles, sometimes just turning up is an achievement in itself.”

Georgie has now been able to take her experiences and help to build the next generation of athletes by becoming an assistant instructor at her club helping others to ‘learn the art of karate’.

Karate has also led her to take up running to build her stamina as well as yoga for flexibility, balance and strength.

She took part in a virtual challenge run before Christmas and hopes to do more this year.

“I like to give myself goals within the sports I do as a way to keep enthusiastic or else it can be easy to lose motivation,” she said.

Motivation decrease has been something many have struggled with during the continuous Covid restrictions. Georgie has decided to combat this by posting regular content on her Instagram page.

“I thought it would be fun to post a karate stance every day with a brief description about it on my Instagram account, @martialarts.mum,” she said.

“It has kept me engaged with training every day and hopefully I can encourage other people to do the same.

“We have to adapt in these uncertain times and use this as an opportunity to find new ways to train alone and at home.”

Working as a medical legal secretary and embracing her passion as a semi-professional artist, Georgie is always kept busy but finds time to focus on the things she enjoys.

“During lockdown I have been painting the stages of a Moroccan scene every day and posting on my Facebook and Instagram page @designforge.art,” Georgie added.

“For a mum in her late 30s, I am pleased with the progress I have made and the goals I have set out to do. I’m so grateful to my instructor who was patient and supportive. There have been times when I have struggled and had setbacks, but I just kept going through the bad days. I really hope that my experiences can inspire other mums to try a new sport!”