Club History
The MIT Shotokan club was founded in 1974 by Sensei Kazumi Tabata. It was the second club of his New England Collegiate Karate Conference – NECKC, a large network of Shotokan clubs across many New Englands colleges. We are an Association of Student Activities Club Sport and have about twenty members, from undergraduates to faculty members. We welcome beginners as well as anyone with experience in other styles.
The MIT club has always benefited from high-ranking and excellent instructors and continues do so at present. (It has also always suffered from MIT students being overworked!). The dedication of our instructors in working with beginners is wonderful. The club is very active: Apart from the regular workouts for beginners and advanced students, MIT hosts seminars, promotions, tournaments, and events with karate clubs from other universities in the area.
Instructors:
Greg Cumings, President of North American Collegiate Karate Conference
4th Degree Black Belt, 40+ years of experience in Shotokan Karate
David Douda, Japan Karate Association
4th Degree Black Belt
Avril Kenney ’11, MEng ’12
2nd Degree Black Belt
2024-now Club Officers:
President (Right):
Saahir Ganti-Agrawal, PhD Candidate
2nd Degree Black Belt
Treasurer (Left):
Nikola Goles, PhD Candidate
Yellow Belt
2021-2022 Club Officers:
President (right):
Pasquale Antonante, PhD Candidate, Course 16
1st Degree Black Belt
Treasurer (Left):
Hao He, PhD Candidate, Course 6
7th Kyu Orange Belt
2020-2021 Club Officers:
President (right):
Qian Xu, PhD Candidate, Course 2
1st Degree Black Belt
Treasurer (left):
Anh Nguyen, PhD Candidate, Course 14
2nd Kyu Brown Belt