Eric Kuehnel

Eric was born in 1962. Inspired by a popular TV series of the day, Eric began his martial arts training at age 10 by enrolling in Judo classes at the local recreation centre. Over a period of 3 years, he attained the rank of orange belt before a knee injury forced him to take time off from his training. He returned to martial arts at age 19 by joining a Kung-Fu club in North Vancouver. He earned a black belt in that style by age 25. He continued his training there as well as helping to lead classes and teach private lessons for another 14 years.

In 2001, Eric moved to Nanaimo with his wife and family. For a few years he stayed fit through weight training, biking, hiking and kayaking. In 2006 he heard about a local Wing-chun club and trained with them for a 3 year span. Soon after this, his interest in internal martial arts led him to take a course on Tai-Chi which he then studied for 2 years. Through a business networking group he was introduced to Shima Karate. After enrolling his youngest son in the program he became interested in the style himself and joined in summer of 2011.

Having trained in Judo (soft style) as well as various hard (Go) style martial arts, Eric felt an immediate affinity toward Goju-ryu. Eric has been awarded the level of Shodan-ho in summer of 2014, and hopes to progress to higher levels in the years to come.