Sensei Kurt Nordli, B.A., MCSE, 5th Degree Godan
Sensei Kurt Nordli was born in New Zealand in 1962. He came to Canada in 1969 with his parents, and graduated from Ballenas High School in 1980.
He became very interested in Karate and joined Sensei Rick Marshall’s Shima Karate School in Parksville. At about half way through his training for Shodan he applied to the Armed Forces for Officer Training and after an intense four-day competition with over 400 applicants in New Brunswick he was one of the 30 that was accepted to become an officer in the Military.
At this point he decided that his heart was with the Martial Arts and decided to turn down the Armed Forces and to make the teaching of Karate his life’s career.
During the late 80’s Sensei Nordli competed in many of the open tournaments, capturing numerous 1st place finishes in Kata, Kobudo and Kumite as well as several Grand Championships.
Shima Karate School joined the IKGA Canada in 2009 and started receiving instruction from Shihan Donna Gardecki and Shihan John Priegert in IKGA Goju Ryu. This style of Goju comes directly from Saiko Shihan Goshi Yamaguchi the son of the Founder Gogen Yamaguchi.
Sensei Nordli’s goal is to maintain and pass down the highest possible standards of Goju Ryu Karate-Do in his dojo, and at the same time continues aspiring to higher degrees of proficiency for himself in the Martial Arts and life in general while giving back to the karate community that has given so much to him.
Some of Sensei Nordli’s other accomplishments are:
• Shodan in March of 1988, Nidan in Sept of 1990, Sandan in Sept of 1994
• In Sept 1988 Kurt became the first of Sensei Marshall’s black belts to open another successful karate school. Shima #2 in Nanaimo was opened.
• 1990 Level II National Coaching Certification.
• 1991 he achieved his Bachelor of Arts in "Polemicology" or “Martial Science”
• In 1992 Dr. Richard Marshall appointed Sensei Nordli the “Western Canadian Tournament Director”.
• In March of 2000 he was awarded his Yondan (4th Degree) in Karate.
• Also in March of 2000 he became one of only two people in Western Canada to be awarded his Yondan (4th Degree) in Kobudo.
• Sensei Nordli developed the Canadian Butoku-kai Kobudo (Weapons) program.
• In 2002 Sensei Nordli attained his Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer’s degree in computer technology.
• In 2008 Shima Karate School joined Karate BC
• In 2009 Sensei Nordli became Vice President of Vancouver Island Karate Society.
• In 2009 Karate BC appointed Sensei Nordli - British Columbia Tournament Director and moved all tournaments to the SportData System
• In 2012 Sensei Nordli became Vice President of Karate BC
• In 2013 Sensei Nordli became Tournament Director for Karate Canada and became the Canadian expert in SportData Tournament Software
• In 2015 he became the Tournament Director for the Pan American Championships held in Toronto
• In 2017 Sensei Nordli was tournament director for the IKGA Global Championships which is our styles World Championships and is only held every 4 years
• In 2017 he received his Yondan in IKGA Goju-Ryu directly from Saiko Shihan Goshi Yamaguchi
• In February 2018 Sensei Nordli received the "Sports Administrator Award" from the city of Nanaimo's Sports Achievement Awards
• In March 2018 he Sensei Nordli became a Provincial Referee and officiated at the 2018 BC Winter Games
• In December 2019 he was made Team Manager for the Canadian Team planning to go to the 2021 IKGA World Championships
• In January 2020 he was Nominated for and was awarded Karate BC's President's Award
• In December 2022 he was awarded his Godan or 5th degree black belt by Saiko Shihan Goshi Yamaguchi
• In December 2022 by request of Karate BC he became the Chair of the Karate BC Tournament Committee
• In Jan 2023 he joined the Karate Canada Organizing committee for the first ever WKF Series A tournament to be held in Richmond BC