August 2026 Newsletter

Our Summer Competition brought together more than 150 members across four separate competition sessions during the final weekend of our regular training year.

For many students, this was their first experience of competing. Taking part required courage, concentration and resilience, and I was extremely proud of how our members performed, supported one another and responded to both success and disappointment.

Competition is not simply about winning a medal. It gives students an opportunity to apply their Kumite and Ne-Waza skills under pressure, build confidence, practise good sportsmanship and receive useful feedback for their future training.

This was also the first time we used our new online competition tracker throughout the event. Previously, competitors were arranged and moved between groups manually on the day. Although that offered flexibility, it could make the competition harder for parents to follow and sometimes created concerns about how groups had been organised.

The new system allowed the majority of competitors to be organised using school year, grade and experience, while giving parents a clearer way to follow each competition session. Overall, the tracker worked extremely well for its first full event, and we have already identified further improvements for future competitions.

The published medal winners and competition results have now been updated. Parents can open the relevant competition time or search across all sessions using their child’s first name, surname initial or displayed competition name.

Thank you to every student who competed, every parent who supported the event and every member of the ZKS instructor and staff team who helped us deliver the competition.

Current members can attend these summer sessions without an additional session fee. Non-members pay the published fee.

The class-move guidance, Progress Review expectations and recommended membership options are included in the Important Update near the top of this newsletter.

Parents should check the Members Area before their child’s first September lesson for confirmed class details and any further updates.

It has been great to welcome Sensei Dylan back to ZKS. He will be helping to deliver selected summer training sessions and will also be returning to lead Sunday sessions during the new academic training year.

In nearly 30 years of running ZKS, one of the things I have always valued is seeing former members and members of staff return to train, teach or support the next generation.

I have always wanted ZKS to be a place where students, instructors and staff can grow in confidence, develop responsibility and continue progressing through different stages of their lives.

Further information about the Sunday sessions will be shared with the members affected.

Please use the dedicated pages for full eligibility, booking and spectator information. The newsletter is only a summary.

I recognise that parents need to be able to find accurate information without searching through previous emails and newsletters or contacting us about questions that should be easy to answer.

We are therefore continuing to build the new ZKS Help Centre. This will bring our key guidance, procedures and answers to frequently asked questions together in one clear and accessible place.

The aim is to make ZKS easier to understand and navigate for members, parents, instructors and staff.