Ballarat Kendo Iaido Jodo Club

Ryan at the Demilitarized Zone in South Korea

Ryan began Kendo in Ballarat in the mid 1990′s after training for a few years in Karate.He was inspired by Sensei Katsumi Kuramochi who was the resident instructor in Ballarat at the time and later by Satoru Takada who also trained in Ballarat in the late 90′s for 12 months.

Ryan took a bus from Ballarat to Brisbane in 1999 to compete in the Australian Junior Kendo Championships and took first place. Two years later in Perth, Western Australia he won the Australian Open Kyu Championship and achieved his Shodan along with long time training partner, Tarl O’Mara.

In 2001 Ryan accepted a 12 month scholarship to Hakodate in Hokkaido, Japan where he studied Japanese, business and Kendo at Hakodate University. On his return he gave tremendous support to the Ballarat club with the skill and knowledge he brought back from this intensive training period.

In 2003 Ryan and fellow Ballarat Club member, Tony Pickering represented Australia at the Hong Kong (Regional) Invitational Kendo Tournament and finished in the final eight teams.

Ryan returned to Australia in early 2008 and has been teaching at a local primary school.  He remains passionate about his kendo training and vows to continue to improve himself in all areas of kendo.