When 4th Dan black-belt karate instructor, Debi Steven, arrived in Richmond from South Africa ten years ago she was keen to set up Pee-Wee Karate in London. She was shocked how many style based clubs had children of 4 years old training with teenagers and often adults. "When I moved to London I realised that no one was teaching such young children in their own structured classes. Some clubs mix all age groups but I felt young children would find this too hard."

In South Africa, Debi (or to give her the correct and respectful title, Sensei Debi), represented the Springbok "all styles" karate team and competed at both a national and international level. She has trained and competed in South Africa, USA, Japan and England.

She believes now more than ever all children should learn martial arts. We do not live in a perfect society. London is becoming more violent, with a huge increase in teenage violence. She believes that karate teaches children to have confidence, discipline and inner strength and this would help them not to been seen as a easy victim for older aggressive children

Karate for the young
Pee-Wee Karate’s classes are very much aimed at the younger children."‘I am very age specific with my classes because I think under 6's would find it difficult to keep up with older children", says Sensei Debi. "The classes are just half an hour, once a week and my karate children learn in a fun environment structured specifically around them. It is often the child’s first sporting experience so I feel it should be a positive one."

What makes Pee Wee so popular?
Pee-Wee Karate is the first and the longest running business that specialises in teaching children from 3-6 years old. We have nearly 20 years experience.
"I am passionate about what I do and I think this shows! And as the business has successfully grown in London over the last 10 years, I’ve needed to take on more instructors." Sensei Debi now has a 'hand-picked' team of five dedicated instructors – all of whom are fully insured and CRB checked. All instructors of Pee-Wee Karate have trained under Sensei Debi since they were white belts. Havin ts large and committed team is one of the things that make Pee-Wee Karate the right choice for parents!

What happens during a class?
We always start a class with a warm up or stretching, which is an excellent lesson for all sport. We then move onto teaching different techniques like punches, blocks or kicks, in-between this, we play fun games that work on co-ordination, auto motive skills and balance.

Sensei Debi says: "we teach not only the physical side of karate, but also focus on building good co-ordination, balance and automotive skills. The children also learn about etiquette, discipline and respect." Great news for any parent!

Classes don’t stop once a child has turned six. "After this age the children can carry on training at the same venue and with the same karate family. I have many children now that I have been teaching since they were three ,four or five (over 7 years of karate training)  and are now about to grade for their black belts!" Sensei Debi is also hoping to a hold a Pee Wee Karate competition next year and is taking a team of older children to South Africa to compete in the Funakoshi Shotokan Karate World Tournament. At last years Funakoshi Shotokan Karate’s World, which was held in Crawley near Gatwick airport she arranged with the head of Funakoshi Shotokan (9th Dan Japanese Master) to have a division just for all her Pee-Wee Karate Students. Sensei Debi’s Pee-Wee Karate and Funakoshi Shotokan karate won over 50 medals. Out of the 26 countries that attended Sensei Debi entered the most students in the event and was awarded a trophy for  ‘outstanding commitment and dedication.

Karate is a great sport for all children – whether they’re outgoing or lacking in confidence – just try out a class!