Mark Rijke – 2nd degree

Mark Rijke was initially introduced to Kenpo Karate when as a teenager he was a foreign exchange student in Duarte, California. A martial arts enthusiast since his younger years, when he initially practiced Judo and traditional karate, he found a karate dojo run by Mr. Stevenson in Duarte.  For the duration of his time in the United States he trained with Mr. Stevenson, whom was teaching his karate partially based on the Ed Parker Kenpo Karate system

Upon his return to his native Holland he looked for a school that was teaching Kenpo Karate near to his home city of Rotterdam.  Unsuccessful he attended a number of martial arts classes in different styles but never finding the passion he had for kenpo karate.

Once he started university and moved to Amsterdam in his early twenties his luck changed. A chance encounter in 1996 with a promotional poster  for a kenpo karate , it turned out that there was a kenpo karate school literally around the corner from his apartment in Amsterdam. The school was Kelly’s Kenpo Karate Academy, run by Mr. Willie Kelly and attended by the likes of Daithi Philips, Tony Croke and many others. While the school was in Holland the student base comprised of a real international mix. Besides Dutch students there were many nationalities there, with of course a strong Irish influence.

After being taken on by Mr. Kelly, Mark trained for many years in the club in Amsterdam. As a student with flexible lecture and study hours he had the chance to train multiple times each week and start helping with teaching kids classes –and later adult classes. Additionally he also became the clubs secretary, looking after the administration of the club. Over the years he also had the opportunity to get to know Mr. Kelly and some of the other senior students in the club personally and call them his friends

Mark’s time in the Amsterdam club accumulated in attaining his black belt in 2000 in Las Vegas, USA in front of Mr. Paul Mills, Mr. Kelly and the international board of the AKKI. Together with his training partner Michael Mangal they were proud to represent the Amsterdam club on this occasion

This was also the year that Mark decided to leave Holland and move to Ireland. After making so many Irish friends and visiting Dublin the previous year he decided to give Ireland a shot after leaving university.

In Ireland Mark trained under Mr. Fusciardi for a number of years and attained his second degree black belt while under Mr. Fusciardi’s tutelage in 2002, before Mr. Fusciardi and Mr. Kelly in Amsterdam. Since Mr. Kelly returned to Ireland, Mark has been back training under him  in Mr. Kelly’s club in Aughrim street sports center

Mark currently still lives in Ireland, happily married and father of son Sam.  He has been living in Co Cork for the last 2 years and resides in Mallow. A local kenpo karate school is planned for the near future