Lex Mark Springer is the new gen­er­al sec­re­tary of the Trinidad and To­ba­go Karate Fed­er­a­tion (TTKF) and is the most re­cent T&T na­tion­al to hold this pres­ti­gious po­si­tion. It is the third high­est po­si­tion in the TTKF. The 31-year-old vi­sion­ary, Springer has been in­volved in karate for 28 years and has been un­der the ex­pert guid­ance of his teach­ers/par­ents Lex and Mau­reen Springer. He holds the rank of Nidan (2nd De­gree) Black Belt, a 'B' Class Ref­er­ee, has a clear po­lice cer­tifi­cate of char­ac­ter, CPR/First Aid cer­ti­fied and a grad­u­ate of the Amer­i­can Sport Ed­u­ca­tion Pro­gramme (ASEP) Coach­ing Prin­ci­ples course. He is re­spon­si­ble for in­tro­duc­ing the TTKF Bul­ly proof pro­gramme and the school karate pro­gramme. This di­verse in­di­vid­ual is pur­su­ing his Na­tion­al and Con­ti­nen­tal ref­er­ee li­cence and TTKF Na­tion­al Tech­ni­cal Coach­ing cer­ti­fi­ca­tion. He will al­so be com­pet­ing in the WUKO Caribbean Cup in Sep­tem­ber as part of TTKF Ku­mite (Free Spar­ring) en­try. Cur­rent­ly, Mark is on TTKF Coach­ing Com­mit­tee and is do­ing an ex­cel­lent job with the na­tion­al team. He is al­so the se­nior in­struc­tor for Hoben School of Karate in Mt Lam­bert. For more in­for­ma­tion con­tact Lex Mark Springer at 493-1574 or e-mail trin­bagokarate3@ya­hoo.com.

Top To­ba­go karate club joins Fed­er­a­tion

To­ba­go Mar­tial Arts Acad­e­my (TMAA) has joined the Trinidad and To­ba­go Karate Fed­er­a­tion (TTKF). The club cer­tifi­cate was pre­sent­ed by TTKF gen­er­al sec­re­tary, Mark Springer at the To­ba­go Karate Tour­na­ment on May 19. TTMA is un­der the di­rec­tion of Sen­sei Dan­ny Thomas, 4th Dan in Shotokan karate and holds high de­grees in Tiger Sys­tem karate, kick­box­ing and ju-jit­su. Lo­ca­tions are at Main Road, Sig­nal Hill, Pen­te­costal Light and Life Church, Bish­op High School, and Sig­nal Hill Sec­ondary. For in­for­ma­tion call Sen­sei Roberts at 689-8873 or e-mail him at shoto­jit­su­to­ba­go@gmail.com. Lat­er on in the year TMAA will be host­ing it's first cham­pi­onships.

Springer pro­mot­ed to 'A' Class Ref­er­ee

With a 100 per cent score on the writ­ten test and hav­ing met or sur­passed all tech­ni­cal re­quire­ments, Sen­sei Mark Springer has been el­e­vat­ed to 'A' Class Ref­er­ee by the Trinidad and To­ba­go Karate Fed­er­a­tion Ref­er­ee Coun­cil (TTKF-RC). His tech­ni­cal eval­u­a­tion was con­duct­ed dur­ing the To­ba­go Clas­sic Tour­na­ment at Sig­nal Hill Sec­ondary School last week­end. Sen­sei Springer is now qual­i­fied to par­tic­i­pate in the World Unit­ed Karate Or­gan­i­sa­tion (WUKO) Con­ti­nen­tal Ref­er­ee course/ex­ams. In Au­gust, he will be tak­ing the ref­er­ee course with the Unit­ed States Sports Spe­cial­ty As­so­ci­a­tion (USS­SA) Karate pro­gramme.