Soon Pretorius has dedicated 50 years of his life to train and study Shotokan Karate-do as prescribed and supported by the late JKA Chief Instructor Masatoshi Nakayama and illustrated in “Best Karate”. Soon’s career started as student of Sensei Norman Robinson at the tender age of 7 years old and he dedicated much of his life in pursuit of understanding and mastering Shotokan technique. Competitio
n Karate motivated him especially during his 7 years as university student but decided to dedicate his career as student, as teacher and as judge after winning the JKA World Championships in 1998. A highlight recognized by the late Nelson Mandela, former President of South Africa. Soon was the first South African to receive a World Referee License in WKF Kata and Kumite and awarded AAA Judge status in JSKA Shobu Ippon rules. His long journey as adjudicator at WKF and JSKA World events provided unsurmountable experience as practitioner and instructor. It had been Soon’s dream to create a modern tool to empower young practitioners of Karate-do, to encourage young students of the Art of Unarmed Combat and to equip instructors of Shotokan to provide a better product. This project was originally motivated in 2007 when a student suggested compiling all Shotokan Kata on video. It had been his thesis for Dan examination named “Kata is Kumite” that sparked Karate Best Kata. Many years of training, instructing and research initiated Karate Best Kata, a professional recording of all Shotokan Kata based on Best Karate of Masatoshi Nakayama sensei.
