Lionel Zeffert started karate in 1998. Lionel served for 33 years in the Army and because of this travelled and trained with many different clubs and instructors. He has been fortunate enough to travel to Japan and train at the JKA HQ in Tokyo and has trained with many notable instructors of different styles, including Sensei Ohta (7th Dan JKA), Sensei Wayne Otto (9 x world champion), Sensei John Gilliland (7th Dan) and Sensei Chris Thompson (9th Dan) to name but a few.
Whilst serving in the Army he became the events manager for both the Army and the Combined services martial arts teams. This introduced him to some incredible instructors from different martial arts including Olympians in WTF Taekwondo, Jujitsu, Kendo and ITF Taekwondo.
It was during his time in the Army that he first met Sensei Chris Thompson. On leaving the Army in 2013 he was invited to join the BTKA. He has been there ever since and not looked back.
Lionel is a keen martial artist who entered many competitions in his younger days, although he had limited success winning some medals, he always thoroughly enjoyed the learning experience and training and competing against great opponents. Lionel now runs his club in Andover Hampshire which he has been running since 2005.