About Colorado Karate Club

Colorado Karate Club was founded in 2005 by Sensei Willy Strohmeier to continue a long tradition of excellence in the Shotokan style of Karate-Do.

This tradition began in the 1960's when Sensei Kenji Kimura is sent by the Japan Karate-do Association (JKA) to the country of Peru to expand the practice of Karate-do.

Sensei Kenji Kimura

Being an envoy paid by the Japanese Association, Sensei Kimura taught free of charge, but the training was intense, on a concrete patio in the heat of Summer. Sensei Luis Chiock Wong, a peruvian citizen of Chinese descent, was one of the nearly 100 students that signed up. By the second class, he was one of only a handful of students who came back for more (and stuck through the grueling training that was imparted at the time).


Sensei Chiock second from the left, and Sensei Kimura, third from the left. Training at the National Engineering University in Lima.

Sensei Chiock went on to integrated the Peruvian National team multiple times in the 1970's, and was a pioneer of Shotokan Karate, being one of the first Peruvian instructors of the art. He began teaching Karate first at the National University of Engineering in Lima (Universidad Nacional de Ingenieria - UNI), and later opening several Dojos in the Peruvian Capital, Lima.


Sensei Luis Chiock (first from the right) and the 1973 Peruvian National Team at the Pan-American Championships in Brazil.


Sensei Luis Chiock (first on the bottom left) with the 1975 Peruvian National Team for the second Pan-American Championship held in Lima, Peru.

In 1979 the Strohmeier brothers had the good fortune to live only a couple of blocks from Sensei Chiock, who began teaching Karate at the local Church Reception hall. "We remember as young children (Sensei Willy was only 6 years old), training at the hall, and picking the rice from our feet left from the weddings the day before." A few months later Sensei Chiock opened his headquarters and permanent Dojo named simply "Shotokan Karate Dojo" where the Strohmeier brothers trained (and later taught) for the next decade.



Early/Mid 1980's - Sensei Chiock and some of his Shotokan Karate Dojo pupils.Sensei Chiock on the top right, and Sensei Javier Strohmeier (about 15 years old) second from the top left.

The Strohmeier brothers have represented their country of origin, Peru, in multiple (WUKO and WKF** Sanctioned) international competitions, in a trajectory of over 25 years as members of the Peruvian National Team. Sensei Willy Strohmeier emigrated to the United States in 1991 after representing Peru and winning Gold and Silver Medals in the South American and Pan American Championships (Chile and Curazaon 1991). In 2005 Sensei Javier and Jorge Strohmeier (after innumerable achievements around the world for the glory of their Peruvian Karate Team) received the greatest honor that a Peruvian athlete can achieve, the Sports Laurel (Laureles Deportivos). Which are given by the Peruvian Government to exceptional athletes by the Country's sitting President, at the Presidential Palace.


Senseis Jorge and Javier Strohmeier (bottom left) with the Peruvian Karate Team along with then, Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori (second from the top left)- Mid 1990's

The elder Strohmeier brothers emigrated to the United States of America before the turn of the century, and have been training and instructing a new generation of Karate-ka.
Having become a US Citizen (1998), Sensei Willy Strohmeier had the honor to be named to the US National Karate Team in 2008, participating in the Pan-American Championship in Mexico City, and later earning the Silver Medal at the US Open Championship in Las Vegas, NV.

 

 

  The Strohmeier brothers have been teaching children and adults in Peru and the United States for more than twenty years, training beginners and advanced Karate-ka. They are also bi-lingual,  thus, students may be taught in English and/or Spanish  as needed.

The Strohmeier brothers have now turned their sight to a new generation of Karate-ka, seeking to continue, in their students, their long, and outstanding "Tradition of Excellence"

Visit to Lima in August 2000. From left to right, Senseis Willy Strohmeier, Javier Strohmeier, Luis Chiock, Jorge Strohmeier, Julio Egoavil (from the same generation as the Strohmeier brothers, pupil of Sensei Chiock, and now teaching in Chicago, IL).

**WKF: The World Karate Federation is the International Federation recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC)
*** USANKF: The USA National Karate Federation is the National Karate Organization recognized by the US Olympic committee (USOC)