About Colorado Karate Club

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 (now Sensei) Willy Strohmeier 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 Sensei Willy Strohmeier trained (and later taught) for the next decade.

Vintage Photograph from the early 1980’s of Sensei Chiock and some of his Shotokan Karate Dojo pupils.Sensei Luis Chiock on the top right

Early/Mid 1980’s – Sensei Chiock and some of his Shotokan Karate Dojo pupils. Sensei Chiock on the top right.

Sensei Willy Strohmeier represented his country of origin, Peru, in (WUKO and WKF** Sanctioned) international competitions, as part of the Peruvian National Karate Team. Sensei Willy Strohmeier emigrated to the United States in 1991, having won Gold and Silver Medals in the South American and Pan American Championships (Chile and Curazaon 1991).

Having become a US Citizen (1998), Sensei Willy Strohmeier had the honor to be named to the USA National Karate Team in 2008, participating in the Pan-American Championship in Mexico City, and later earning the Silver Medal at the US Open Karate Championship in Las Vegas, NV.

The Strohmeier Brothers, Javier, Jorge, and Willy Strohmeier

Sensei Strohmeier has been teaching children and adults in Peru and the United States for more than twenty years, training beginners and advanced Karate-ka, children as young as three years old, to youth, and adults of all ages.

Sensei Strohmeier is now turning his sights toward the new generation of Karate-ka, seeking to continue, on his students, this long, and outstanding “Tradition of Excellence”

**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)