Raj Soren (started 1984)

My family and I had faced regular racial abuse while growing up in North Wales and Liverpool in the early 70s. Ever since then I had been keen to take up martial arts as a self-defence. I remember watching the Kung Fu TV series with David Carradine, Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris, Jackie Chan movies as well as Hong Kong Phooey cartoons. My parents wanted me to focus on my studies so I waited until university before looking for a martial art club.

In 1984 I was looking to join Karate or Kung Fu club at Freshers fair at Manchester Polytechnic (Manchester Metropolitan University). However, before I could sign up for these other martial arts I met a very enthusiastic George Nicola, a dark blue belt at the time, who talked about how effective and versatile Jiu Jitsu was and he talked me into joining. Ever since my first session with sensei Jeff Thompson a first dan I was hooked on Jiu Jitsu. Jeff Thompson was a direct student of Shihan Brian Graham who brought our style to the UK. The organisation was called the National Samurai Jiu Jitsu Association (NSJJA) at the time and we had around 10 clubs in the UK. Gradings only took place once a year with Shihan Graham and Sensei Peter Farrar. I was impressed by how you could take control someone with a simple but effective technique like a wrist lock or arm clock and then take them to the ground with a throw.

A year later George Nicola took over the club as a brown belt when Sensei Jeff went to study at another university for a post graduate degree. George was excellent at both judo and Jiu Jitsu and with his help I quickly got the hang of randori and groundwork. I went on to win numerous golds for several years in my weight category. I also went on to win gold in atemis in my early years. I trained three times a week and remember cycling 12 miles round trip to get to one of the weekly session in Didsbury. The club also became the national champions during my time there.

In 1988, I gained my brown belt and started a new club at Manchester University at the Armitage sports centre with the help of Sensei George Nicola who later left to pursue his career. One of my fellow brown belts, Steve Allison, took over from George at the Polytechnic. I was also joined by Lee Baker, who was a talented young brown belt and we taught together for a few years. We had students including Richard Goulding and Gareth Horgan in our club at the time (both Tertiary Board members now). As a brown belt I became the NW regional chair and in 1990 I set up Salford University Jiu Jitsu club and later helped set up the YMCA club in Manchester. In 1991 I gained my black belt and moved to Sheffield for a new job. I continued to travelled to Nottingham University club to help teach there and later become the club instructor for several years. While in the East Midlands I also a taught at Nottingham Trent University and Loughborough University and I was also the regional chair. I passed the Nottingham clubs over to Gary Grimsby and Ian Goodfellow.

In 2001 I moved to Bradford with 3 children all under 6 years old. In 2002 I set up Baildon Jiu Jitsu club which became very successful and grew from 1 club to a point where we had 10 venues in schools and community centres under the Bradford Jiu Jitsu club banner. We had 10 sessions a week which included 4 after school clubs and we grew to 150 students. I couldn’t have done this without the support of the following instructors Gavin Naughton, Rob and Emma Ashcroft, Rachel Smith, Graham Williams, Will Meehan , Jon Edward, Rebecca Flynn, Nick Francisco, Sean Higgins. A number of these no longer teach or train due to work or family commitments. The Bradford club went on to win over 15 junior randori and atemi shields, as well as a number of international competitions. At the Bradford club I successfully taught over 20 juniors and seniors to become brown belts and dans including Suraj, Chandni and Lukhi Soren, who I am very proud of. Other students include, Lewis day, Danel Netherwood ,Haris Sultan, Ayhsah Ahmed, Aaron Fiaz, Tom Deacon, Tom Claridge, Zayn and Hassan Ahmed, Abass Jhangir, Alexander Zakowski, Amy Spence many more.

In 2018 I set up Meanwood Town club in Leeds with Rebecca Flynn and now it’s a thriving club under Rebecca. During that time, I would teach 2 classes Monday to Thursday and 5 classes from Friday to Sunday all at different venues. This was on top of my full time career as a sale manager and father. I was also the regional chair of the Yorkshire region for a year and I ran national blue belt courses. In 2003 Shihan Brian Graham passed on the running of junior Jiu Jitsu to me which was an honour. For 17 years I was the director of junior Jiu Jitsu with the support of many instructors such as David Walker, Ady Tredwell ,Nigel and Nicola Price, Tony Gill, Colin Mortimore, John Hanrahan, Adam MacQueen, Rob and Emma Ashcroft, Martin Shaw, Jyoti Soren, Natalie Lockyer, Charlie Miranda, John Harquail, Will Meehan and many more. A massive thank you to all junior instructors for the marvellous job they do. We managed to grow numbers of junior jitsuka from 125 to over 600 juniors at its peak.

I have also been an active member of the promotions board for 15 years the tertiary board for 8 years as well as coaching and teaching at international Jiu Jitsu events. Over the last 12 years I have continued my journey in martial arts and gained my second dan in Aikido and I also teach an aikido club. I have also started learning Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and HEMA – Historical European Martial arts, which I also compete in.

In the last few years I have published books on Coping with Stress, Confidence building and a Children’s anti-bullying martial art book which I co-wrote with my wife Jyoti. Since being made redundant in November 2022 my teaching skills have enabled me to I set up a training and coaching company working with organisations improve performance and well-being. I have still managed to do all this on top of my Jiu Jitsu and aikido commitments. It’s amazing what you can fit into a week if you have the passion, drive and commitment to pursue the things that are important to you in life.

Some of the many proud moments include seeing my children grow in confidence and gain their black belts, helping numerous clubs win at national competitions, being junior TJJF director, being actively involved with the promotions board, gaining each of my dan grades and joining the Tertiary board and most recently my Rokudan promotion.

My future goals include a desire to become the first non-white chairperson of the Tertiary Board in order to champion diversity and equality, older and junior Jiu Jitsu. To champion well-being and mental health, as well accelerate the growth of Jiu Jitsu through more town and international clubs, social media, children’s martial art self-help books and celebrity advocacy. I plan to continue share my love for teaching and training Jiu Jitsu and other martial arts while I still have my physical capability. I encourage you to join me in this exciting journey and help us to open up more clubs in the next chapter of TJJF.