Born in Lamia, Greece 1960, Shihan George Kolovos immigrated to Australia in 1970 with his parents and brother, Chris. He commenced training in the Kyokushin discipline of Karate in the March of 1975. Shihan trained six days a week at the then head quarters of Kyokushin Karate, which was on Albert Street in Brunswick. He swiftly progressed thought the ranks, eventuating in him obtaining his black belt in just two and a half years, on November the 8th!
At the brown belt level he was teaching in Monee Ponds which later became the Essendon Dojo. At the age of seventeen he began competing in the highest level of Kyokushin Karate, remarkably placing in the top four at the strongest and biggest event then that the Australian Kyokushin offered, in Sports Karate K.I.A, A.K.F and N.A.S. Renowned then for his unique kicking ability, his right roundhouse kick in conjunction with a back spinning kick remained his own signature weapon and secret to success. He has competed in Judo style and was part of the formulation of Kick Boxing in Australia, fighting for promoters including Bob Jones and Les Anios at the Melbourne Town Hall, as part of the team Kick Boxing Bee Jays vs. the All Stars kick boxing event.
Unfortunately, everything came to an abrupt end when an accident rendered his right shoulder extensively damaged, concluding his fighting career at the age of 23. In a twist of fate, the end of his fighting career blossomed the beginning of a total focus on students in the dojo. In years following, new dojos began to flourish, at one point a total of twelve in Victoria. Now the focus has shifted to become more on the quality of the dojos. The Headquarters, located in the city of Melbourne, is the heart and soul of the organisation with dojo’s branched across Victoria and overseas; New Zealand’s Peter Lowl in New Plymouth, Greece’s Vasilios Katroulis in Lamia and Athens, Italy’s Marco Burmti in Veneto, and Thailand’s Judd Reid to name a few, with many more instructors hailing from all over the globe looking at Shihan for guidance and the true spirit of Kyokushin.
Shihan now enjoys the most successful organisation in Australia; it gives him and his students the ability to travel, train and compete with so many people in various different countries. He is Victoria’s premier promoter, having already promoted fights for Brute Force Muay Thai, Australian and Victorian Karate Championships, Fight Club promotions, Amateur fight nights, World Ring Karate Australia and Karate ring fights. He is the secretary general of the International Affairs of the World Kumite Organisation which organises a world tournament with over fifty countries competing in Thailand every year.
Shihan holds a Victorian boxing and kick boxing referees license, a 5th dan Kyokushin karate black belt, is an honorary 5th dan in Yoshinkai Karate and an honorary 5th dan for the South East Asia International School of Martial Arts, Thailand. Academically, Shihan has obtained a diploma of education from the ministry of education in Thailand, a certificate IV in sports coaching, National Accreditation certificate of teaching from Ministry of Sport in Victoria as well as a certificate IV in assessment. He also operates pad holding courses for personal trainers, qualifying them to hold pads, giving them four CEC points for Fitness Australia, a nationally recognised program. In effect, Shihan is a trainer for the trainers.
Shihan George Kolovos is one to the industries most influential and leading martial artists, and as his passion and dedication for martial arts continues to grow and develop you will see it become manifested into changes that will impact the entire industry. With the city dojo having been renovated into a state of the art training facility, now offering sport coaching courses, traineeships, school-based apprenticeships (which are all Australia study approved), first aid courses, security and crowd control courses, fitness instruction certificate III, personal training certificate IV courses and now, the ability to issue visa’s into Australia to study martial arts from anywhere around the world it is entirely beyond reasonable doubt that, with dues paid to his passion and perseverance, Shihan George Kolovos has come a long way from the modest Brunswick dojo.
Those fortunate enough to train with Shihan will only rave about the excitement associated with training alongside a man who demands hard training in the true Kyokushin spirit.
