DIRK HEENE

Dirk Heene was born in Belgium in 1948. He started karate when he was 17 years old. At that time there were not many karate schools in Belgium, so, Heene begun with kyushinkai style in Brussels.

Heene has been a member of the Belgian national team from 1970 to 1980 and he has competed both at kata and kumite. He has also spent one year in Japan in the 70`s. At those days the Japanese used to show foreigners what true karate is about. Heene was one the few among the Belgian group who lasted to the end of the test.

Dirk Heene graduated with a Physical Education teacherís degree from Ghent university in 1972. After meeting Sensei Kase for the first time he started to visit Paris regularly every week. After several years and courses Heene was one of the most trusted students of Sensei Kase. Heene began to work as an assistant at Kaseís courses and acted as some sort of a scout when Kase was asked to visit new countries. Nowadays Dirk Heene is a famous instructor of his own right in many countries.

Heene came to Finland for the first time in the January 18th 1991 and since that he has visited the country for several times. There has been a double course instructed by Heene every August since 1992. In addition to that Heene has been here also in the springtime for many years now giving one course that is organized by Fudokan (a club from Jyväskylä).