Kym began training at Rob Dobson Karate in Salisbury, SA at 16 years old in 1972 and graded to Shodan in December of 1980. For 13 years he fought in “contact” rules tournaments then in 1986 continued on as a judge and referee and sat on several committees including as member and vice president of the AMAA(2006), Vice president of the SA JJA(1995) and is now President of the IBF Australia, 35years on committees to help build a better martial arts community.

In 1988 while running the karate club he also became a student of the Queanbean RSL Judo Jujitsu club and also did judo for a short time. In 1993 a panel of martial arts peers, linked with his retired Sensei Rob Dobson, graded him to 3^rd Dan in his Jujitsu system. He focused on jujitsu with his new club, St Jays Freestyle Jujitsu, which still applied the principles of Szlagowski karate taught by his Sensei. In 2004 the club moved to Modbury and was renamed Jinen Karate Jitsu in line with the history and lineage of his style, meaning “Natural Empty Hand Method”.

Over the years he has attended many seminars with internationally known instructors such as Bill “Superfoot” Wallace, Larry Hartsell, Francis Fong, Dan Inosanto, Jeane Jacques Machado, Nino Pilla, Jeff Speakman, Jan De Jong and Richard Bustillo.

He continues to promote the IBF and works hard to gain recognition for past pioneers like Wally Szlagowski (1^st Karate school in Aust) which has broadened his network of martial arts friends here and overseas. This is an ongoing study into the history and lineage of his style and martial arts generally. Kym continues the legacy of Wally Szlagowski and Rob Dobson by bringing people together to form a better martial arts community with the help of the IBF.

Having trained continuously now for 47 years he continues to support seminars around Australia. Since joining the IBF in 2007 he has had many successful training days in SA and other states. In 2012, and since then, has hosted the South Australian part of Kevin Walsh’s  “Fight for Life “ fundraisers.

His style’s main principle is to exploit natural actions and reactions to effect techniques. Using the principle of making openings being the most important when standing or on the ground. The biggest character of Jinen Karate Jitsu is conditioning for contact and the use of self-defence scenarios and sets to build reflexes, while still holding onto the fighting principles learnt in the early years of contact karate.