The Kaizen Culture Pod

We sit down with special guest Hannah Sullivan to revisit a massive week in Victoria last month for Kaizen Culture and Karate Australia. Going through some of the things that went on during the WKF Teams Squad training camp and a bit of insight to how the team is tracking for Pamplona. We also debrief on the Super Seminar weekend! Have your say to what we discuss on the show! We would love to hear...

Two of Australia’s young guns, Emily Nguyen and Iris Webb, came away with 5th place from the Cadet, Junior & U21 World Championships! Listen in as we discuss not only their amazing runs from the championships but also highlight some of the other performances from team Australia! We also share our takeaways from Venice and some insight from Sensei Robyn Choi who was there watching. Have your sa...

It's time for us to go through each and every Aussie who will be repping the GREEN & GOLD for us all in Venice at the Cadet, Junior & U21 World Championships. The event kicks off next week and we want you all to know exactly who is going, a little bit of insight to the team and maybe some extra bits of advice for the young ones travelling Have your say to what we discuss on the show!...

What better way to highlight some of our great Aussie performances at the recent Series A in Salzburg than with the one and only, Shaun Yuen! Mitch & Nathan welcome Shaun onto the podcast to also share his insight from the event, and some of the interesting nuances about the Series A that people may not realise or think about. Junior Worlds is also coming very close. Shaun and Mitch reminisce...

A couple of Aussies are overseas making their mark on the world stage; Max Noble, Iris Webb, Celia Tran and the ultimate traveller, Shaun Yuen! Salzburg has a new rule change that may go against everything the Series A and Premier League system was so great for. Top 32 are allowed to compete now?! We also have confirmed the sessions for the Super Seminar. Listen in to find out what will be covered...

Australia just had its most successful Olympics this year in Paris! We want our sport to be part of that glory too, but will it ever happen? Listen in on this week’s episode as Mitch, Nathan & Jon (welcome back!) go through the ins and outs of our long crusade of becoming an Olympic sport, how well we presented in Tokyo 2020, and why we potentially blew our chances of making it in the games ag...

This is the first ever episode of our Get To Know series of The Kaizen Culture Pod! We can't think of a more influential and amazing role model of Australian Karate to kick off this series than Michelle (Mish) Wilson. Mitchell sat down and had an insightful chat with Mish at the 2024 National Championships in Geelong. Probably only just scratching the surface with the topics spoken about, but...

What a weekend it was in Geelong! Hard to believe the 50th National Championships has come and gone! Tune it to Mitch and Nathan as they discuss some of the big moments from the weekend and wrap up a successful National Championships put on by Karate Victoria, including the spectacle which was the final day! We have a lot to say about how awesome everyone was about Kaizen Culture’s second National...

The 50th National Championships is here! Jes Bromley joins us, as we have some more exciting things to share about how Kaizen Culture is going to be there. It’s also a good time to share some comp day rituals and interesting quirks about the mayhem of a National event, and generally just get pumped for a big weekend! Have your say to what we discuss on the show! We would love to hear your thoughts...

The biggest Australian event of the year is 2 weeks away - the 2024 Australian National Championships! Nathan, Mitch and Jon share their travel tips, how to prepare and stay ready for a competition while on the road and their thoughts on an ideal pre-comp training session. The boys also discuss Kaizen Culture’s presence at the National Championships and what you can expect from us. Lastly, Nathan...

We have had numerous Aussies take part in international training camps and the Kaizen boys feel there has never been a better time to highlight how significant these camps can be to an athlete's development. Listen in as Mitch, Nathan and Jon go through our Aussie representation overseas this last month. The boys then move the conversation to the other side of the world as they talk about the...

This week's episode is a special release! Since we are Re-Living the Australian Open across our social media this week (@kaizenculture__) we thought it would be a good idea to share some love from the amazing people who came up to the stall and said a few words! Listen in to hear from the community, or better yet, see if you can hear yourself! Have your say to what we discuss on the show! We...

The European Championships has always been a statement event within the karate world. Even more so this year with the impact it had on the qualifications for the Team Event World Championships in Pamplona this year. We go through the unexpected results and some hot topics around certain decisions. Nathan, Jon and Mitch also go into how some rules can cost fights, and how the quality of refereeing...

Ally Lourensz put on a stellar performance at the recent Youth League in A Coruna last week. The Australian team going to the Cadet, Junior & U21 World Championships in Venice, Italy has been announced and we want to highlight some of the young talent. We go through the team, talk about what is to be expected for everyone involved, and Mitch touches on his experience from his Junior World Cham...

4 days of competition done and dusted. The level of excitement was through the roof and there were some big moments that MUST be talked about! Nathan, Mitch and special guest Jordan Harrigan, bring back some first hand insight to what happened with the Oceania Team & Individual events and Australian Open events. We discuss how it all went with the Kaizen Culture stall and packages, and shout o...

All of the hype leading up to this event and it starts this week! The Australian Team event categories will find out if they are going to make the cut for the WKF World Team Championships in Pamplona, Spain at the end of this year. Win, and they book their spot! Lose, and it will remain a dream for another 2 years. How does the team feel, what are some of the potential line ups and what can everyo...

There has been a new initiative introduced to the way things are structured within the Australian Squad. It seems as though the National Team is catering to not only representing the biggest events in the world, but also target development of athletes to get there. But how does this work? Are there enough resources to make sure this flows correctly? Will everyone’s needs be met within the National...

We have had some decent Aussie representation overseas at the highest level in the past month and a half! Mitch, Jon and Nathan go through some of the results and takeaways from the Australian athletes competing across every K1 level in Larnaca, Fujairah and Antalya. We identify some of the harsh realities of competing at this level and what it actually is like on the world stage for Australians....

Mitch competes in the NSW State Championships as a WA boy! It raises the question of should this happen more often? Mitch, Jon and Nathan discuss the idea of athletes crossing over to opposing states and entering in their local events on a regular basis, or better yet… establishing an Australian Karate League where there are multiple Australian Open-like events throughout the year. Could this pres...

A few weeks ago, the Junior & Senior National team training camp happened at the same time, but in different cities! Cadet/Junior & U21 camp was held in Melbourne, while the Senior Team event camp was held in Perth. Mitch, Jon and Nathan chat about the reason behind the split, what are the pros and cons? We touch on how the Senior World Championships are now broken up into two separate eve...

The infamous Paris Open has returned to the Karate 1 circuit for the first time since 2020. Mitch, Nathan and Jon dissect the impact this has on the karate world, including the results and anything new from the event. Athens was the first Series A for the year, how well is the new system working for Karate 1 events? We break down the relatively new K1 system of restricting Top 32 athletes from com...

The first ever episode of The Kaizen Culture Pod. I can't believe we're really doing this! Oh my goodness! Mitch, Nathan and Jon, founders of Kaizen Culture will be having a casual chat discussing the reason behind this whole project, how all three of us came into the world of karate and our unique pathway to this present moment. This episode is longer than what we have in mind for our r...

The Kaizen Culture Pod with Mitchell Durham, Nathan Blockley, and Jon Staynor launches Feb 1st. Stay tuned! Have your say to what we discuss on the show! We would love to hear your thoughts! Send us your ideas/feedback to our email or DM us on socials! kaizenculture.info@gmail.com Better yet... Sign up to our email list to be fully part of the community! https://kaizenculture.org/