Karate Legend Davin Pack
Karate Legend Davin Pack
Features and News by Nino Severino
As each week goes by in my lead role of The Hub, I am becoming more and more excited about the incredible volume of elite athletes and coaches I am meeting in our great sporting town and region.
As this journey increases in momentum, I am meeting local professionals who are making a major sporting noise on the world stage, and one of these incredible individuals is Davin Pack, who is an ex World Class Karate fighter and 5th Dan Black belt. Davin is one of those rare sporting personalities who has done it all, competed and won at World level, coached international fighters of his own, and has now become the Manager of the England Team with his fellow ex England team mate Paul Newby.
For those of you who do not know, Ipswich has an incredible track record for producing World class and international karate fighters, I feel it is only fitting to tip my hat to one individual who has played a massive role in this achievement, his name is Leni Austin, who is himself an ex England International fighter. Leni has dedicated his life to karate, and has supported the development of hundreds of karate fighters who have reached elite level, with some emerging to become the best in the world, two of the best athletes Ipswich has ever produced, were coached by Leni from a very young age, they include Davin Pack, the current England Manager, and Milo Hodge. I myself supported Milo as head of his sports science team, and I must say, he is, still to this day, one of the most naturally talented athletes I have ever worked with. The Ipswich karate community has much to thank Leni for, but now it is time for the new breed to lead our fighters and this sport into global recognition, and the extremely exciting aspect of this aspiration, is that the man who can do this, is based in our very own town of Ipswich, Davin Pack!
When you look at his achievements on the karate National, International and Global stage, it is actually jaw dropping! 15 English titles and 7 British, 4 commonwealth golds, 3 European bronze, 6 European silver, 1 European Gold, 1 World bronze, 1 World Gold, surely Davin is one of the most successful athletes Ipswich has ever produced! And for me, this is why he has been chosen by the National karate governing body to lead the National Karate Team.
Davin is now 35 years old, with a wealth of fighting experience at his disposal, to support him in his national managerial role. It was very interesting for me to listen to Davin as he told me his sporting story. He started learning karate at the very tender age of 5 years old, and earned the status of black belt at the incredible age of 11! He won his first junior English title when he was 12 and went on to earn his England International status at 16. At 17 years old, a year under the required age of 18, he was selected to fight for the England Men’s Senior Team in Madrid, along side karate legends such as Wayne Otto, Willie Thomas and Ian Cole, who between them achieved multi European and World Champion titles. Davin is one of the very few England fighters never to lose his place in the England Karate team, and has the scars to prove himself as the ultimate fighting Spartan, breaking his jaw in two places during his first ever international against a French fighter.
After earning his stripes as a World Class fighter, he then started his journey into elite coaching, starting in 2008 when he launched his own karate club at St Albans School in Ipswich. Its safe to say that he started very strongly, developing English Champions, and European medallists, showing early on the potential he had as a technical coach, but also as a motivator and a personality who could create an environment of inspiration. 2010 was his break through year on the International coaching scene, being selected to support the then England Manager Willie Thomas. After this, Davin was then offered a full time England Coach position and has gone on to be part of the coaching team who has produced the first English World Champion for 12 years! In partnership with Paul Newby, ex England international, Davin has had incredible success on the world stage as a coach, earning England 7 European and World medals!
Davin recently made a visit to the Hub, our motivation and vision at the Hub, is to ensure that other top athletes benefit from the sports science support we offer. After Davin’s visit, we hope that the England team he leads with Paul Newby will use Ipswich as a part of their preparations for world class competition.
I’ve said it before, and I will say it again, Ipswich punches well above its weight on a National level, we are producing athletes such as Davin, who commit their lives to ensuring Ipswich is on the sporting map, and I will do all I can as founder of The Hub to ensure that we celebrate their sporting excellence, and support in any way we can.
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