Founder
The Black Belt Institute was founded by Alex Atkinson, a student of David Chong. Alex has competed internationally in both karate tournaments and kick boxing winning many of the events he entered. Alex presently holds an 8th degree black belt.
The Institute
Collectively our institute presently has 15 affiliated locations around Ontario with more being added each year. As an entity, the Black Belt Institute is primarily owned by two individuals, Alex Atkinson and James Bzovey however each affiliate operates as independents under their own name. Therefore the institute is really two entities, the business operated by the two principals and a "club" (BBI Association) which the students and black belts use for the purposes of training, gradings and celebration.
Our Style
Since Alex was taught Kempo Karate under the two cousin Daves (Big Dave Chong - Kung Fu; Little Dave Chong - karate) our style remains as two principal arts - Shotokan Karate and Ng Ying Kune (5 Fist or Animal Forms). While both arts seem divergent to each other, the reason for including karate was that it was easier to learn and as such it was a good stepping stone to the kung fu.
The Black Belt Institute is in turn, affiliated to the Japan Karate Association (JKA) and to the Canadian Karate Kung Fu Association (CKKA)