Chris Dolman highlight

Some power-lifting included, and some pro wrestling at the end, unfortunately.

Freelancer wrote:Some power-lifting included, and some pro wrestling at the end, unfortunately.

Dolman was a beast from the Jon Bluming stable. Bluming wanted him to become the successor to Willem Ruska. Dolman accompanied Ruska to Japan at least on one occasion and received some instruction from Okano-sensei. Bluming also trained him in Kyokushinkai karate, and I think that in the end he was promoted to 9th dan Kyokushinkai karate in Bluming's own organization. I remember some of this around 1977. But Bluming in those days was had several problems himself and his relationship with the Dutch Judo federation, then still called BBN wasn't all that great. I think he still visited some of Hirano-sensei's summer camps in Papendal, en he (Bluming) was de start in the Kyokushinkai summer camp. Those were massive things with hundreds of hard training karateka and Bluming a fierce tank who wouldn't move for anything. Dolman was there too as well as other Dutch karate greats such as Jan Kallenbach, Harry Couzijn, Loek Hollander, Henry Seriese, a tough bunch those guys ! Those were the heydays of Dutch Kyokushikai karate, something that has never returned. They also had Otti Roethof as a world champion, and there was another guy like that too.