Banff

147 Banff Avenue, Clock Tower Mall.
Access is from the alley behind McDonalds.
Look for a green door with our logo.

Adults (13+ years)

Monday – 7:00pm – 8:30pm ish
Thursday – 7:00pm – 8:30pm ish

Advanced Kids (8-12 years)

Monday – 6:00pm – 7:00pm
Thursday – 6:00pm – 7:00pm

Family and Beginners (Parents and children 5-7 years old)

Thursday – 5:15 – 6:00pm

• 1998 – Banff Karate opens in the Banff Springs Hotel Fitness Centre (Called Banff Shinseikai Karate). Sempai Taka Saitoh is head instructor, Jeff Hines is one of the first students, having also trained in the same style at a dojo in Whistler
• 1999 – (Fall) Daymon Miller joins Banff Karate.
• Membership in Banff Karate is approximately 8.
• 2000 – (Spring), Sempai Taka returns to Japan for personal reasons, Sempai Jeff (Green belt) assumes head instructor role and teaches all classes.
• 2001 – (January) Sempai Jeff adds a children’s class to the schedule. Karate becomes very popular and many young students join. A second location, The Banff YWCA conference room is added and used for children’s classes.
• 2001 – (Spring) Banff Karate becomes dissatisfied with parent organization of Shinsekai and opts to leave.
• Total membership in Banff Karate is 30+
• 2001 (early summer) – Jeff Hines and Daymon Miller approach Kyokushin Karate via sensei Brad at the Calgary Dojo, seeking to join Kyokushin. Sensei Brad directs us to Sempai Steve Gobby who runs the Cochrane and Water Valley Dojo’s.
• 2001 (August) – Shihan Don Corrigal, Sempai Steve Gobby, Sempai Brad Gillespi and a few students from Calgary trek to Banff to welcome the Banff Dojo into Kyokushin. The inaugural Banff Kyokushin Karate (BKK) practice is held in the Banff Springs Hotel dojo in the fitness centre.
• Sempai Steve Gobby becomes the head instructor for the Banff Kyokushin Karate Dojo, teaching all classes
• 2001 (December) BKK moves all practices to the YWCA
• 2002 – BKK moves all practices to the Elementary School
• Membership is 50+ students
• 2004 Jeff Hines earns rank of Shodan, and becomes the first black belt from BKK
• 2004 (winter) – BKK opens a second dojo in Canmore in order to expand Kyokushin. Tyler Pecsi (6 yrs old) and mother Julie Pecsi become members. The dojo is short lived and closes after one month. Julie and Tyler continue to train at the Banff dojo.
• 2005 First Foothills Tournament held in Banff and co-hosted with Calgary and Bearspaw dojos, with the intent of rotating the tournament location yearly. The Foothills tournament would evolve into the Calgary Cup.
• 2006 – Julie Pecsi takes on role of club administrator
• 2007 (September) – BKK opens its own Dojo and studio space after countless volunteer hours demolishing and renovating a basement section of the Clocktower Mall. Access is from the Alley. Adult practice is held at the dojo. Children’s classes are held at the Banff Elementary School
• 2007 – Due to popularity and demand, a junior class (5-7 yrs old) is added to the training schedule
• 2009 (Summer) – Daymon Miller earns Shodan. Assumes role of Head Instructor
• Julie Pecsi becomes senior student and assistant instructor
• 2010 (Fall) All classes moved to the dojo

Daymon has been involved in martial arts since his early years. Beginning in Calgary in 1980 he started studying at Hiro’s Judo Club – his career continued on through university where he participated in various regional and national tournaments as a member of the Alberta Provincial Judo Team. Later, his interest in Judo brought him to Japan where he continued his training, eventually earning the rank of nidan. During this time Daymon also began studying Kendo under the tutelage of Komaru Sensei, a godan from Asahikawa, Hokkaido.

Next he moved to Iwate, a rural area of Japan, where he continued with Kendo and eventually earned the rank of Shodan. While there, he participated in a regional tournament as a member of the first ever foreigners team. It was in Iwate that Daymon was introduced to Yushukaikan Karate, a full contact style taught by a local Sensei and Chinese Medical Doctor, which he practiced for two years before returning to Canada.
Upon returning to Canada Daymon joined the young Banff Karate Club, which after a short time became part of the International Karate Organization Kyokushinkaikan – Canada (IKOK-C). Since then he has attended numerous summer and winter camps under the tutelage of Shihan Stuart Corrigal and fought in many regional and international tournaments. Daymon became the head instructor and dojo operator for Banff in 2009 and Julie Pecsi, his wife, is the assistant instructor and club administrator.

One of his fondest memories to date occurred in Mitsumine (Summer training camp location in Japan), with Sempai Jeff and Sempai Leo (Invermere Dojo). During free time from summer camp training, they set out on a run through the very same mountains where Mas Oyama once secluded himself for self-training.

Daymon is currently working towards his nidan (second degree black belt) and hopes to challenge the grading in the year 2013. Daymon is the head instructor of the dojo and teaches the Advanced Kids and Adults classes while assisting Julie Pecsi with the Family Beginner class from time to time.

Outside of Karate Daymon is General Manager for Discover Banff Tours a full service travel company in Banff. They provide sightseeing tours, soft adventure activities and are a reservation and activity-booking centre for accommodations and all other activities found within the Bow Valley/Mountain Parks area. Daymon keeps himself busy outside of work and karate with boxing, jujitsu, mountain biking, snowboarding and spending quality time with his wife Julie (assistant instructor), son Tyler (3rdKyu) and daughter Kendra (dancer) in the great outdoors as often as possible.