Sensei Dario Chircop started Karate in 1982, at the age of 16 in Malta, with Sensei Jack (‘Ino’) Grech. He was awarded Shodan (1st Black belt) by Shirai Sensei in 1993 ... READ MORE
Sensei Etienne Ceci Bonello started practicing Shotokan Karate at the age of 4 in 1995. He originally started with ITKF and was awarded the Shodan (1st black belt) at the age 8 in 1999, under Sensei Kawasoe (curr...
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Sensei Nicole Chircop started practicing JKA Shotokan Karate at the age of 9 in 2007. She aspired to be like her father (Sensei Dario Chircop) and so she followed his steps and tea... READ MORE
Sensei Massimo Caruana had his first experience within Martial Arts in 1988 when he started practicing Judo and JuJitsu for about nine months. In September 1989, he started trainin... READ MORE
Sensei Etienne Ceci Bonello started practicing Shotokan Karate at the age of 4 in 1995. He originally started with ITKF and was awarded the Shodan (1st black belt) at the age 8 in 1999, under Sensei Kawasoe (currently 8th Dan – Chief Instructor JKA England WF). Etienne later joined MKF (affiliated with WKF) at the age of 16 and was awarded Shodan and Nidan (2nd black belt) in 2006 and 2008 respectively. However, Sensei Etienne wished to go back to his traditional roots, and joined JKA Malta in 2010. He re-took his Dan gradings and currently holds the rank of Godan (5th Dan), awarded in December 2023 by Sensei Yoshinobu Ohta (8th Dan – Chief Instructor JKA England), Shimizu Ryosuke (6th Dan JKA), Sensei Kurihara Kazuaki (6th Dan JKA).
Sensei Etienne has always had an interest in refereeing, coaching and teaching. He currently holds several international JKA recognized qualification licenses - JKA Instructor License C, JKA Judge License C and JKA Examiner License D. He also completed the Foundations in Coaching course at the University of Malta in 2007.
In 2010, he founded Gharghur Karate Club. He was the technical director and instructor of this club for 6 and a half years until 2016, when he passed on the club to Sensei Nicole Chircop and her sister Sensei Liane Chircop – currently named JKA Malta Kita Dojo.
Sensei Etienne was always a keen athlete and competitor. Locally he has competed with the different federations he was a member of and unfailingly he always obtained a podium result in every local competition. He has represented Malta internationally several times at various open competitions, European and World Championships with his best results always coming in the Individual Kata Category.
He has competed at the European Championships 4 times in 2016, 2018, 2019 and 2023. His best results were in 2018 (quarterfinals) and 2023 (semi-finalist – 7th place overall) in the Individual Kata Category.
He also competed at the JKA World Championships in 2016 in Individual Kata and 2024 in Team Kata. In 2016 he placed in the top 32 pool (quarterfinalist) in a category of 120+ participants in the Individual Kata.
Other satisfactory results were mostly in Open Tournaments such as the JKA England Open Championships were he competed 5 times getting amazing results in 2014 (5th Place), 2018 (1st Place), 2021 (3rd Place), 2022 (2nd Place). He also won 1st Place in Individual Kata Category at the 1st JSKE Open Tournament 2024. He also won 2nd place podium at the 7th Topolino Championship in Italy in 1998 in the Individual Kata Category (his first international tournament at a very age).
Sensei Etienne is currently the vice chairman of JKA-Malta.
Others: Etienne is a specialist in Respiratory and General Medicine at Mater Dei Hospital. He also used to practice Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, further increasing and improving his martial arts knowledge.
JKA Malta Kita Dojo – Mosta
Days: Wednesdays & Fridays
Times: 6pm to 7pm
Address: Warrior's Heart Academy, 67, Triq Il-Ballut, Il-Mosta, Malta
Google map: https://goo.gl/maps/mWbiLpwcF3H2
Contact No.: +356 79970528
