Biography
Darwin Jurado has been the instructor for the Harvard Karate Club for the last 10 years who is also part of the Japan Karate Association – JKA in the USA and Ecuador, ISKF, the Ecuadorian Karate Federation – FEK, Machida Karate and Preciado’s Shotokan. He is a fourth dan black Belt in Shotokan Karate. In addition, he is also a black belt in Judo and has practiced other martial arts like BJJ (Brazilian Jiu Jitsu) and Aikido. He started his journey in Karate-Do in his home country Ecuador almost 33 years ago when he was 11 years old.
Darwin fought for several years for his province Guayas and was selected to be on the National team in 2004. While he was training in 2001, he started coaching in his sensei’s dojo in Guayaquil and this experience taught him the importance of sharing his knowledge to other karatekas. He was promoted to head coach for two different provinces, Chimborazo, and Cañar, from 2006 to 2012 and some of his students won national and international championships, were selected to be part of the Ecuadorian national team. The last province where he coached in Ecuador, Cañar, was placed as a team in the top 5 (of 24 provinces) from 2011 to 2012.
In 2012, he immigrated to Connecticut and started to practice with the JKA-Club of UConn. He won several medals in regional tournaments like the JKA Northeast Championships and also won the Boston Battle 2 consecutive years competing in Kata and Kumite for the Harvard team. He enjoys participating in various karate-do camps with different instructors like Naka Sensei, the Machida family, JD Swanson, etc.
Darwin is interested in the biomechanics and physiology of the human body and how to improve karate techniques using proper training. Therefore, Sports Training and Management is his collegiate educational background with an emphasis on developing and coordinating programs for high athletic performance.
He believes that Karate-Do and its philosophy provides a person with feelings of peace, safety, confidence and helps to develop the values of leadership, resilience, and altruism. He deeply believes that karate do is life-long learning and devotes his time and energy in studying and actively engaging in activities that can evolve his learning.