The Lilleshall National Sports Centre in Newport, Shropshire is one of the UK’s premier venues, a centre of excellence used by the countries’ elite sporting groups. The venue has hosted the English Shotokan Academy’s annual residential course since 2000, along with two international courses for the Shotokan Ryu Kase Ha. 2020 was a difficult year for everyone within the Karate world and the ESA residential was, like many other things, unable to run. However, 2021 sees the ESA celebrate 30 years and as such it was important to both run the course and to mark the milestone.