Age? For Skipper Ingham, it’s only a number.

At 86 he still pumps iron and teaches karate at the dojo he started in 1970.

He placed second in the World Cup Finals Open Martial Arts Championships in Virginia this month; his competitors were half his age.

“If I feel strong enough to do it I’m going to do it,” he said. “Age isn’t going to keep me back.”

Still, he was a little disappointed as he was grand champion last year.

“Something was off and I didn’t feel right,” he said. “Later I found out I had walking pneumonia.”

He has taught karate to at least 1,000 people since becoming an instructor in 1967. Many of his students have achieved black belt status.

“I’m very proud of how they’ve turned out,” he said. “A lot of them are bankers and professionals and wear suits to work. They aren’t in gangs or in jail.”

He had a rough childhood and spent several of his early years at the Sunshine League Children’s Home.

At 17, he bought a one-way ticket to New York, wanting to see the world.

“It was 1947 and the Korean War was heating up,” he said.

He registered for the US draft, and joined the military in 1950. He never went overseas but got his American citizenship out of the deal.

“From there I went to the US Coast Guard to get my mariners’ documents so I could sail on ships,” he said. “I started shipping out.

“The first port from the US was Yokohama, Japan. That is where I first saw the marital arts. When I saw it I said I’ve got to try that some day.

“What appealed to me was that it was deadly. If I was going to defend myself I wanted things to be over in a couple of seconds. Obviously it works. I’m still alive aren’t I?”

He returned to New York in 1961 and signed up for karate lessons for $20 a month. He practised during his off-hours on the high seas, then took lessons again when he reached port.

After 16 years he left shipping and opened the Midtown Dojo. One of his students was his future wife Kristina.

They’d met at a disco in the Manhattan; he was on the security team and she was a waitress.

Not long after they started dating, Mr Ingham decided he was going home to Bermuda for good.

“She said, ‘Can I go?’” he said. “I said this means marriage. I thought about it for a while then I said, ‘Come on, let’s go’.” They were married in September 1970 and opened a karate school a week later. He calls himself “the godfather” of martial arts in Bermuda because his was the first.

“My first school was on Khyber Pass in Warwick,” he said. “From there I went to Ord Road, and then to Court Street.

“The new government building is in the place where my dojo was. I have been [on King Street] since 1991.”

During lessons he sits with a stick, as is traditional.

“I don’t hurt them, I just give them a little whack to wake them up,” he said. “If someone comes to me and wants to learn my way of life, they have to do exactly what I tell them to do as far as health and how to carry themselves. Some people can go through that and some people can’t. Only about two per cent really pay attention and make something of their lives.

“My school is a lot tougher than the others because I don’t play. I love this island. I want to do the right thing.”

The most important thing he has learnt is to respect people.

“If you don’t have any love in your heart for another human being you won’t make it,” he said.

He and his wife have two children, Shomeiko and Zenji, who now teaches with him. They also have two grandsons aged 5 and six months. “I hope my grandsons will take martial arts,” he said. “I taught my wife and children and they did very well.”

As for a more relaxing life, he’s not interested.

“What is retirement, going six feet under? That’s retirement and I’m not ready to go there,” he said.

• Lifestyle profiles senior citizens in the community every Tuesday. To suggest an outstanding senior contact Jessie Moniz Hardy: 278-0150 or jmhardy@royalgazette.com. Have on hand the senior’s full name, contact details and the reason you are suggesting them.