Norma Foster was born in Edinburgh, October 17, 1952. As a child she was a competitive swimmer with Warrender Baths Club in Edinburgh, and also represented Sciennes Primary School, Edinburgh in local netball and swimming competitions. During high school she played field hockey for Boroughmuir and participated in athletics, orienteering and several other sports.
Karate Competition and Dan history At the age of 15, she moved to Aberdeen Scotland, where she started training in Shotokan Karate with Ronnie Watt O.B.E. in 1969. She continued training with John Allen in Aberdeen and achieved 1st degree black belt (1 Dan) in the Japan Karate Association (JKA) in 1974 under Sensei Sadashige Kata and Sensei Hirokazu Kanazawa after proceeding through the colored belt ranks from 9th kyu (grade) to 1st kyu under examinations with Andy Sherry, Sadashige Kato and Keinosuke Enoeda. She left Aberdeen for Houston, Texas in 1975 and studied Taekwondo with Jeannie Parker at Black Belt Academy, Bellaire Texas for the next two years due to the absence of any evident Japanese karate in Houston at the time. In the fall of 1977 she left for Fukuoka, Japan, where she homestayed with the Otsu family in Akasaka Mon for six months. While there, she trained in the JKA Hakozaki dojo (Sensei Sakai) and in a Wado dojo at Fukuoka Saiseikai Byoin (Sensei Mitsui). Upon returning to the USA in January 1978 she lived in Little Rock Arkansas and worked at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. There, she studied Shotokan with Sensei Cedric (Bull) Rodgers in North Little Rock for a year. After a six-month visit to Aberdeen, Scotland and London, England, she moved to Vancouver, BC where she worked at Simon Fraser University and started studying JKA Shotokan with Michael Scales, followed by Andy Holmes and Yasuo Sakurai. Thereafter, she passed JKA second and third degree black belt in 1984 and 1986, respectively, under Sensei Hidetaka Nishiyama. She also became a member of the British Columbia provincial karate team, medalling in individual kata and kumite events and in team kata and kumite evets with teammates Ingrid Bischoff Scheere and Sara Sato at Karate BC provincial championships, BC Winter Games, Western Canadian Championships and national championships. She was a member of the Karate Canada national team from 1983 - 1988. She achieved silver medals in individual kata and kumite at the Commonwealth Karate Championships in Guernsey, 1984, and gold and silver medals in kumite and kata, respectively, at the Ozawa Cup, Las Vegas in 1985 and silver medals in 1986. She also represented Canada in the 7th World Karate Federation (WKF; WUKO) championships in Sydney, Australia, 1986, losing in kumite to the silver medallist in -53 kg division, Yumi Yanagisawa of Japan. In 1988 she moved to Chicago to pursue a job opportunity and studied Shotokan karate under John DiPasquale, of Illinois Shotokan Karate clubs. She moved to Tokyo, Japan in 1989, again due to a job opportunity where Fusajiro Takagi, Chairman of the Japan Karate Federation (JKF) introduced her to Senseis Ichimura (Shotokan, YMCA) and Toru Arakawa (Wado Kai, Shibuya and Ebisu), where she trained in both styles. In 1990 Katsuyuki Kawano introduced her to Dr. Hideho Takagi (Wado Kai; no relation to Fusajiro Takagi) who serendipitously lived about 2 minutes from her home in Sugamo, Tokyo. Thereafter, she concentrated on Wado, training intensively with both Dr. Takagi and Mr Arakawa for the next 7 years and challenging JKF Dan exams. She achieved JKF fourth degree black belt (4 Dan) in 1992, and JKF Wado Kai 4, 5, 6 and 7 Dan in 1993, 1997, 2001 and 2008, respectively, with all JKF/JKF Wado Kai examinations being held under the scrutiny of the JKF/JKF Wado Kai Technical Committees in Japan. As of October 2014, she remains the only women in world to hold JKF Wado Kai 7th Dan.
Refereeing and judging
In 1990 she challenged officiating exams at the WKF World Championships in Mexico City and obtained a provisional license that allowed her to work at the event. This was an extraordinary moment because although female athletes were included in WKF competition, none of the officials were women. in fact, her presence on the floor caused rather a uproar as the entire event ground to a halt due to the shock of seeing a female judging fighting (kumite) divisions. After a tense hour or two, the WKF Referee Council chaired by Tommy Morris (Scotland) confirmed that no policy or statute in any WKF documents prevented women from officiating men, and so the way was paved the way for her to become the first woman in the world to achieve WKF kata and kumite judge licences, a milestone in the history of the WKF. In October 2000 she achieved WKF Referee A, another first for women. In 2003 she became the first women to be appointed to the WKF Referee Council and subsequently to chair the WKF Gender Equity Committee that became the WKF Women's Sport Committee.
Contributions to growth and development of karate
Secretary Scottish Shotokan Association Scotland 1973-74 Member Karate Association of Texas USA 1975-77 Member Arkansas Karate Association USA 1977-79 Secretary JKA International Canada 1981-83 Director Karate BC Canada 1986-88, 1997-2002 Vice president Karate BC Canada 1988-89 Member AAU USA 1989 Member Japan Karate Federation Japan 1989- Member JKF Wado Kai Japan 1989- Member Workers Karate Federation Japan 1989- Member National Karate Association Canada 1981- President Canada JKF Wado Kai Canada 1997- Chair WKF Gender Equity Committee Munich 2000 MISCELLANEOUS Instructor, Tokyo British Club Dojo Japan 1992-94 Assistant Instructor, Budo Gakuen, Tokyo Japan 1996 Established Guseikai Karate Club Canada 1997- Established Canada JKF Wado Kai 1997 Established Women in Karate Fund, Vancouver Canada 1992 Featured in Film Board Documentary "Spirit of the Kata" Canada 1985 Member, Canadian National Karate Team Canada 1983-89 First Female to judge WKF Karate Competition Japan 1990 First Female appointed as supplementary member of WKF Ref Council Bulgaria 1999 First female to referee WKF Karate competition Munich 2000 Promotion Plus Individual of the Year Vancouver 2000 Burnaby Sport Hall of Fame Inductee Burnaby 2001 British Columbia Sport Hall of Fame Recognition as Leader in Sport Vancouver 2002 First female appointed as full member of WKF Ref Council Madrid 2002 Sport BC Official of the Year Nominee Vancouver 2001, 2003 Sport BC Official of the Year Vancouver 2004 WKF Representative to 1st Islamic Games of the capitals and Islamic COuntries4th Women's Islamic Games (January and September 2005 Iran Instructor, Fit4Defence Vancouver 2006 Chair, Karate Canada Officials' Committee 2009 - 2014 Represented Canada as a referee/judge during 25 years in over 50 international karate competitions including WKF World Championships, Pan American Championships, Asian Karate Federation Championships, Pan American Games, World Games, Goju Ryu World Championships (Yamaguchi Goshi), Wado Kai World Cups, Fukuoka Womens' World Cups Taught karate style, sport and referee seminars in India, Iran, Canada, USA, Venezuela, El Salvador, Mexico and Curacao.