Our Karate Family

The Adams-Antonov family has provided traditional Shotokan karate instruction to the Columbus and Upper Arlington communities since 2016, when they moved to the area from Copenhagen, Denmark. In the first few years, Rachelle Adams and Lubo Antonov taught youth and adult classes at Columbus community centers and in their private dojo, and served as guest instructors in local karate clubs. Their daughter is following in their footsteps - she participates in competitions and seminars and has earned a brown belt. With the opening of the Upper Arlington Bob Crane Community Center, Rachelle and Lubo decided to focus their attention on providing quality karate education to the Upper Arlington community and established the not-for-profit Antares Shotokan Karate club.

Sensei Lubo and Sensei Rachelle were already experienced karateka when they met at the JKA Austin karate club at the University of Texas in 1999. Before long, Lubo became the chief instructor and Rachelle, the president, and they built up the club into an established student organization, a part of the American Amateur Karate Federation (AAKF), and the International Traditional Karate Federation (ITKF). As instructors, Rachelle and Lubo were mentored by Sensei Hidetaka Nishyiama, the chief instructor of ITKF, and by Sensei Alex Tong, the regional director of AAKF. During this time, their daughter, Milena, joined the family and the dojo.

In 2010, Lubo and Rachelle's life journey took them to Copenhagen, Denmark where they founded the Copenhagen Shotokan Karate (CSK) club. They began with just a handful of friends and established the club as a City of Copenhagen community organization. When Milena was five, she expressed interest in training, so the club expanded to offer karate classes for younger kids. CSK joined the World Fudokan Federation and members trained regularly with our sister dojo in Helsingborg, Sweden with Sensei Dragisa Tosovic. Sensei Lubo was appointed as the president of Fudokan Denmark and both him and Sensei Rachelle advanced in rank, under the tutelage of Sensei Ilija Jorga, the founder of Fudokan.

In 2016, the Antonov-Adams family returned to the USA, this time settling in Upper Arlington, OH. They took a break from teaching and joined the Internation Shotokan Karate Federation (ISKF), and trained in affiliated local dojos. Eventually, Sensei Lubo and Sensei Rachelle started teaching karate classes at a local community center and giving private lessons at their home dojo. With the completion of the Bob Crane Community Center in Upper Arlington, Lubo and Rachelle decided to once again establish a traditional karate program that serves the Upper Arlington community. They created Antares Shotokan Karate and began offering classes there, in addition to continuing their private lessons.

Instructors