The English Contact Karate Association is a Karate

Karate

is a martial art developed in the Ryukyu Islands in what is now Okinawa, Japan. It was developed from indigenous fighting methods called and Chinese kenpō. Karate is a striking art using punching, kicking, knee and elbow strikes, and open-handed techniques such as knife-hands. Grappling, locks,...

/Kickboxing

Kickboxing

Kickboxing refers to a group of martial arts and stand-up combat sports based on kicking and punching, historically developed from karate, Muay Thai and western boxing....

 organisation with over 100 well-established academies. All instructors are Black belts with governing body qualifications. Instructors hold regular gradings normally at tri monthly intervals. The organisation is responsible for five karate and full contact champions.

The ECKA teaches both full and semi contact fighting and holds regular competitions as well as competing in the Nationals every year.

In grade order ECKA follows this belt colour hierarchy: Red, White, Yellow, Orange, Green, Purple, Blue, Brown, 1st Kyū

Kyu

is a Japanese term used in martial arts, chadō, ikebana, go, shogi such as Japanese traditional culture, and academic tests and in other similar activities to designate various grades or levels or class of proficiency or experience...

, and finally Black.

ECKA is a member of the English Karate Federation, a member of the World Karate Federation

World Karate Federation

The World Karate Federation, or WKF, was formed in 1990 from former WUKO members and is the largest international governing body of sport karate with over 130 member countries. It is the only karate organization recognised by the International Olympic Committee and has more than ten million members...

.