David Gay started practicing Aikido with Niel Williams Sensei in 1984 and continued under Chiba Sensei with the United Kingdom Aikikai. He has been dojo cho at Caerphilly since 1993. In 1994 David met Matthew Hill Sensei on Morihiro Saito Sensei's visit to the UK and became an Iwama Ryu Shodan in 1995. In 1999 he first went to San Leandro as uchi deshi to Pat Hendricks Sensei, returning 5 times since. In 2003 he received his San Dan from Pat Sensei and in 2005 went as uchi deshi to Hitohira Saito Sensei in Iwama. In 2006 David taught at the CAA meeting as the division 1 representative and on the 2007 San Diego Aikido gasshuku honouring Morihiro Saito Sensei. In  2015 David received his Go Dan from Pat Sensei, the strength of his aikido remains in the basic taught by Saito Sensei in a very traditional format.