Nationality British Name Andy Sherry | Rank 9th Dan | |
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Occupation Chairman & Chief Instructor of the KUGB Trained by Keinosuke Enoeda, Hirokazu Kanazawa | ||
Training with sensei andy sherry 9th dan september 2015
Andy Sherry (born 9 July 1943) is one of the most senior British practitioners of karate and the chief instructor of the KUGB.
Contents
- Training with sensei andy sherry 9th dan september 2015
- Training with sensei andy sherry
- Biography
- References
Training with sensei andy sherry
Biography
Born in Liverpool, Andy Sherry showed an interest in the martial arts as a young man. Initially training in judo and jujutsu, he soon took an interest in karate, starting his study of the art in 1959. In 1966, Sherry became the first person to pass a grading in the UK for a black belt in Shotokan karate, having trained with JKA instructor Keinosuke Enoeda. He graded alongside his Red Triangle clubmate Joseph Chialton on February 10, 1966, with Jack Green earning his blackbelt later that year. Sherry, alongside Jack Green and Eddie Whitcher were also the first to be graded 2nd Dan in the United Kingdom, gaining their grade in 1967 at Crystal Palace.
In 1966, Sherry won the first British all-styles championship, beating competitors from all of Britain's karate styles. He went on, in 1968, to become European champion in kumite, an achievement he repeated in a number of subsequent years. Andy dominated the early KUGB karate championships, winning the kata competition for the first four years running (1967–1970) and the kumite in 1968 and 1970.
On the competition circuit, Andy Sherry was well known for using a yori-ashi gyaku-tsuki (lunging rear-hand punch) as his "trademark" manoeuvre, leading many competitors of the time to joke that he only knew one technique.
Retiring from competition in 1977, Sherry continues to coach the KUGB international competition squad to this day, and now runs his own karate club, the Liverpool Red Triangle. In February 2013, Sherry achieved the rank of 9th dan, becoming the highest-ranking Shotokan karate practitioner in Britain. He serves as an adjudicator for numerous gradings each year at various karate clubs that are affiliated with the Karate Union of Great Britain (KUGB).