Like most people who do karate their journey started in the younger years and that is where mine started. I was 12 years old and my dad took me to a Dojo in Atherton and I trained there for about 2 years and got to blue belt. I remember the style of karate was shokotan, which did not mean much at the time. I can remember we did the old katas such as Kihon and Taikiyoko Nidan. We got to the level of Blue belt. Unfortunately, the club dojo was shut down when the building we used was demolished, and that is where my journey ended, or so I thought.

In 2010 when my son, Jack, was about 7 he was into Power Rangers in a big way and asked me if he could learn to fight like the Power Rangers. So, I looked around for a karate club and eventually came across Red Tiger Karate. We watched a session at Bolton School and had a chat with Paul Wolstencroft and decided we would both give it a go. I remember the first lesson I had like it was yesterday and thinking “WOW” I love this and so did Jack. Unfortunately, Jack only lasted until we had both got to purple belt, and decided he liked football and other things more, but I decided I would carry on and eventually achieve the grade of 2nd black belt. I have learned that Karate is a journey that does not stop when you get to black belt, in fact, it is just the beginning of the journey, that keeps giving and giving and keep going and going.

What keeps you training: Karate started for me as a way to spend time with my son and since he stopped training, I had to carry on because when you get the karate bug it is hard not to want keep training, so much so that I can get in a bad mood when something stops me training. I have always been a very shy person and had very little self-confidence, so much so that I would always be “ill” when I had to do a demonstration in front of the class and would always sit in the corner and talk to no one. Never in a million years would I have been able to stand in front of 30+ people and be confident enough to teach karate and this is what karate has done by giving me the confidence in myself to do so.

Karate has a way of becoming more than just a hobby, it becomes an obsession. How many of you say “oss” during a group conversation as a sign of acknowledgment or find yourself bowing when entering a school which you use as a dojo. Despite hitting 50 next year, Karate keeps me fit and flexible. One advantage of this was whilst at a party, a game which involved each person going into box splits and bending down to pick up a cereal cardboard box which would be cut in size by a couple of inches after each round, with the last round requiring you to pick up a peanut of the floor. Consequently, I won the game and the others were not happy about this and I made it worse when I told them I did karate. Thankfully for them it all ended peacefully.

The other reason I keep training is that I meet so many other people who share the same passion for karate as I do, and also the fact that Red Tiger Karate Club is run so professionally and provides people of all walks of life the opportunity to learn and develop the skills needed to achieve high levels of karate. The camaraderie and friendships made between fellow karateka’s is why many people, including myself, keep coming back week in week out.

In November 2016 I started to Sempai in a class run by Dean Ramsden, which at first was my worst nightmare, but slowly grew to like it, and in January 2017 took over at Aspull dojo. My first lesson as a sensei was both awesome and scary with everyone looking to me for instruction rather than the other way round. Becoming a Sensei gave me more confidence in my karate and more importantly, gave me immense satisfaction that I have helped other students in their karate journey and achieve their own karate goals.

Job in the real world: I have the joy of working for my wife, Caroline, in the IT/Administration department at her firm of solicitors. Working with Caroline has its benefits whereby I am flexible in that I can finish a little earlier to be able to get to karate. I must thank Caroline for putting up with being married to a karate mad person, it is not easy for her having to put up with my moods when I cannot go to karate.