Andy Sherry

Andy Sherry (born 9 July 1943) is one of the most senior British practitioners of karate and the chief instructor of the KUGB.[1]

Andy Sherry
Born (1943-07-09) 9 July 1943
Liverpool
NationalityBritish
StyleShotokan Karate
TrainerKeinosuke Enoeda, Hirokazu Kanazawa
Rank9th Dan
OccupationChairman & Chief Instructor of the KUGB
Notable club(s)Liverpool Red Triangle

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,[2][3] having trained with JKA instructor Keinosuke Enoeda. He graded alongside his Red Triangle clubmate Joseph Chialton on 10 February 1966, with Jack Green earning his blackbelt later that year.[4] 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.[4]

In 1966, Sherry won the first British all-styles championship, beating competitors from all of Britain's karate styles.[5] He went on, in 1968, to become European champion in kumite, an achievement he repeated in a number of subsequent years.[5] 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.[5]

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. Sherry earned 9th dan (9th level black belt) making him Britain's highest ranking Shotokan karate practitioner in February 2013.[5] He adjudicates many gradings throughout the year in many karate clubs registered under the KUGB.

See also

References
  1. "www.theshotokanway.com". www.theshotokanway.com. 1943-07-09. Retrieved 2013-08-02.
  2. Two other individuals from the United Kingdom had already been awarded their blackbelts by the Japan Karate Association before 1966: Charles Mack was graded 1st Dan Shotokan by Masatoshi Nakayama on 4 March 1962 in Japan; and Vernon Bell was ratified as a JKA blackbelt on 5 February 1964, having corresponded with the JKA in Tokyo and relinquished his Yoseikan grade.
  3. "Shuriway Karate & Kobudo resource website". Shuriway.co.uk. 1943-07-09. Retrieved 2013-08-02.
  4. UK Karate history Archived 2014-02-23 at the Wayback Machine
  5. "KUGB". KUGB. Retrieved 2013-08-02.
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