Ian Sempai, 1st dan.

Ian (brother of Ben), also started Karate at a very young age. He has continued to train for the last 13 years since he began and is currently a student of computers and business in college. He enjoys old school Hong Kong martial arts films such as “Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow” and “Drunken Master” and is a huge fan of Akira Toriyama’s famous Martial Arts Manga comic series “Dragonball”. He has a keen interest in the grappling and throwing side of Karate (respectively known as tegumi and nage waza) and hopes to develop this over coming years. His favourite fighters are Genki Sudo and Lyoto Machida. Outside of Karate, he is also a keen amateur musician, playing in local Punk band “Forced Under”. He passed his black belt exam in 2010 under Kato Sensei at the spring technical seminar in the Ireland honbu dojo in Fermoy, being told without warning in the middle of class that he would be grading once it finished! He excelled throughout the gruelling exam, fighting seven opponents one after another and managing to successfully kick a 6’ 4’’ black belt in the head!Ben & Ian as beginners! In the scout hall, June 1999.