John began training in 1990 at the tender age of 6 years old.
He gained his 1st Dan in 1994, 2nd Dan in 1996, 3rd Dan in 2005, 4th Dan in 2009 and 5th Dan in 2014. John passed his 6th Dan in 2023.
At the age of 18 he became a qualified KUGB Instructor and began teaching Karate full-time at Sendai Kushiro in the North East of England in 2004.
John had a successful competitive career. At the age of 14 he was selected to train on the England Squad. In 2000 he made he England debut competing at the ESKA Championships in Lucerne, Switzerland.
In 2001 John was a member of the England Junior Kumite Team who won Gold at the European Championships and he was crowned World Individual Junior Champion at the 2003 Championships in Zurich, Switzerland. More international success came with the England Senior Men’s Team Kumite, winning the European title in Porto, Portugal in 2007, Crawley, England in 2008 and Wels, Austria in 2009 as well as the World title in 2007 in Bydgoszcz, Poland and Cancun, Mexico in 2009.
John has also had success domestically winning various junior and senior titles including Senior Grand Champion at the Shotokan Cup in 2009 and Senior Grand Champion at the KUGB National Championships in 2010.
As well as being the Chief Instructor of Sendai Kushiro, John also teaches courses across the UK.
John has been a member of the KUGB Executive Committee for a number of years and took over as Licensing Officer in 2020 after the passing of Sensei Bob Poynton.
In July 2024 John was elected as Chair of the KUGB and in 2025 John was appointed as a KUGB Grading Examiner (B).
