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Chris' Judo Career
Chris began judo in 1987 at
the age of seventeen training at The Dean Judo Club in Newport, South
Wales. His instructor was the late Sensei Doris Dean, 3rd Dan.
A member of the Tokushima Budo Council, Chris was privileged to train with
Kancho Alf Bates, Sensei Leighton Jenkins, Tudor Box and Sensei Steve
Crooks at the annual Budo course held at St Athen in South Wales. In
Chris's four year period at The Dean Judo Club, he won the Tokushima Budo
Council's British Championships at Under 78kg, The Welsh Open
Championships at Under 78kg and also a number of other local tournaments,
whilst also beginning to coach at the club, assisting Sensei Dean and also
Richard Canterbury. Chris gained his 1st Kyu (Brown Belt) from
Sensei Leighton Jenkins in 1990. |
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In 1991, Chris moved to Crewe, Cheshire where he was to
study a four-year B.Ed (Hons) degree in Business and Information
Technology at Manchester Metropolitan University. It was here that
Chris opened his first judo club and although successful, the politics of
running a club within a university forced Chris to give it up and being a
1st Kyu also wanted to train. Soon afterwards Chris attended a
number of judo clubs within the area, namely Victoria Judo Club, training
with Sensei Tony Jones, Shobu Judo Club with Sensei Les Davidson, hios
club then at the Peeway Club in Crewe and also
Crewe Judo Club with Sensei Alf Coyles.
It was Crewe Judo Club which Chris continued to train at and also began
assisting Alf with the teaching, often running the club in Alf's absence.
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In 1993, Chris gained his 1st Dan Black Belt
with the Tokushima Budo Council, presented by Sensei Leighton
Jenkins. Chris continued to train at Crewe Judo Club. In 1995,
Sensei Alf Coyles sadly passed away and Chris continued to run the club at
the Victoria Community Centre in Crewe. Just when the club was
building up, Chris, who was a member of the 3rd Battalion Cheshire
Regiment (Territorial Army), was called up for active service in the
Former Yugoslavia. Leaving the club in the hands of Paul Whitehead
and Nigel Tew, Chris took a year out of university and flew out to Split,
Croatia and then spent a 9 month tour of duty in Vitez, Bosnia. On
his return, much to his dismay, Crewe Judo Club had ceased to exist, so he
set about starting it up again, this time moving the club down the road to Ludford
School. With just a handful of students to start including Colin
Vanner, one of the original club members before Chris' service in Bosnia,
the club continued to run and it wasnt long before the club was a success
once again. The club now trained 2 nights per week which included a
separate under 8's class. After finishing off his final year at
University, Chris qualified with a B.Ed (Hons) degree in Business and ICT
and began teaching at Ruskin High School in Crewe (where he was to work
for 7 years). Crewe Judo Club's members entered competitions in Judo
and groundfighting both locally in Crewe, Northwich and Frodsham and also
nationally in London, Sussex, Edinburgh, Stoke on Trent, throughout Wales
and Nottingham, to name but many. It was Northwich, where Chris was
priviliged to train with another one of the great martial artists, Sensei
Albert Lloyd, then a 7th Dan Judo (but holder of dan grades in a number of
other martial arts) and also Professor Bob Brown. |
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Traditional and Competitive
Judo
Chris, being a traditionalist rewrote the new Crewe Judo Club grading
syllabus to include both Nage No Kata and Katame No Kata for all students
Orange belt and above and introduced a points system for
tournaments. It was not unusual to see 6 and 7 year olds performing
the first two or three sets of nage no kata during training nights.
A number of people assisted Chris at the club and some people will
remember Greg O Connell and also brothers Luke and Jo, who were regular
attendees at the club and then mysteriously disappeared never to be seen
again. Paul Whitehead was another regular at the club and began teaching
the under 8's class. Mark Wilson also began to train at the club.
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Ren Bu Kai Submission Fighting
In 2002, the club moved once again to Ruskin High School (AKA Ruskin
Sports College) where Chris worked. Upon raising £1300 for the
school, the school gained specialist status and this was to become the new
home of Crewe Judo Club and the birth of Ren Bu Kai Submission Fighting, a
new style of fighting formed by Chris Sharpe and Mark Wilson.
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