club birth_place trainer nationality birth_date rank article_title name style
liverpool red triangle liverpool keinosuke enoeda , andy sherry british 06 may 1960 8th dan frank brennan -lrb- karateka -rrb-
 frank brennan shotokan karate
frank brennan -lrb- karateka -rrb-

frank brennan , is a shotokan karateka born on 6 may 1960 in the city of liverpool .
he was a british karate champion in the 1970s and 1980s , winning a wide variety of titles both as an individual and as part of the kugb team .
he remains a well-known and well-respected kugb instructor and coach .
always sport-oriented , brennan took up gymnastics while at school .
at the age of twelve he tried to join the red triangle karate club , but he was told to go and join the judo club for a year because he was too young .
he started to train at the club in 1973 under the tuition of andy sherry and kugb chief instructor keinosuke enoeda .
his competition career began in 1974 when he competed in the kugb northern regional championships as a 4th kyu , entering and winning the junior kata event .
his introduction to kumite was even more dramatic ; in 1975 , while fighting for the red triangle team , bob poynton broke his leg in one of the matches .
the team had no reserves , so the young brennan , now a brown belt who had only entered the kata event , was suddenly in the final of the team kumite event against leeds .
he fought one of leeds ' most experienced fighters , andy harris , and decisively beat him with a fast mawashi geri combination to achieve a red triangle win .
his first international appearance was with the kugb squad in the european championships in sweden in 1978 , where he came 2nd in the senior kata event .
in belgium the following year he won the grand championship of europe , taking both kumite and kata events , later repeating this feat on three occasions .
as a fighter he is equally at home using hands or feet , often surprising opponents with dynamic combinations of the more unusual hand or foot techniques .
he has been described as the most technically gifted karateka of his generation , combining an exciting fighting style with a calm demeanor .
as a senior member of the kugb international squad a highlight of his career was leading his team to victory in the 1990 world shotokan championships in sunderland .
he is held in great respect internationally - in an interview at the world championships , the japanese team coach , ex-world champion masahiko tanaka said that the one man who the whole japanese team were specifically trained to beat was frank brennan .
