Kaizen     Gunns​

Sensei Kerry Colpus

 

Starting karate at the age of 6 Kerry fell in love with the martial art from day one.  After making her way through the belts without failing a grading, Kerry went on to pass her Black belt grading, first time, at the age of 9.  She also passed her 2nd Dan grading first time at the age of 20.

 

Kerry started competing in both kata and kumite.  Kerry didn’t get very far in the competitions at first but in time her hard work paid off.  At the age of 16 (after coming back from a cracked wrist injury) Kerry won her first title and became the Cadet (16 to 17 years) +65kg British Champion in kumite.  Knowing that kumite was her strength Kerry decided to stop competing in kata and concentrate on kumite.  Kerry later went on to win more titles in both individual and team kumite.  Kerry has become British Champion 5 times (one being a British international title) and English Champion twice as well as wining many medals in various international competitions.

 

At the age of 18 Kerry was selected to fight for England in the Junior and Cadet European Championships in Serbia, competing in the Junior (18 to 20 years) team.  Later that same year Kerry was selected for the Senior World Championships, for the Senior (+18 years) -60kg category, even though she was still a technically a junior at the age of 19.  Kerry, despite being so young in the biggest competition in the WKF (World Karate Federation), fought her way to the last 16 before losing a very close fight with a woman from the Philippians. 

 

Kerry also competing in another Junior and Cadet European Championships in Turkey, again in the Junior (18 to 20 years) team, as well as two Senior European Championships in Tenerife and Hungary where she was in the Senior (+18 years) -68kg category for both.  In the Senior European Championships in Hungary, after losing to one of the finalist in the first round, Kerry was brought back into the competition through the repechage system and fought her way to 7th place.