Matthew Price started karate in 1982. The first club he attended was Claygate S.K.C. There he was dragged along religiously twice weekly by his parents, who wanted Matthew to take an interest in something other than television.
In 1984 he and his family moved to Harrogate where he became a member of Harrogate S.K.C. At this time he was a rather poor green belt, still having to be dragged to training. Then, towards the end of 1985, he suddenly decided karate was for him.
The instruction at Harrogate S.K.C. at this time was given by Nick Midgley and Bernard Williams who are both still training and teaching regularly at the club. In 1986 whilst training for his black belt he decided to start travelling through to Leeds to train at the famous Leeds S.K.C club under sensei Bob Rhodes. This was a large step for Matthew as Leeds had a fearsome reputation, and Bob Rhodes who did the gradings for Harrogate S.K.C. was known as a no-nonsense, tough instructor. On arrival at Leeds, Matthew found all his preconceptions to be well grounded. He was extremely impressed with the standard of karate there, and was inspired, not only by Bob Rhodes’ karate and his instruction, but also by members at the club such as Randolph Williams and Nick Heald who trained hard and certainly fought hard.
At this time he was training twice a week at Harrogate and three times a week at Leeds. “I remember that every Wednesday I would spend the day trying to think up excuses as to why I couldn’t go training (Wednesday night was kumite (free-fighting) night), but every week I would take that train ride there”.
In 1987 at the age of 14 he gained his black belt. “My aim at this time was to get onto the Leeds 5-man kumite team. After much training I managed this and was then asked to join the K.U.G.B English junior kumite squad (16-21 years) which was taken monthly by the English coach Sensei Andy Sherry.”
“The junior squad was a real test of courage! Each month I would take the trip to the infamous Red Triangle dojo knowing that there would be 3 hours of hell to come. Not only would other members of the junior squad try and knock you about, but senior members such as Frank Brennan and Ronnie Christopher, who were permitted to train, would make sure the job was done properly.”
In 1992 he was selected to compete at the European Shotokan Karate Championships held in Monaco in the under 21′s.Up to this point Matthew had had moderate success at Regional and National level with a few trophies and medals to his name, but in Monaco came his first real taste of success. Here he took 3rd in the individual kumite and gold with the junior English team. From here Matthew gained more competition successes and when he turned 21 was selected for the senior K.U.G.B. English squad and was immediately picked for the 1993 World Championships held in Germany.
Since this time he has competed all over the world for the English and Great Britain teams taking many gold, silver and bronze medals at European and World championships in team and individual events.
“I have had many memorable moments so far in my international career, but one of the best must be fighting No.1 for England in Russia at the World Shotokan Karate championships. Here we were drawn the Russian team in the second round. I went out first for England and faced my Russian counterpart. The crowd were behind their man and booing me. In the opening seconds of the fight I span around and hit the Russian with a spinning back kick cleanly on his face, knocking him off his feet. I was awarded a full point, winning the bout in under 5 seconds and silencing the entire Russian crowd”
Matthew has had many home successes too, including taking 1st place in the mens’ individual kumite nine times at the British squad competitions (Grand Slam event).
At the 2002 K.U.G.B National championships Matthew made history by becoming only the fourth male KUGB Grand Champion by winning both Kata and Kumite titles. The other 3 were Andy Sherry, Terry O’Neill and Frank Brennan, good company to be in. Matthew was also a member of the winning Leeds Karate Academy team, giving him 3 Gold medals and the Tony Francis Rose Bowl for best all-round competitor for the 3rd time. Sensei Enoedaalso presented Mathew with the coveted Wilkinson Sword for the second time.
At the 2002 Shotokan Cup Individual Championship, Matthew again took the title of Grand Champion winning both the kata and kumite. Here Matthew was awarded with both the Shotokan Cups for the best kata of the day and the best fighter.
Matthew has competed against some of the world finest Karateka and has been influenced by many of them. “There have been many competitors who have impressed me but none more so then Frank Brennan. I would certainly rate him as the best Karateka I have ever seen. All aspects of his karate are second to none.” “I have been lucky to be taught by such a high standard of instructor throughout my karate career. Sensei Enoeda, Sensei Sherry, Bob Rhodes, Frank Brennan andRandolph Williams to name but a few.”
“My plans for the future are to keep competing internationally for many years to come.”
“I have been running the Harrogate Shotokan Karate Club for the last nine years and seen it flourish into one of the largest and most successful clubs in the country. The Boston Spa club set up only two years ago by Nick Healdand myself has already become a great success.”
Matthew was graded to 5th Dan in April 2005 by Sensei Sherry.
