Thank you for visiting our site. My name is Paul Wolstencroft and I am the Founder and Chief Instructor of Red Tiger Karate Club. I started my training in February 1997 at a Shotokan Goju-Ryu karate club based in Manchester. I was fortunate enough to train with some inspirational instructors from the early days of GKR Karate including Paul Lunavich, Dave Oxley, Paul O'Donnell and Stephen McCarthey. In later years I trained with Jason Wright, Peter Devlin, Gavin Richardson and attended a few Seminars with Joe Estrada, Stacey Karetsian & Chief Instructor Kancho Robert Sullivan.

After many years of hard training and dedication to my chosen discipline and club I achieved my Black Belt in early summer 2001. I was honoured to have been assessed by Shihan Stacey Karetsian.

I then became a full time Instructor for GKR, training three times a week and running a great class in Bury each Friday. It was there I taught 30~40 students and was really enjoying karate as full time Instructor. In 2005, my Instructor and the man who had guided me to my black belt left GKR. So, with a heavy heart I decided to leave and find a new instructor in the hope that I could find someone just as good. My last training session with GKR was with Kancho Robert Sulllivan at a special seminar held in Birmingham for full time Instructors. It was a nice class to bow out on and I have many fond memories and happy times with the club. I then accepted the position of Senior Instructor in late October 2005 at Rising Phoenix Karate Club and subsequently took my Nidan (2nd Dan) at the Cobra Martial Arts Association, it wasn't the kind of grading I had become used to but I still enjoyed and learned from the experience.

Martial arts standards have always been of the utmost importance to me. I continued my training with Ian Barnes and Simon Yates, two of the clubs first full time Instructors. I found a new Instructor; Sensei Gavin Ricardson from Sho Go Ryu Karate based in Liverpool. Whilst building Rising Phoenix Karate club during the day, I spent my free time each Monday travelling to Liverpool for weekly training session's with Sensei Gav.

In early 2007, Ian Barnes and I took the difficult decision to part ways. Ian was the founder of Rising Phoenix Karate so it was only right to start over again and develop a brand new Club. I went on to form Red Tiger Karate Club in partnership with Sensei Rachael in mid 2007. I am so proud to be the Chief Instructor of Red Tiger Karate. Since then we have built a talented and committed Instructor team. We have also helped a number of Instructors pursue their hobby as a career, showing them how to build classes so that they could teach karate every night of the week and train in the daytime with me.

The best part of my role as Chief Instructor is when I get to carry out class visits, seminars and gradings and meet all of our students. The standard of our students karate is second to none and you never fail to impress me. I believe that this is because each and every student is motivated in a positive way by their Instructor and also because our classes are the most fun to be at! I also enjoy teaching the Cadet Leader class, which is where all of the Clubs top young talent comes to train together.

Red Tiger Karate has come a long way since 2007, we now have over 1200 Red Tigers training every week. None of what we have achieved would have been possible without the hard work and dedication of Sensei Mike (the Assistant Chief Instructor), both past and present senior instructors, full timers, class instructors, administration staff, assistant instructors, cadet leaders and our students. I also have to say an enormous thank you to both past and present members of our recruitment team and the recruitment manager for his talent and hard work.

Due to the size of our Club it has now become possible to open our own Martial Arts Association (RTMA). This involves making sure that that standards within our classes are always the highest and that our Instructors are always up to date with everything they require to teach classes (e.g. CRB's etc). We also ensure that all of our students carry their own martial arts licenses, adequate insurance and that their personal information is protected. We also carry out Instructor training; offering budding karate instructors the opportunity to enhance their teaching skills. We strive to build strong relationships with other local clubs and organise Inter Club Tournaments that are open to the Red Sun Karate Club to enter their best students against the cream of our crop. 

I believe that it is your own personal training that has to remain your number one priority. Your training is your key to having great karate. If you are reading my profile in the hope that I am going to reveal what makes my karate what it is; that's the secret. Simply training, constant and never ending improvement. 
(And no smoking or drinking!). I train twice a week with the full timers and twice a week with my instructors; Sensei Needham and Sensei Grant. Both of these Karate ka's are two of the most knowlegeable and awesome karate instructors and students. They both have a vast amount of knowledge, inspirational focus and karate skills and best of all; they believe in sharing what over thirty years of training and dedication has taught them. The student in me is dedicated to one day becoming as good as they are. The Instructor in me is dedicated to helping you become as good as I am.

Yours in Karate,

Sensei Paul Wolstencroft  

Classes
Bamford (Monday)
Bolton (Wednesday)
Wilmslow (Wednesday)
Claypool (Thursday)
Senior Class (Friday)
Handforth (Saturday)

Current Grade
Black Belt - 3rd Dan

Instructor Level

Level 11