Meet our instructors
Chief Instructor
Sensei Hkanhpa Sadan
Sensei Hkanhpa is 4th Dan All Japan Karate-Do Seiwakai; 4th Dan JKF Gojukai. Prior to training in Goju Ryu karate, Sensei Hkanhpa trained for many years in Kyokushin, achieving his black belt in Burma, and teaching from his teens at Myitkyina YMCA. He is also a founder and secretary of the Kachin Relief Fund, a registered charity in the UK, which promotes karate as physical education for Kachin internally displaced camps. You can learn more about this at https://kachinrelief.org.uk.
instructors & Assistants
sensei ROBERT KARPATSKY
Sensei Robert is 4th Dan All Japan Karate-Do Seiwakai and 4th Dan JKF Gojukai. Sensei Robert trained for many years with Shihan Paul Coleman in Oxford, and is a student of Shihan Rastislav Mraz 8th Dan All-Japan Karate-Do Seiwakai and 7th Dan JKF Gojukai, in Slovakia.
sensei charlie lovell
Sensei Charlie is 1st Dan All Japan Karate-Do Seiwakai. Prior to training in Goju Ryu Karate under Shihan Paul Coleman, Sensei Charlie trained in Shotokan karate.
roxanne selby
Roxanne is 2nd Dan All Japan Karate-Do Goju Ryu Kenwakai, awarded by the legendary Akio Takahashi Hanshi, and 1st Dan All Japan Gojuryu Karate-Do Seiwakai. She was a student of Shihan Paul Coleman and assists the Senseis.
Sensei simon beaufoy
Sensei Simon is 2nd Dan All Japan Karate-Do Seiwakai; 2st Dan JKF Gojukai. Prior to training in Goju Ryu karate, Sensei Simon trained in Shotokan karate.
Sensei Ruben otin
Sensei Ruben is a third Dan in Goju Ryu and trained for many years with Shihan Paul Coleman, and for many many years prior to that in Spain. He is known for his exacting Spanish standards.
other instructors and assistants
Oxford Karate Academy/Oxon Karate club has a number of yudansha who assist and teach. Many have extensive backgrounds in other styles and groups and have trained internationally as well as in Japan. We are also often visited by previous black belts and former students and friends of Shihan Paul Coleman.
former chief instructor
Shihan Paul Coleman
Shihan Paul was 8th Dan All Japan Karate-Do Seiwakai; 7th Dan JKF Gojukai. In his youth he trained in Judo for 11 years, achieving his black belt. He started training with Oxford Karate Academy, then run by James Rousseau, in 1974, and started teaching in 1975, taking over responsibility for all teaching in the 1980s. Shihan Paul competed, trained and taught internationally, and was European and World Champion in Iri-Kumi. He passed away from cancer in Katharine House Hospice on 31 August 2023.