Ryan Wells
Ryan Wells having recently turned 8 came off
a great first year in tournament karate and had his dream realized by
being asked to be on the elite Team Straight Up National Karate Team .
Ryan lives in Kittery, Maine and started his karate training
at 3 1/2 . He has been a regular at the IPPONE and KRANE
karate tournament circuits in New England.
Ryan captured a IPPONE double crown for traditional forms and fighting
for 2003 and was the Overall Grand Champion in traditional forms in
his KRANE division in 2003. Between the two circuits, Ryan competed in
30 tournaments last year and came home with 25 1st place
trophies.
Also as a 7yr old purple belt, Ryan won 3 grand championships in the
12 & under/17 & under forms divisions.
The highlight of Ryan's 2003 season was traveling to Dallas, Texas and
competing in the IWKA Isshin Ryu World Championships which are held
once every two years. Ryan won 1st place in forms in front of
Master Kichiro Shimabuku of Okinawa, Japan.
Ryan then went on to compete in the AOKA American Okinawin Karate
Association World Championships and placed 1st in forms.
As the 2004 season began, Ryan started adding a traditional bo kata to
his routine and quickly began to make an impact in the weapons
division at every tournament. As of February 2004 Ryan had been
competing solely in traditional divisions.
Where Ryan lives he has no access to open weapon/forms training.
In March, Ryan's dad put in a call to Joe Greenhalgh to
start him in open weapons training. After 3-4 weeks of private
instruction with World Champion Joey Greenhalgh, his father Joe
Greenhalgh asked Ryan to be a member of Team Straight Up National
Karate Team.
Ryan trains at On-Site Family Karate Academy in Portsmouth, NH.
studying Isshin Ryu karate under the instruction of 5th dan Harry
Charache and 3rd dan Scott Corliss 3-4 days per week and attends
private gymnastics training two days a week.
In addition to his regular Isshin Ryu training, Ryan and his dad
travel to the Team Straight Up facility in Pawtucket, RI. for
workouts on Saturday and Sunday. Ryan loves the training at Straight
Up because it includes gymnastics, open and traditional weapons and
fighting workouts for 5-7 hrs each day.
With Joe Greenhalgh as the head coach/instructor the training is
always very intense and very rewarding. Joe Greenhalgh has a
unique way of brining out the best effort in every team member. Ryan
truly feels that he is part of something special because of the
extremely high standards Joe Greenhalgh sets at his school.
In March of this year, Ryan changed divisions and started
competing as a 7yr old black belt in the 9& under black belt
divisions in both KRANE and NASKA. The change in divisions has
been very challenging and Ryan has already started to win in his KRANE
black belt division and is currently ranked #1 in traditional forms
and #2nd in weapons.
Ryan recently placed 3rd in the 11 & under black belt Okinawin
forms division at the Kumite Classic NBL tournament in Pittsburg, Pa.
He will be attending other NBL and WSKF tournaments with Team Straight
Up this year.
This year Ryan will attend all remaining NASKA World Tour
Tournaments with the Straight Up National Karate Team. After only 3
NASKA World Tour events he has already tied for 2nd place in
traditional forms twice and is currently ranked #4 in world
points for traditional weapons.
The training with Joey Greenhalgh in open weapons has paid off with a
3rd place showing in creative weapons at his very first NASKA world
event.
He is very focused and dedicated, his near term goal is to be
competitive in both traditional and open divisions on the
NASKA World Tour.
Ryan has a 11 yr. old sister Gabrielle who also has a busy schedule
competing at equestrian events with her horse "Toby". Ryan
has made many new friends on Team Straight Up and he really likes
working out with the Greenhalghs because they treat the team as one
big family. The NASKA world events are always fun and the team has
a great time together whether it's at the airport, dojo or the hotel
they always find a way to make the trips memorable.
When Ryan is at home and not competing, he enjoys deep sea
fishing on his dad's boat the "GabrielleRyan".
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