Our Team
Ensuring the best for your training
At Shin Gi Tai Martial Arts Academy you will meet a variety of different people depending on which classes you choose and which days you train on.
All the team are committed to ensuring the best for your training and for your children’s safety happiness and improvement in their skills. All coaches are fully qualified Martial Arts coaches with many years of experience of teaching Martial Arts.
Without exception, all of our staff are DBS checked to an enhanced level, First Aid trained, properly insured and qualified as martial arts coaches or fitness coaches as appropriate. Being a high belt at a Martial Arts isn’t enough, all of our Martial Arts coaches have specific qualifications to safely teach Martial Arts that covers health and safety, how to coach adults and children, protection of children from abuse, lesson planning and risk management.
Our coaches regularly attend courses from external providers such as Sport England ‘Safeguarding and Protecting Children,’ ‘Equity in your coaching,’ ‘Long Term Athlete Development,’ Coaching Athletes with Disabilities.’ Several of our coaches are also qualified to formally coach other coaches to improve their skills and knowledge.
Our coaches all must regularly take part in advanced Martial Arts classes/courses at an advanced technical level to ensure that they are still enhancing and building upon their own skills.
Taster session
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Our Club
Bryan our Head Coach, has a passion for the Martial Arts, owning and running Shin Gi Tai Martial Arts Academy since 1991 and with over 40 years of Martial Arts experience.
After spending years running a busy home life with 3 children, commuting to their jobs and teaching Martial Arts part time on evenings and weekends in various locations around Basingstoke, the club took the plunge and to securing it’s own premises and run full time from one central location, so in December 2009 Shin Gi Tai Martial Arts Academy opened its doors as a full time dedicated school.
The club is essentially a family friendly Martial Arts club with the central focus being; dedicated professionally qualified teachers passing on their skills and knowledge to their students, and although the team has substantially grown over since those early years, it has grown with those same values in place, a strong family friendly team who all train with the academy as well as teach there, and because of this all the people you will meet here will understand help you to feel just as at home here as they all do.
In creating Shin Gi Tai Martial Arts Academy we have created a club where they believe everyone from all corners of life of all ages, sizes and abilities will find themselves welcome, the club’s doors are always open to everybody because everyone deserves a chance to discover what they can become.
Because not all Martial Arts clubs are created equally
Bryan Andrews
Bryan is the Head Coach at Shin Gi Tai Martial Arts Academy with over 45 years of Martial Arts training, he holds Black Belts in five different Martial Arts including a 7th Dan in Karate and a 7th Degree in Kung Fu and is the Shikon England national Karate squad coach. He is also a National level Tai Chi teacher. In addition he is a 3rd Dan Black Belt in Shotokan Karate and holds Black Belts in Yoshinkan Aikido and Judo.
He has invested significant amounts of time gaining internationally recognised coaching qualifications including a Masters degree in Advanced Sport Coaching Practice. A level 7 Academic qualification, from Sheffield Hallam University, a British Judo Association Level 5 Coaching award, a United Kingdom Coaching Certificate Level 4 coaching award and a British Council for Chinese Martial Arts Level 3 coaching qualification, he is also a tutor for the BCCMA training other coaches to level 1 and level 2 standard.
Over a 35+ year competition career, he won numerous national and international titles including national Kung Fu champion for fighting, European champion for Karate Kata and World Champion for Karate fighting. He has been Basingstoke and Deane Sports Coach of the year a number of times and Winchester Sports coach of the year as well.
As a coach Bryan’s drive and inspiration is his students, from seeing children develop their skills and confidence which enables them not only to achieve their black belt but also helps them develop as well rounded people outside of the dojo and watching them pass their skills on. With the adults that he coaches it is the challenge he relishes in getting them to reach and exceed goals they have as a martial artist.
Ollie Andrews
Oliver is the Lead Coach at Shin Gi Tai Martial Arts Academy for our Muay Thai Programmes. He hold Black Belts in Karate and Kickboxing, in which he is currently a 2nd degree Black Belt.
He has been training in Martial Arts for over 20 years in many different disciplines, including Karate, Muay Thai, Kickboxing, Boxing, K1, Gi and No-Gi Brazilian jiu jitsu, Judo and Catch Wrestling. Before returning to Martial Arts coaching at Shin Gi Tai, he worked as a specialist junior strength and conditioning coach.
Ollie is a level 2 coach with the British Council for Chinese Martial Arts. He has a degree in strength and conditioning science, and Level 6 academic qualification from St Mary’s University, Twickenham. If you’re looking for a Strength and Conditioning program, you can arrange a 1-2-1 with him.
Ollie regularly weight trains in the gym, and enjoys lots of other hobbies, like building Lego, which he has far too much of.
Ollie’s favourite part of coaching is being given an opportunity to help people hit their goals, with the knock on effects to child’s when they gain that extra little bit of confidence when they’re much younger.
William Andrews
William is the Lead Coach at Shin Gi Tai Martial Arts Academy for our children’s Martial Arts classes and also our Boxing programme. He hold Black Belts in Kung Fu and Kickboxing. William is currently a 2nd Degree Black Belt in Chinese Kickboxing.
William is a Level 2 coach with a coaching qualification from The British Chinese Council for Martial Arts. He is also a England Boxing qualified coach.
Alongside his Martial Arts expertise he is a Level 3 qualified personal trainer. He brings this knowledge into his innovative approach to strength and conditioning. If you’re looking for someone to help with your fitness, you can arrange a 1-2-1 with him.
William is a two time <60Kg British Champion for Sanda (Full contact Chinese Kickboxing)
William likes to take part in endurance based running events, last year, he ran a mile plus 100 press ups and 100 squats, on the hour every hour for 24 hours. He has also Scuba dived in many international locations.
Toni Cooper
Toni leads the Business Operations team at the club. She ensures that the management and administration of the club policies and procedures are regularly reviewed to ensure quality assurance and that we adhere to all the relevant health and safety regulations.
Toni is the Club’s Lead Welfare Officer. She can be reached on 01256 364104.
Kelly Gough
Kelly is the Lead Coach for our Family Martial Arts classes where parents and children can train together. She also teaches our Rising Heroes and Young Legends classes. As a level 2 qualified coach with the British Council for Chinese Martial Arts, she continues to learn new skills and develop both her technical skills and also her coaching skills. Kelly started training in Karate orginally after watching her daughter train for many months and is a Black Belt. Last year she started learning Brazilian Jiu Jitsu to improve her groundwork skills.
Kelly particularly loves learning Kata and finding the depth in each one, she says “I find it is good for the mind as well as the body.” Kelly loves coaching and seeing the positive changes it brings the students, not just in their Martial Arts skills but in personal skills too, like confidence and discipline.
Edward Andrews
Ed has been training now for 19 years and holds Black Belts in both Karate and Kickboxing and is a level 2 qualified coach. Ed leads our Boxing Programme and adults sparring classes in Basingstoke and brings his skills to bear in our Jo (staff) courses and also Nunchaku. As a competitor he has won Gold Medals in Chinese Kickboxing for full contact fighting, Karate fighting, Kung Fu Weapons and Karate Kata. He has also won amateur Boxing matches. A somewhat versatile competitor. He enjoys training now in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Muay Thai and Kickboxing.
His favourite thing about coaching is giving kids a safe place to enjoy themselves and learn good lessons about life while learning useful skills.
Agnese Lyne
Agnese was training with her two sons before they joining Shin Gi Tai, after finding her home here at Shin Gi Tai where all four of her family members are now thriving in their training.
She holds a Level 2 National Governing Body coaching qualification and is a Black Belt in karate plus a Blue and Black belt in Chinese Kickboxing. In the past couple of years she has expanded her horizons into Tai Chi and Aikido and is enjoy the subtle similarities between these Arts and Karate. She says that being a ‘white belt’ in these Arts helps to remind her on a weekly basis what it’s like to be a beginner in a Martial Art.
She says that the most important thing that this club gave her though, was the opportunity to start coaching children’s classes. She has been coaching for over 3 years now and says she has seen so many children improving their confidence through their karate training. Coaching her classes is Agnese’s favourite part of the week.
Jessica Muller
Jess is a 3rd Dan Black Belt in Karate and a past European Karate Champion. She is our most successful and consistent competitor winning 97 medals in National Karate, Kung Fu and Open competitions in both fighting and Kata. Jess has been training with us for nearly 20 years now and is a great example of what can achieved with persistance and correct training. Jess Leads our Karate class programme.
She has been coaching since 2010 and is a Sport England NGB Level 2 qualified coach. Jess is our clubs specialist nutritionist and can help with matters relating to nutrition and it’s effect on performance.
Jess enjoys motivating Kids and Adult’s in her classse and often leads by example with her showing the art of the possible.
Michelle Thakur
Michelle has been involved with the club for many years, first as a parent and then as a practictioner in her own right. Both Michelle and her daughter are Black Belts and train together in our Brown and Black belt classes. Michelle is a Level 2 qualified Coach from the British Council for Chinese Martial Arts. Michelle is also a Blue and Black belt in Chinese Kickboxing. You will find Michelle coaching in our Rising Heroes, Young Legends and Urban Warriors classes.
Michelle enjoys the technical aspects of Karate and working out how to make her Martial Arts practice work the best for her. As a coach she is very good at encouraging shy or nervous children into the mats to enjoy their first session.
Martin Wood
Martin has been a Tai Chi practitioner for many years now and as a British Council for Chinese Martial Arts Level 2 coach helps to lead our Tai Chi programmes.
Martin is fascinated by the depth of study that Tai Chi provides and is a stickler for attention to detail. Martin enjoys practicing Yang Chen Fu, the long form and is always ready to provide help and support on this or the other more complex forms.
Martin’s bywords in training are relax/soften and focus on your feet. Martin in his spare time is a member of a Blues Band.
Ryoko Norris
Ryoko trains with her two children and is a 2nd Dan in Karate. She trains in the Advanced classes with the other Brown and Black belts. In recent years she’s invested time in learning Tai Chi to to help her develop her overall Martial Arts skills and has started to improve her Aikido skills.
As a coach Ryoko helps our members to explore the deeper aspect of their Martial Arts training and to understand what that means for their personal practice.
Angela Lamacraft
Angela first became interested in Martial Arts when she joined in s class with her then four-year-old son’s online Karate classes during Covid to help him keep engaged.
After a while She joined the online ladies Karate classes and then the family class and ladies class in the dojo when it reopened.
As a Black Belt, in addition to her advanced classes, she now also trains in Tai Chi and Aikido as she loves the flow that can be found in Martial Arts. She says that this has helped her develop the connection between body, mind and spirit. Angela is a Black Belt in Karate. She’s really good at helping children who may be a little nervous to enjoy their training and to develop over time both technically and emotionally.
Fara D’Adamo
Fara, like many of our coaches started when one of her children started training, rapidly she’s grown to love her training.
She trains in the adult’s class, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Tai Chi.
Fara is a Black Belt in Karate and is working her way through her BJJ belts now as well as learning Tai Chi to help her relax.
Fara enjoys teaching Forms and Kata and helping our members to get the best from learning them.
Wayne Roberts
Wayne is a 3rd Dan Black Belt and has been training with us for over 16 years. You’ll find Wayne coaching in our traditional Karate classes.
In the past Wayne has competed for us, nowadays he focuses on both his own Martial Arts development and also helping newer members of the club to develop the right skills for longevity in their Martial Arts training.
Wayne is good at encouraging members to try the art of the possible and to go past self imposed beliefs.
Samantha Hallin
Sam is a fully qualified children’s Martial Arts Coach and Assistant adult Coach.
She has over 9 years of extensive experience in various Martial Arts disciplines including practicing with us at Shin Gi Tai
She brings with this a huge passion for teaching and mentoring members of all ages.
Georgina Andrews
Georgina is our Marketing and Social Media Manager as well as part of our customer support team. Georgina joined us in 2024 after completing her degree in Biological and Medical Sciences.
She enjoys playing and watching football and has a passion for music.
Georgina loves to travel – her favourite country she has travelled to is Thailand and she would love to visit New Zealand next!
Ian Hughes
Ian started his martial arts journey 15 years ago training and teaching Cho Kwang Do, a modern Korean self-defence art where he reached 2nd Dan Black Belt brown tag. The idea was initially to have an activity to do with his son. Over time his daughter and wife also joined the training and coaching.
Several years ago Ian started Tai Chi with us and found himself a new Martial Arts family at Shin Gi Tai.
He enjoys learning new things but also helping others find their way through different ways of explaining and thinking.
He enjoys blending technology and traditional Martial Arts for the best of both worlds.
Hayley Twist
Hayley is one of our Ladies Kickboxing Coaches and she also practice Boxing as well.
Hayley’s sense of humour is great during classes when she’s coaching, it really helps the ladies in our Kickboxing classes drive forward.
As a coach, she loves to delve into the detail.
Zoe Saunders
Zoe is one of our Kickboxing coaches. She’s been a Silver Medallist in the GB National Kung Fu championships.
Zoe loves working on the kickbags practicing her kicks and punches.
Ann White
I began my Martial Arts Training in 1984 in a small villlage’s Ambulance Hall training in Karate with Sensei Bryan.
Many years later, I found Tai Chi and since moving up from the West Country I have been training and teaching at Shin Gi Tai.
Ann enjoy’s finding those tiny little steps forward in their training to help our members improve their Tai Chi.
Alfie Nutland
Aflie is one of our Junior Coaches and assists in Classes. He trains in the adult’s Martial Arts classes, Muay Thai, Boxing and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Alfie is a British Champion in Chinese Kickboxing.
Noah Marais
Noah is one of our Junior Coaches and assists in classes. . He trains in the Cadets, adult’s Martial Arts classes, Muay Thai, Boxing and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. He is a four time British champion in Light Sanda.
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