KARATE: A BOROUGH man has ended his lifelong karate career to help teach the next generation of black belt fighters.
Greg Hegarty first started karate as a youngster and hasn’t looked back since.
His talent has led him to competing all over the world – bagging multiple gold medals along the way at teams events and at the World and European Championships.
But, 19 years after competing in his first senior competition, Greg has decided to call it a day – and he hopes he can pass on some of his expert moves to the next generation of fighters in the borough.
Greg leads the Solihull Karate Academy, a club which already has its own international star.
Fifteen-year-old Nial Gilligan bagged a bronze medal at this year’s World Championship with Team GB.
And Greg hopes Nial’s medal is the first of many to be brought back to Solihull.
He said: “I want to help my students achieve their dreams and aspirations and gain the fantastic life experience I’ve had through competing and travelling with karate to different countries.”
