www.military.ie the defence forces magazine
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by SGT WAYNE FITZGERALD PhotoS by SGT KARL
BYRNE & CPL NEVILLE COUGHLAN
A
ndy Ryan joined the Defence Forces in 1994 and served
with 2 Cav Sqn until 2002. A practitioner of judo since
the age of six, Andy was an integral member of the DF
Judo team and competed in the discipline at the CISM World
Military Games in Croatia in 1999, as well as being long-serving
member of the 2 bde Pentathlon team. Andy won ten Irish judo
championships, three European judo championships, and a
world championship bronze medal in brazilian jiu-jitsu a martial
art and combat sport that fuses judo and traditional Japanese
jujutsu and focuses mainly on grappling and ground fighting
techniques. Its founders modified judo and traditional Japanese
jujutsu to create the art.
Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) was only starting in 1998 when
Andy became interested in it while coaching in clubs in Killester
and Portmarnock. "I was always into martial arts: judo, boxing,
wrestling," Andy says, "and I've been involved in coaching at differ-
ent levels over the years."
In 2000 Andy broke an ankle while training for the Olympics
and subsequently retired from judo to focus on coaching, going
on to complete coaching courses in judo, boxing and wrestling
with Sport Ireland (Irish Sports Council).
In 2005 he founded his own club, Ryano, the name of which
incorporates Andy's surname, Ryan, and rhino, as most clubs use
an animal in their title/logo. The main sports conducted in the
Team Ryano Gym are MMA and Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
"We have a lot of military guys coming in to train," he says, "as
in
Martial
Arts
well as other frontline service person-
nel such as gardaí, firemen and prison
officers. We also have underage Euro-
pean and World amateur champions,
right up to two professional UFC
fighters, training in Team Ryano."
Team Ryano now has affiliated
gyms under its banner in Belfast,
Lurgan, Derry, Colraine, Finglas,
Donaghmede, Kilkenny, Waterford,
Portlaoise, Limerick and Galway.
contact details: Team Ryano, Unit
5, Finglas Business Centre, James-
town Road, Finglas, Dublin 11. Ph:
0851464737 – email: info@teamry-
ano.com www.teamryano.com
