Official Sponsor

Harry Gorter

see the Shihan Harry Gorter page for profile

Henk Riethorst

Sensei Henk Riethorst is not only both the left and right hand of Shihan Harry Gorter. but is also the most senior student of Harry, with whom he started training over 20 years ago. Before he came in contact with Harry, he trained some boxing and wrestling.
He started with Kyokushin at Shihan Harry Gorter’s dojo in Terborg. He changed to Ashihara when Harry changed to it in the years 1989/1990 and trains and instructs Ashihara till today. Together with Harry he runs the Zelhem dojo.  Besides being a certified ashihara instructor, he is also a certified instructor in Pancrase and Kyokushin-Budokai.
Sensei Henk holds 3rd dan in Ashihara Karate.

Franco Tigele

Franco Tigele was born on 19 February 1967 in Winterswijk, Holland. He started training karate when he was 4 years old in a gym called ‘Kakara’ in Deventer. The style he trained in was Kyokushin and he continued till 1992. After that he trained only in the summer, because Shihan Jahja Tigele (6 dan), who also happened to be his father, and a student of Jon Bluming (10 dan), stayed only in the summer period in Holland.
In 1978, he received his 1 kyu and in 1991, he received his black belt.
The sports he practiced other than karate  are:  Judo, wrestling, pencak silat, kickboxing, aikido, kendo and power lifting. His main interest stayed with karate.
In 2001, he came in contact with an old student of Shihan Tigele, Shihan Harry Gorter. From that moment he started training ashihara karate. He respects the way the Shihan teaches Ashihara karate and to him it is the most based on reality. His opinion is based on his over 26 years of experience as a bouncer, CQ security guard. Currently he holds a 2 dan in Ashihara Karate . He is thankful to Shihan Harry Gorter and Kaicho Hoosain Narker, who came to Holland to promote him in person. Osu !!

Piet Lemoine

Piet Lemoine was born in Velsen on the 30th of August 1978. At the age of 7 he started training in Kyokushin. He did that for 3 years. When he was 15 he moved with his parents to Doetinchem. There when he was 17 years old he started training in Ashihara under leadership of Shihan Harry Gorter assisted by Henk Riethorst. He was very impressed by the efficiency of Ashihara Karate. 
Besides Ashihara he also trained Pancrase (Bas Rutten free fight) under leadership of Harry Gorter /Henk Riethorst and got trained by Bas Rutten himself on several occasions.
Piet is currently a nidan and follows the Ashihara instructor course led by Harry Gorter. He likes Ashihara very much and he hopes to develop himself much more in the coming decades! He will never stop training he says.

Niels Bergervoet

Niels Bergervoet was born in Doetinchem, on the 17th of October 1983.
In 1998, at the age of 14, Niels started training Ashihara karate. He joined the Ashihara school in his hometown Zelhem. Before training Ashihara, Niels trained gymnastics for a few years and had a few months experience with judo. He joined Ashihara karate, because he had always taken an interest in martial arts and was impressed by the first Ashihara karate lesson he took.
Niels never trained at other karate schools, but participated in several seminars and training camps, where he came in contact with other styles. In 2005 he took an escrima knife fighting instructors course, together with other Ashihara karate members. Currently he is following an Ashihara karate instructors course under the guidance of Shihan Harry Gorter.
Besides Ashihara karate Niels trains two or three times a week in a gym to keep in good shape. Not only to stay in good health, but also because it is a big advantage for practicing martial arts if you are in a good physical condition.
Currently Niels lives in the city of Arnhem and he travels twice a week back to his old hometown Zelhem to follow Ashihara karate lessons. Shihan Harry Gorter and Sensei Henk Riethorst still train him, as they have been doing since 1998. Niels is currently a 2nd dan and he hopes to achieve 3rd dan level in the oncoming years. He likes Ashihara karate because for the reason that it is realistic and street based, and because he is still learning new things, even after 12 years of training. In the future he hopes he will be able to start his own Ashihara karate school together with his brother Dennis .

Sait Kose

Sait Köse was born in Ortaköy, Turkey, 20th February 1975. At the age of 3 he migrated with his parents to Holland. In 1991 he started training Ashihara karate in Doetinchem with Shihan Harry Gorter. He was one of the first students in Doetinchem after Harry fully migrated from Kyokushin to Ashihara. Sait participated with success in several tournaments and became a member of the Dutch team where he trained with fighters of the calibre of Sem Schilt.
Because of studies, he moved to Amsterdam and he had to stop the regular training in Ashihara. But that did not stop him from training occasionally with Harry. In Amsterdam he took lessons in Aikido and did some kick boxing, but he missed Ashihara greatly. After his studies, Sait moved to Deventer where he was able to continue his Ashihara training in Zelhem.
Sait follows the instructor course led by Shihan Harry Gorter and he is working towards his shodan.

Dennis Bergervoet

Dennis Bergervoet was born in Doetinchem, the 19th of February 1987.
After playing soccer for seven years Dennis started with Ashihara karate in 2003. At that time he was 16 years old. The karate school he joined was based in Zelhem, the Netherlands, and it still is. He trains two times a week under the command of Shihan Harry Gorter and Sensei Henk Riethorst. Since 5 years he lives in Arnhem and studies in Nijmegen but still he still comes to training twice a week.
Besides the karate training in Zelhem he also followed a Escrima knife fighting course in Rotterdam together with other Ashihara members in 2005. And in 2009 he started with the Ashihara instructors Course led by Harry Gorter. At this time he is 1st kyu and he hopes to get his first Dan in the end of 2010. 
One of his goals for the next years is to succeed the Ashihara instructors course, get more teaching experience en hopefully being able to start his own gym in Arnhem together with his brother who also is an Ashihara member.

Henk de Vries

Henk de Vries was born in Amsterdam, the 17th of July 1958.
He started with karate when he was 16 years old. The karate school was called kui-sun and based in Amsterdam. Shihan Paul van Koningshoven (8th dan) was the instructor. The sensei was Ludwig Kotzebue (the later world champion with the Dutch team).
The style he trained was wado-ryu and genwa-kai. He took his first dan examination in 1979, just before he had to go in the army as a conscripted soldier. In 1981, he took his second dan examination.
Unfortunately the shihan emigrated to Thailand, so there was nobody to fill in for his 3rd dan training. He decided to stop with karate, also because he met his wife and emigrated to England. After 6 months, he came back to Holland and moved to Deventer in 1999.
Between 1987 and 2008, he kept fit with running (half marathon) and keep fit. He also took up taekwondo for a year with master Kim in Hoofddorp, where he used to live.
In 2008, he found information about Ashihara under leadership of Harry Gorter. He was impressed with the information and decided to inquire. Harry gave him the opportunity to train at his school in Zelhem. It was a big change to the type of training Henk was used to and had to adapt. After nearly 2 years, he is still enjoying the training and he is pleased with the instructors course he follows. He trains as much as possible, but mainly on Friday’s as he works shifts.

Jochem van Erkelens

Jan Snakenborg (Technical Advisor)

Instructors Belgium