Sempai Gary Steven Herwig

Sempai Herwig tested for and was promoted to the rank of Nidan at the 2002 Summer Gashuku. At that time, he was named Director of the Phoenix Karate-do Association's Promotion Review Panel, and, two years thereafter, he became the first person to satisfy all of the requirements for designation as Full Certified Instructor pursuant to the Phoenix Karate-do Association's Phoenix Instructors' Program. Although he lives in Towson, Maryland, he trains and teaches regularly in the Frederick and Rockville dojos.

Sempai Herwig graduated with honors from Mount Saint Mary's University in 1991, having designed his own interdisciplinary Bachelor of Arts program in English and Philosophy. He subsequently studied for a brief period in a graduate program in English Education at the College of Notre Dame of Maryland, and, in 2005, he realized a long-held goal by receiving his Juris Doctor from the University of Baltimore School of Law.

Sempai began training formally in the martial arts in September, 1987, two weeks after entering the Mount for his freshman year of college. He is best known for his strong espousal of the Oriental philosophies that underlie the study and practice of karate-do, and his classes are marked by rigorous training with emphases on kihon and physical conditioning.

Sempai Herwig may be reached telephonically at 410-665-1771 and/or by e-mail at garysherwig@hotmail.com.