|
|
 |
You are > Home > New Martial Arts centre opens in Castlebar
|
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
New Martial Arts centre opens in Castlebar
WHITE Tiger Martial Arts have just opened their new Training Centre in the McHale Road Business Park, Castlebar.
The facility will see the club offer classes throughout the week in a centralised venue. White Tiger Martial Arts, originally founded as a Karate club grew over the years to include training in Kickboxing and Haedong Kumdo (Korean Sword Training). Now after over a decade of activity, the group has its new home in Castlebar where students will have the opportunity to train in a variety of Martial Arts classes on a weekly basis.
The Karate of White Tiger Martial Arts was originally only Shotokan Karate, a Japanese style of Karate, however, after many years of training, Martin O’Malley travelled to Okinawa to meet and train under Karate legend Soke Takayoshi Nagamine.
The culmination of this travel and training came when Soke Nagamine awarded Martin his Black Belt in Matsubayashi Shorin-ryu Karate. Shorin-ryu is one of the oldest styles of Karate in the world and can trace its history back through the millennia.
Using strikes, kicks, throws and grappling, and supplemented by traditional Okinawan weapons training, Shorin-ryu is one of the most comprehensive self-protection systems in the world today. Incidentally, Martin was the first Irish person to be awarded his Black Belt by Soke Nagamine at the World Headquarters in Okinawa.
When Martin received permission to teach Shorin-ryu Karate from Soke Nagamine, two of the longest serving students of White Tiger Laura Fahey and Rosemary Duffy took over the instruction of Shotokan within White Tiger. Both Laura and Rosemary were former IJKA National Kata and Kumite Champions in Shotokan and both have represented Ireland in both Karate and Kickboxing numerous times.
Haedong Kumdo, which is a 1,500 year old Korean Sword Style, was brought to Ireland after a chance meeting between Martin O’Malley and Grandmaster Kim Jeong Seong from Korea at an event in Germany.
Martin began training in the style shortly after this meeting, eventually becoming the first Irish person to be awarded a Black Belt in the style by Grandmaster Kim. Now holding a 2nd Dan, Martin and his first Black Belt student, Russell Colman, teach Haedong Kumdo in the Castlebar venue weekly. Haedong Kumdo uses Forms, Partnerwork and Cutting practice to perfect the skills of the sword and both men were among only a handful of Europeans to have trained at the World Headquarters in Busan, South Korea.
By far one of the most successful competitive clubs in Mayo for many years, the Kickboxing classes of White Tiger Martial Arts are divided into Continuous Kickboxing under Martin O’Malley and Points Kickboxing under Damien Gormley. Kickboxing is an exciting sport and numerous students of both men have represented Ireland at European and World level with several World Champions coming from the club.
Damien himself was recently honoured by being listed in the top ten referee’s in the World along with Des Leonard from Sligo, and both men have been requested to travel to Beijing later in 2010 to officiate at the Sport Accord World Games. Martin was one of the first people in Mayo to teach competitive Kickboxing and holds a 3rd Dan with the Allstyles Kickboxing Association of Ireland.
Martin felt that through this new centre they hoped to provide ‘opportunities for those involved and those who wish to become involved in Martial Arts training to come and to learn one of the disciplines and gain the benefits which I feel I have received from my own personal training in an appropriate facility, with all the equipment necessary available to them.’ According to Damien Gormley ‘the benefits of Martial Arts are fantastic, from physical fitness to confidence to self protection skills, this is something which anyone can become involved in and anyone can succeed in’.
With a full range of classes for children from 4 years of age through to adults-only classes, there certainly will be something for everyone at the new Martial Arts Centre. White Tiger has continued its policy of not-forprofit by charging just 25 per month for membership which Martin feels ‘works out at about 3 per session, and it goes towards paying the costs for the centre. It’s not a lot of money per class, but it keeps the centre open and helps us to provide more opportunities for people to be involved in Martial Arts’.
For information on training in Shorin-ryu Karate, Haedong Kumdo and Kickboxing people can contact Martin at 087-6407263. For information on Points Kickboxing people can contact Damien at 087-2951006 or for information on Shotokan Karate people can contact Laura at 087-9900904 or Rosemary at 087-9871068.
Main News Page |
Previous Page
|
|
|
|
Facebook
