Feb 18, 2016
Kilkerrin January Student of the Month
Well done to Kilkerrin Karate club member Joey and Micheala winners on Student of the Month in January. Also pictured is Seán taking home teddy for the week.
Feb 17, 2016
Dunmore Karate Kids Student of the Month
Dunmore Karate Kids Leah and Rueben win Little Wolves Student of the Month.
Tommy and Sabhdh win Childrens class Student of the Month
Well done guys , keep up the great work.
Well done guys , keep up the great work.Feb 15, 2016
Thursday Tuam Student of the Month
Karate Kids Little Wolves winners of the Student of the month
Advanced Little Wolves Milo and Calem
Beginners Little Wolves Abbie and Orry.
Advanced Little Wolves Milo and CalemBeginners Little Wolves Abbie and Orry.Feb 14, 2016
Meet the Teddies
Karate Teddies took a big move from Strabane to Galway to visit Galway homes and families. They are two little furry brothers travelling around meeting new people. Catch up with them on
FaceBook - Teddy Faolchu
Instagram - karateteddies
Snapchat - KarateTeddie
FaceBook - Teddy Faolchu
Instagram - karateteddies
Snapchat - KarateTeddie
Feb 13, 2016
IMAF Tournament
The Irish branch of the International Martial Arts Federation Europe hosted teams from Germany and Belgium for an international contest, held in the Ballina Sports Centre on Saturday 30th of January. Featuring competition for the disciplines of Karate Kata, Weapon Kata, Sword Fighting and Kumite (Karate Point Fighting), there were over 250 entries from young children to veteran competitors.
The competition was preceded by two seminars on the Friday evening when the Moy Valley Freestyle Dojo in Ballina hosted Vicky Fricke from Germany who focused her presentation on Japanese Jujutsu. At the same time, the Faolchu Dojo in Tuam was hosting a Karate seminar with Vicky’s husband, Jens Fricke. The feedback from both seminars was very positive as both instructors are very experienced at delivering lessons in an informative, but enjoyable way.
On the Saturday morning the competition began, and the event was introduced by Martin O’Malley, Chairman of the Irish branch of the federation. Deputy Michelle Mulherin was in attendance on the morning, and opening her address to the group she offered a multi-lingual welcome, much to the delight of the international teams. Deputy Mulherin went on to congratulate all involved on the organisation and running of the event, and in particular the local Moy Valley Freestyle group under Mr. Harry Thompson, who had done so much work to secure the hosting of such a prestigious event. This had taken a lot of hard work on their behalf, but offered great opportunities for the promotion and development of martial arts as a minority activity in the area, and to showcase Ballina and its sporting facilities on an international level. Closing her speech, Deputy Mulherin wished all of the competitors the very best in their competitions.
These sentiments were reiterated by Cllr Jarlath Munnelly, who welcomed all the visitors to Ireland and to the town of Ballina. Councillor Munnelly also spoke as a parent whose child had recently begun martial arts practice, and of his admiration of the discipline, dedication and determination of all the people involved. He too wished the contestants well in the competitions.
Finally, Jens Fricke spoke on behalf of the International Martial Arts Federation, Europe where he outlined the basic concept of the federation as one which brings martial artists together for mutual education and friendly competition. He congratulated the Irish branch on the organisation of the event, and he too wished the contestants well in the event.
With the formalities out of the way, the day began with Karate Kata for children aged 4 and 5 years and progressed through the age groups to the over 35’s. There were some excellent demonstrations of Shotokan, Shorin-ryu, Shito-ryu and Goju-ryu Kata, and earning a medal was extremely tough. This was followed by the second form of demonstration competition, the Weapons Kata division. With demonstrations of the Katana (sword), Nunchaku, Tuifa (baton), Bo (staff), and Sai (Truncheon) the skill of the participants was really revealed by the dexterity of their weapon manipulation and control.
After the initial medal presentations, it was on to the ‘combat’ divisions. These began with the ever popular Kengeki (sword fighting) divisions. Using foam swords to strike the targets, the children thoroughly enjoyed this division, while the older age groups saw some fierce competition among the teams. The day closed with the Kumite (Karate Point Fighting) divisions, where again there were some great battles between closely matched fighters. Earning a medal was certainly a tough challenge, but all three nations took their fair share.
The feedback after the event was very positive with Kris Tunen, the head of the Belgian delegation requesting the dates for the 2017 edition as soon as possible. Similarly, Jens Fricke who was there as head of the German group said that he and his team thoroughly enjoyed the whole weekend, and are looking forward to the next chance to be back in Ireland.
From an Irish point of view, Martin O’Malley told us that ‘creating these events is not easy and I want to thank everyone involved, the local hosts Harry Thompson and his team at Moy Valley who arranged the competition, the Civil Defence for providing the first aid cover, and the Ballina Leisure Centre for their excellent facilities, and of course, I want to thank both Deputy Mulherin and Cllr Munnelly for showing their support for the event’. Martin added that he would ‘also want to say thank you to all those who travelled to officiate at the event and who worked hard to ensure that it all ran smoothly. Lastly, I want to thank all those who turned up to take part in the competition. Without that support we could not have had the success we did’.
The competition was preceded by two seminars on the Friday evening when the Moy Valley Freestyle Dojo in Ballina hosted Vicky Fricke from Germany who focused her presentation on Japanese Jujutsu. At the same time, the Faolchu Dojo in Tuam was hosting a Karate seminar with Vicky’s husband, Jens Fricke. The feedback from both seminars was very positive as both instructors are very experienced at delivering lessons in an informative, but enjoyable way.
On the Saturday morning the competition began, and the event was introduced by Martin O’Malley, Chairman of the Irish branch of the federation. Deputy Michelle Mulherin was in attendance on the morning, and opening her address to the group she offered a multi-lingual welcome, much to the delight of the international teams. Deputy Mulherin went on to congratulate all involved on the organisation and running of the event, and in particular the local Moy Valley Freestyle group under Mr. Harry Thompson, who had done so much work to secure the hosting of such a prestigious event. This had taken a lot of hard work on their behalf, but offered great opportunities for the promotion and development of martial arts as a minority activity in the area, and to showcase Ballina and its sporting facilities on an international level. Closing her speech, Deputy Mulherin wished all of the competitors the very best in their competitions.
These sentiments were reiterated by Cllr Jarlath Munnelly, who welcomed all the visitors to Ireland and to the town of Ballina. Councillor Munnelly also spoke as a parent whose child had recently begun martial arts practice, and of his admiration of the discipline, dedication and determination of all the people involved. He too wished the contestants well in the competitions.
Finally, Jens Fricke spoke on behalf of the International Martial Arts Federation, Europe where he outlined the basic concept of the federation as one which brings martial artists together for mutual education and friendly competition. He congratulated the Irish branch on the organisation of the event, and he too wished the contestants well in the event.
With the formalities out of the way, the day began with Karate Kata for children aged 4 and 5 years and progressed through the age groups to the over 35’s. There were some excellent demonstrations of Shotokan, Shorin-ryu, Shito-ryu and Goju-ryu Kata, and earning a medal was extremely tough. This was followed by the second form of demonstration competition, the Weapons Kata division. With demonstrations of the Katana (sword), Nunchaku, Tuifa (baton), Bo (staff), and Sai (Truncheon) the skill of the participants was really revealed by the dexterity of their weapon manipulation and control.
After the initial medal presentations, it was on to the ‘combat’ divisions. These began with the ever popular Kengeki (sword fighting) divisions. Using foam swords to strike the targets, the children thoroughly enjoyed this division, while the older age groups saw some fierce competition among the teams. The day closed with the Kumite (Karate Point Fighting) divisions, where again there were some great battles between closely matched fighters. Earning a medal was certainly a tough challenge, but all three nations took their fair share.
The feedback after the event was very positive with Kris Tunen, the head of the Belgian delegation requesting the dates for the 2017 edition as soon as possible. Similarly, Jens Fricke who was there as head of the German group said that he and his team thoroughly enjoyed the whole weekend, and are looking forward to the next chance to be back in Ireland.
From an Irish point of view, Martin O’Malley told us that ‘creating these events is not easy and I want to thank everyone involved, the local hosts Harry Thompson and his team at Moy Valley who arranged the competition, the Civil Defence for providing the first aid cover, and the Ballina Leisure Centre for their excellent facilities, and of course, I want to thank both Deputy Mulherin and Cllr Munnelly for showing their support for the event’. Martin added that he would ‘also want to say thank you to all those who travelled to officiate at the event and who worked hard to ensure that it all ran smoothly. Lastly, I want to thank all those who turned up to take part in the competition. Without that support we could not have had the success we did’.
Feb 12, 2016
JKS National Championships
Congratulations to Faolchú Karate Club members Dominik, Kieron, Regan, Shauna, Matthew, Ciaran, Jayden, Conor, Alyssa and Conor who travelled and competed at the JKS Nationals in Dublin. They once again did us proud returning victorious with 1 Gold, 3 Silver, 3 Bronze. A big thanks to our students for always stepping up and challenging themselves and our helpers on the day Colin, Caroline and Mark.
Feb 5, 2016
Friday Student of the Month
Sebastion and Giovani win our Friday Childrens class student of the Month, keep up the good work.
Feb 4, 2016
Tuesday Little Wolves Student of the Month
Karate kids Little Wolves Tuesday classes. Two Cillians win!!
And advanced Little Wolves Arsen .
Well done to all the boys, keep up the good work.
Feb 3, 2016
Clonberne Student of the Month
Well done to Ailish and Seán on winning student of the month in Clonberne for January. Keep up the good work.
Feb 2, 2016
Karate is Awesome
Ladies are totally kicking butt with Faolchú Karate Club in our new Tuesday daytime (10am) Ladies only class and our Monday evening (7:45pm) Girls only teenagers class.
This is our first run of these specialised classes and they are proving to be a great success. A class for women by women. Feel free to pop along and join in, send you sisters ,mothers and daughters. Get fit, have fun and learn self defence.
This is our first run of these specialised classes and they are proving to be a great success. A class for women by women. Feel free to pop along and join in, send you sisters ,mothers and daughters. Get fit, have fun and learn self defence.
Feb 1, 2016
Wednesday Student of the Month
Well done to Karate kids Seanan and Jack, hard working karateka, Wednesday class student of the month winners
Results from IMAF National Tournament
Fantastic medal haul from the recent IMAF tournament in Ballina. Well done to everyone who participated and make sure to bring in your score cards to be entered in competitor of the year.
Kata
1st – Alyssa Fahy
Regan Warde
Sean Flemming
Ciaran Flemming
2nd - Matthew Friel
Kiera Dempsey
3rd- Kelly Gibsey
Laura Daly
Clara Muller
Sander Muller
Kenjitsu
1st – Regan Warde
Kieran Friel
2nd - Kiera Dempsey
Alyssa Fahy
3rd- Zoe Flemming
Zak Flaherty
Devin Tierney
Kumite
1st – Jasmine Flaherty
Sander Muller
Sean Flemming
Shauna Flynn
Zak Flaherty
Regan Warde
2nd - Kelly Gibsey
Kiera Dempsey
Keiran Friel
Devin Tierney
3rd- Zak Flaherty
Laura Daly
Dominic Rogaliski