Club History

Irish Shotokan Academy was formed in 2009 by sensei Liam Gorman 2^nd dan in the Tullamore leisure centre (Aura) in Cloncollig.

The aim of the club was to teach karate and self-defence without the politics that usually comes with clubs and our mission is to encourage and teach our students the principles and ethics of Shotokan Karate.

We have grown from strength to strength in the first year getting a very good reputation in the martial arts circles.

Over the year we had a number of guest instructors including a very enjoyable class with master Paul McGowan a 5^th dan in Hapkido who is originally from Tullamore.

Also paying a visit was sensei Artie Speight 4^th dan from Belfast who put on an inspiring course for us.

Sensei Brett Halliday 6^th dan , has been a regular visitor to us showing his dynamic karate style.

In April of this year Liam joined forces with sensei Gerard McCarthy 3rd dan and his club in Edenderry and in August 2011 we did opening a new club in Clara.

Over the coming years we hope to compete in local and international karate events and also bring in top class instructors from around the world to help develop Shotokan karate in Ireland.

Finally we would like to thank sensei Brett Halliday for his inspiration and help over the first of many years.