History of Portlaoise Kenpo Karate
Kenpo Karate was first taught in Portlaoise in about 1999 by John Grierson. John was a student of Ed Downey in Celbridge and at the time of opening the club, he was a Brown Belt in Kenpo. John did well with his club and it grew to a good number of students. In 2001, he was successful in testing for his 1st Degree Black Belt. Soon after this however, due to family commitments, John had to move back to his native Sunderland in the UK.
The club was then taken over by Steven McKeown who also a Brown Belt training in the Celbridge School. Steven took over the club with gusto and continued the good work that John had started. After a couple of years, as bad luck would have it, Steven too, due to family commitments could no longer continue the running of the club.
The reigns were then handed over to Barry Hooper and Danny McGinley. Barry was a Brown Belt who lived in Portlaoise and trained in the Portlaoise club with Steven and in Celbridge also. Danny was Tae Kwon Do Black Belt training in Kenpo in Portlaoise. Barry and Danny did a great job bringing on the club and gained many new students while progressing themselves in the Art.
In late 2006 Darren and Antonia Mahony moved into the Laois area. Darren was a 3rd Degree Black Belt under Ed Downey and Antonia was a 2nd. Darren and Antonia helped out in the Portlaoise club whenever they could and Barry and Danny were very welcoming to them. In early 2007, Barry and Danny approached the Mahony’s with a proposition. They wanted to step back from being the club’s main instructors so they could concentrate on their own training and asked Darren and Antonia to take over the club. They agreed and have been the main Instructors in Portlaoise ever since along with the help of Danny and Johnny Collins who are their senior students.
Portlaoise Kenpo trained for the most part in the Macra na Feirme hall in Portlaoise. However, the hall was becoming very run down and the club moved to Portlaoise Parish Centre where it operated for a year and a half. The next chapter is that we now have a permanent and full time home for Portlaoise Kenpo Karate in our new studio which is a fantastic 2000sq ft facility that is a huge boost to the members of Portlaoise Kenpo Karate and Martial Arts in the Midland region.
In addition to the new studio Darren and Antonia also designed a patch for Portlaoise Kenpo which can be seen on this site.
