Instructor Biography - Johnny Collins

I started my journey in Kenpo back in the late seventies with black belt David Roberts who had a club in Lucan, Co. Dublin. I remember having great sparring sessions with school mates there, no fancy gloves or pads the only protection was a groin guard.

I joined Celbridge Kenpo Karate Academy in 1990 under the instruction of Mr. Ed Downey. I started as a white belt and worked to 2nd Degree Brown in five years. I had a great time with this club learned lots, gained much valuable experience and travelled extensively in Europe and the USA, working with some of the most experienced and respected Kenpo practitioners in the world.

One of the highlights of my time with this club was our trip to the 1992 Internationals in Long Beach California with Professor Downey. It was a great tournament for me; I was sparring in the green belt division. There were at least sixty others in this division. I won a place medal which was great but the most important lesson from this for me was that the Kenpo students in Ireland are more then capable of competing with the best in the world.

Another highlight of this trip was that I got to train at Mr Parker’s first school in Pasadena California and visit Mrs Parker at the Parker home also in Pasadena.

I moved from Celbridge in 1997, and our family also grew with our first daughter born in 1998 …by the way she is now Junior Blue Belt training in Portlaoise Kenpo Karate. We moved to Portlaoise in 2004 and my daughter and I joined Portlaoise Kenpo in 2006. I have being working with the Instructors and students of the club to date and enjoy being an Instructor in the studio as well as advancing my own Kenpo knowledge.

The best self defence technique I have ever learned is ‘not to get involved in a fight in the first place’….

Johnny.