!!! New On-line Photo Gallery !!! 

Classes start again

Taekwon-do classes have resumed on Friday afternoons at 2pm in the central area. There will be some classes on Mondays as well. The dates and grades for the Monday classes will be posted on this website and the school notice board in advance so make sure you keep checking for updates! Upcoming classes

Friday 26th Sept - Class 2-3

Monday 29th Sept - No class

Friday 3rd Oct - Class 2-3

Monday 6th Oct -Class 4-5

Friday 10th Oct - No class

Monday 13th Oct - Class 4-5

Friday 17th Oct- No class

Monday 20th Oct- Class 4-5

Friday 24th Oct - Class 4-5 

Miss Cullen graduates as Level 1 coach

The Irish Martial Arts Commission (IMAC) in conjunction with the Irish Sports Council held the graduation for Level 1 coaches last weekend in Lucan. Those who graduated were the first IMAC members to graduate as Level 1 coaches. This is an NCTC and Irish Sports Council certification.

Miss Cullen was among approx 20 ITA instructors who graduated and 9 others of these were from County Clare, again continuing to build the strength of ITA Taekwon-do in the county. Miss Cullen is intending to take part in the Level 2 training course which will hopefully take place next summer.

4 Scoil Mhuire students promoted at recent grading

The Clare summer grading took place in Quin last Sunday, July 6th. It was a very big grading with 140 students testing throughout the day. Scoil Mhuire was represented well with a high standard from the four girls who tested. Breda Devitt was promoted to yellow belt while Tara, Sharon and Eimear Howley were all promoted to green tag. Special congratulations to Tara who received her green tag with distinction.

Summer classes to finish

Unfortunately Wednesday July 2nd will be the final night of sumer training in Scoil Mhuire. Classes will resume in September. Any students who wish to continue training are more than welcome to attend classes in other Clare schools. Click here for more info.

Miss Cullen promoted to Second Dan

Congratulations to Miss Cullen, Scoil Mhuire instructor, who was promoted to II Dan Black Belt, at the ITA black belt testing on June 29th 2008 in Integrity Martial Arts Academy. The promotions panel on the day were Mr. Wheatley VI Dan, Mr. O'Rourke VI Dan and Mr. Cooley V Dan. Also promoted on the day were members from Shannon, Ennis, Barefield and a number of Mr Cooley's students from Integrity Martial Arts and Rivervalley.

Miss Cullen is pictured here with her instructor and Scoil Mhuire examiner, Mr. Stephen Ryan and also ITA president Mr. Ken Wheatley.

List of promotions:

Sponsored Walk

Plesae bring in sponsorhip money to class on Wednesday.

ITA Summer Camp

This ITA summer camp will take place in Mt. Melleray Scout Cetnre, Cappoquin, Co. Waterford this coming 11th - 14th July. The camp is open to all competitors and dedicated Taekwon-do students over the age of ten years. The camp will involve intensive training with national and international instructors. The activities will include sparring, patterns (team and individual), technical kicking and fundamental movements, self defence, special technique, and strength and flexibility based exercises. There will also be a number of fun games including basketball, volleyball, dodgeball, tag rugby and more!

The total cost of the camp is €160 per person which includes all classes, meals and accommodation. Students must arrange their own transport to the camp.

This summer camp has been a huge success in the past. If any students are interested in this excellent opportunity, please contact Miss Cullen in class or at scoilmhuiretkd@gmail.com

Prelim Success for Miss Cullen

Miss Cullen took part in a preliminary black belt grading In Ballyea yesterday along with 13 others. A preliminary grading is to ensure candidates are prepared and at the required standard to test for black belt. Miss Cullen, along with Miss Kangataran and Mr Park all successfully passed the prelim and wil test for second dan on 29th of June. 4 other Clare students also passed the prelim and will test for first dan black belt on the same day.

Well done to all involved and Good Luck on the 29th!!!

Summer Classes

Classes will continue during the summer holidays for June and July. The classes will take place in the central area of the school from 7 - 8.30 each Wednesday evening. There will be a grading at the end of June and at the start of July so anyone who s intending to take part in the grading must be attending clas through the summer.

The classes will cost €2 during the summer holidays.

Grading Success

Congratulations to the 12 girls who graded last Sunday. Mr. Ryan and Mr. Byrne conducted the intensive grading and were impressed again with the overall ability of the students in Scoi Mhuire.

Yellow tags:                          Yellow Belt:

Lisa Carkill                            Ciara Ryan

Rachel Keane                         Laura Neylon

Laura Commane                    Gráinne Donnellan

Pauline Kenneally                  Siobhán Donnellan

Jasmine Ashby                       Emma Vaughan

Aisling Talty

Aisling Talty 

Well done to all!

Students who did not attend this grading will possibly get the opportunity to grade again during the summer. There will be a grading on June 22nd and the weekend of July 5th.

Mr Wheatley visits Scoil Mhuire

Mr. Ken Wheatley, 6th Dan Black belt paid a visit to the students of Scoil Mhuire last Friday. He is the president of the Irish Taekwon-do Assocation (ITA) and is the highest black belt within the group. Mr. Wheatley is also the Technical Director of the ITA. The class consisted of some fun games as well as technical movements and some streching to prepare the girls for the upcoming grading on May 25th. Mr. Wheatley was very impressed with the overall standard and enthusiasm of the girls in Scoil Mhuire.

Mr Ryan Visiting Scoil Mhuire

Mr Stephen Ryan will take a class this Friday (May 1st) for all TKD students. All students, particularly those intending to grade in the upcoming months, are encouraged to attend.

Midwest Success!

Congratulations to Grainne Donnellan, Tara Howley and Laura Neylon who competed in the recent Midwest Taekwon-do Championships in LIT. All three competitors competed in the same patterns section - white/yellow belt - and Tara Howley took a silver medal. This was only Tara's second time to compete so Scoil Mhuire TKD is very proud of her success which is a reward for all the training she puts in.

Tara and Laura both competed in the sparring section. Tara competed for the first time in sparring and was unlucky not to win her fight. She came up against an experienced competitor but did not give her an easy time!! Laura was in a different section and fought her way to the final. This match was tougher than the others in the section and dispite an injury received, Laura did not give up and it was a close fight for the full round. She was unlucky not to take the gold but a silver medal in this tough section was a great achievement.

Upcoming Midwest Competition 

 All Scoil Mhuire TKD students are being encouraged to enter the upcoming Midwest tournament that will take place in LIT on April 27th. This competition is open to students up to and including 15 years of age. All students are eligible to enter the patterns section and any student who has sparring equipment may enter the sparring section. 

Classes back to normal

 So back to school means back to training! Classes are resuming as normal this Friday, April 4th from 2 - 3. There will be extra classes on some Mondays so please keep an eye here and on school notice boards.

Grading Success

Congratulations to 5 Scoil Mhuire students who passed the grading in Ballyea on Sunday. Catriona Killeen was successfully promoted to 9th Kup (yellow tag). Zarah Chapman, Tara Howley, Sharon Howley and Eimear Howley were all promoted to 8th Kup (yellow belt).

Mr. Ryan (Scoil Mhuire examiner) was accompanied by Mr. Adrian Byrne, Mr. Kevin Kinsella, Mr. Brian Coughlan and Mr. Jamie Rigney on the examining table and all examiners were impressed with the overall standard of Scoil Mhuire students on the day.

Cork Open Championship 

Congratualtions to Linda Keane, Sharon Howley and Tara Howley who were the first students to represent Scoil Mhuire TKD at a competition. The girls competed at the recent Cork Open Championship along with over 300 other juniors and cadets (up to 17 years). All 3 girls took part in the patterns section but were unfortunately not in the medal ranking but they did us proud! Well done!

Linda Keane was the only one to take part in the sparring which and brought home a first place trophy and fights mainly against girls of a higher grade. This didn't faze Linda though and she brilliantly fought her way to the trophy. Congrats Linda and we hope it's the first of many to come for Scoil Mhuire. Well done also to Angela Keane who trains with Mr. Kinsella in Ennis and who took a bronze medal in her patterns section.

Thanks also to Zarah Chapman, Breda Devitt and Eimear Howley, who travelled as supporters to cheer on the 3 girls. 

Check out the photos.

Back to Businesss!

So the Christmas holidays have come to an end which means Taekwon-do classes will be starting again this week on Friday (January 11th). Any new beginners are also welcome to come along. From next week on Miss CUllen will be conducting an extra class every second Monday. These classes will be grade specific. The following is the plan for the classes. This may change so keep an eye on school notice boards and this site:

Monday 14th January - Yellow Tags

Monday 28th January - White Belts / Beginners

Monday 4th February - Yellow Tags

Happy Christmas!!

On the last Friday class of term, the Scoil Mhuire TKD students presented Miss Cullen with a present and a fantastic card in thanks for the grading and with general Christmas wishes. Thanks girls!

The club will be taking Christmas holidays at the same time as the school itself so classes will resume on Friday 11th.

See photos from class here.

Successful Grading Day for all

 Friday December 7th saw the first grading for Scoil Mhuire TKD. 29 students in total were tested for 9th Kup - yellow tag - in front of examiners Mr. Stephen Ryan and Mr. Adrian Byrne. The girls were put through their paces being tested on technical movements, patterns, sparring, general stretching ability, breaking and theory. The examiners - who have high standards! - were impressed with the overall ability and performance of the Scoil Mhuire students. The grading followed a tough week for most students as they were also involved in the school musical Calamity Jane.

All students were successful in the grading but Eimear Howley achieved a distinction (pictured above with Roisin Shaughnessy and Lynne Kruse). Well done!!!

Click here for photos. 

Grading coming up!!!

The first grading for Scoil Mhuire will take place on Friday December 7th. Mr Ryan IV Degree will be joined by Mr Byrne IV Degree to conduct the grading which will take place during school time on Friday. Students will be called in groups of 6 and asked to perform all the techniques and exercises they have been learning over the past few months.

There will be no class after the grading this Friday but class will resume again as normal next week on the 14th.

Good luck to all involved in the grading!

Success at the Irish Cup

The 2nd Irish Cup competition took place last weekend in the National Basketball Arena in Tallaght. Saturday saw competition from cadets and seniors in both sparring and patterns with a finals gala on Saturday night. Miss Cullen made it to the finals of the first degree patterns and took a sliver medal, leaving the gold to miss Siobhan Kangataran from Shannon (who also took a silver medal in senior female sparring). Mr. Ryan and Mr. Byrne met once again in the patterns final for 4th - 6th Dan patterns and this time the Gold went to Mr Byrne. 

Preparation for the Grading

The first grading for Scoil Mhuire TKD will take place on Friday 7th Dec during school times. The examiner, Mr. Stephen Ryan will be accompanied by Mr Adrian Byrne, another 4th degree black belt from Shannon.

In preparation for the grading, please keep an eye on the notice boards throughout school to see what lunchtime you will have an extra class.

Another Successful Class with Mr. Ryan

 Mr. Ryan conducted another successful class during the mid term. Miss Dooley kindly gave the Taekwon-do students a break from intensive musical rehearsals and about 25 attended the class.

The class was fast paced with a fun warm up, some technical movements and some pad-work covered. Mr. Ryan was impressed with the progress of the Ennistymon students and is looking forward to the grading on Saturday December 8th.

Check out the photos.

Extra Class during the Mid-Term Break

Mr. Stephen Ryan will conduct a class in Ennistmyon Community Centre during the mid-term. Class details:

                      Date: Thursday 1st November

                      Time: 3.00 - 4.00

                       Cost: €2 

This class will start promptly at 3 so please arrive early to sign in.
 

New 4th Degree for Co. Clare

Congratulations to Miss Anne-Marie Kinsella (one of the instructors in the Ennis Club) who passed her 4th Degree grading in Belgium this weekend. The grading consisted of participation in a weekend long International Instructors Course followed by intensive group testings on Sunday afternoon. Needless to say this all followed months of hard training by Miss Kinsella. Mr. McMullen from Dublin also received his 4th degree and Mr. Henry O'Neill from Wicklow received 6th degree. Congratulations to them all!

We are very lucky to have Miss Kinsella in Co. Clare as she is one of only two 4th degree female instructors in the ITA. Hopefully Miss Kinsella might be able to visit Scoil Mhuire as an instructor or examiner some day soon. Miss Kinsella is pictured here with her medal from the World Cup for team patterns.

Sunday Class a Huge Success

Mr. Stephen Ryan, IV Dan, gave an extra class in Ennistymon Community Centre last Sunday Oct 14th to the students of Scoil Mhuire TKD Club. He was accompanied by Mr. Jamie Rigeny, IV Dan, Miss Ruth Cullen I Dan and Miss Laura Cullen I Dan (Scoil Mhuire instructor). The class was a great success and Mr. Ryan (who will be the examiner for the club) was very impressed with the level of participation and effort of all students. 

The class consisted of some games, leg strength work, technical movements followed by some pad work. The class finished with some practice on the pattern required for white belts. This was a unique opportunity for all students as there were 4 instructors available to give help and advice to the students to help them improve. 

Mr. Ryan was so impressed with the class that he hopes to visit Ennistymon on a regular basis. 

Check out the photos from Sundays class here  

€6000 Donation to Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children 

For many years now some of the Taekwon-do schools in Clare have taken part in a charity walk for Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children. Last Friday, 12th October, Quin, Ennis, Ballyea and Barefield schools presented a cheque for €6000 to Mr. Gerry Culley from Our Lady's Hospital. Hopefully next year Scoil Mhuire will take part in this walk and raise even more for this worthy charity. 

Well done  to all who collected money and to those who participated in the walk last June.

Extra Training Class

This Sunday students of Scoil Mhuire have the unique opportunity of attending a class given by Mr. Stephen Ryan IV degree black belt. Mr Ryan is the instructor of the Quin TKD club and will be the examiner for Scoil Mhuire for future gradings. 

Mr. Ryan is a very successful competitor in both sparring and patterns nationally and internationally (Click here to view all his accomplishments to date) and will definitely give an interesting class - tough and all as it may be!

The class will take place in

                   Ennistymon Community Centre

                   Sunday 14th October

                    2.00 - 3.15

Please arrive early and bring €2 for the class. See you there!!

Irish Success at the European Cup

The Irish squad who travelled  Finland last weekend to the 2nd European Cup were hugely successful. Ireland finished 3rd of the 14 countries that participated. There were Irish competitors from Clare, Cork and Dublin and many medals came home. The male  (mainly Clare) team took gold in team patterns. This team comprised of Mr. Stephen Ryan - Quin (Sciul Mhuire examiner),  Mr. Jamie Rigney - Ennis, Mr. Adrian Byrne - Shannon, Mr. Daniel Dillon - Shannon and Mr. Philip McAulife - Cork. Pictured here is Miss Fiona Kangataran from Cork who took bronze in senior female -52kg sparring! More pictures, results and a full report can be found on http://www.midwesttaekwon-do.com

Congratulations and Good Luck to Miss Kinsella

Congratulations to Miss Anne-Marie Kinsella from the Taekwon-do club in Ennis who passed the preliminary grading for her IV degree grading on Saturday evening last weekend. Mr. Kenneth Wheatley (VI degree from Wicklow), Mr. Stephen Cooley (V degree from Dublin) and Mr. Adrian Byrne (IV from Shannon) were on the testing panel using the new examining structure which proved very successful. Congratulations to Mr. Declan McMullen who also passed the prelim.

Good luck to both Miss Kinsella and Mr McMullen who will test for their IV degree in Belgium later on this month. 

First TKD Class

The Taekwon-do Club in Scoil Mhuire started last Friday with approximately 32 students taking part (not sure if everyone signed in!) The level of participation of all students was brilliant with everyone taking part in the technical and physical aspects of the class.

Miss Ruth Cullen, an assistant instructor from the Quin Taekwon-Do School (picture here at a preliminary black belt grading), came out to help and was a great asset. Unfortunately she won't be available for every class but it was great to have a visitor for the first class. Hopefully over time, some of the other  Instructors from Clare, or indeed around Ireland, might visit to participate in training.

Have your say!

Any student who would like to post a news item or report on this website. Please email it to scoilmhurietkd@gmail.com and Miss Cullen will post it to the web. 

New Club Opening in Ennistymon

The Taekwon-do Club in Scoil Mhuire is being set up by a new teacher to the school Miss Laura Cullen.

Classes will take place in the central area after school on a Friday from 2 o'clock to 3 o'clock.

Beginners and experienced students are welcome to train. All that's required is comfortable clothing (tracksuit or similar) and runners.

Proper Taekwon-do suits (called doboks) need not be purchased at the beginning but if any student wishes to buy one at a later date when training progresses, please contact Miss Cullen. Do not buy any doboks or sparring equipment elsewhere.

ITF Promotional Video

Follow the links below to check out a promotional video on ITF Taekwon-Do:

part 1: http://ca.video.yahoo.com/video/play?vid=1105611

part 2: http://ca.video.yahoo.com/video/play?vid=1105628