About Us
TRAIN WITH US, SO THAT YOU CAN EXCEED YOUR EXPECTATIONS
About IWKA
IWKA is a group of Wado clubs that teach traditional Wado-kai karate. The wado clubs are from Louth, Meath, Dublin, Belfast, Down and Wicklow. We also have students from a wado club in Sligo that attend and train at all our squad trainings and had been selected and competed with us at the 2018 and the 2019 European Wado championships.
The IWKA is the Irish representative to the Federation of Wadokai Europe. Only those who train on the regular IWKA kumite and kata squad trainings are eligible for selection. IWKA will welcome the membership of any likewise wado clubs whose interest is in teaching and developing good traditional wado karate.
Referees and Officials
Inclusive Karate
Along with our mainstream classes, Blackrock Wadokai also teaches inclusive karate. Inclusive Karate is catering for people with Physical Disabilities, learning disabilities, complex Needs, wheelchair karate etc; or for people who may not fit into a mainstream Karate class for whatever reason.
We strive to give the same opportunities to our Inclusive Karate students as our Mainstream Karateka. They train in a safe environment and can compete at local, national and International level. They also have their own syllabus for gradings so that they can move up the ranks same as their mainstream counterparts.
By teaching them the principles of karate we can successfully mix children and adults with special needs alongside other students from their school or communities. This helps them to build their self-confidence and self-respect, by offering them an opportunity to demonstrate their skills and abilities in competition as well as in the class.
Two of our inclusive students have been very successful at all levels of competition and have both competed on the Irish team at the Inclusive World Championships. They both compete and regularly win medals at the national competitions. Needless to say they enjoy their karate and have a great rapport from their fellow students.
IWKA has 6 national WKF referees and judges in its ranks. Tommy Marrett, Jimmy Harte, Paul Whinnery and Neil Harte all hold national A referee Licences in kata and kumite. While Stephen Whinnery holds a referee B licence and Patrick Bradley a judge A licence.
ONAKAI runs referee courses throughout the year and those attending can then sit their exams at the end of each year. The IWKA officials officiate at many of the WKF national and international competitions both home and abroad.
We also have two very active female inclusive coaches who work with our inclusive students in every class. They are both instrumental in the success of the IWKA inclusive students at competitions. Amy Dennis and Grainne Begley are also part of the Irish teams inclusive coaching setup, working with students from all over the country at the once a month squad trainings.
Above is a picture of David O’Hare and Aaron Connelly after both competing at the Inclusive World Championships in Dublin, Ireland. Standing either side of them are two IWKA and national junior team coaches with their instructor and inclusive referee Tommy Marrett in the centre.
Our Team
TOMMY MARRETT
Tommy started training in Wado karate in June 1979 and since then he has trained with many top level Japanese and European instructors. He received the Irish mandate for the Wado Europeans from the Federation of Wadokai European in 2009 and along with other like minded wado instructors set about establishing an association that could compete at international and european championship level. Since then the association has won numerous national, international and european medals.
Contact: karateireland@gmail.com
Blackrock Wadokai Club
Tuesday
Junior Class 7.00-8.00pm (6-13 years old)
Senior Class 7.00-9.00pm (14-Adult)
Thursday
Junior Class 7.00-8.00pm (6-13 years old)
Senior Class 7.00-9.00pm (14-Adult)
STEPHEN WHINNERY
Stephen started training in 1975 and in that time has trained with Tatsuo Suzuki, Peter Stanton, Iain Abernethy and many more. He has achieved the rank of JKF 5th Dan along with his 3rd kyu instructor licence and 3rd kyu examiners license. Stephen has been teaching since 1985.
Contact: swhinnery@hotmail.com
Whiterock Wadokai Club
Monday
Junior Class 7.00-8.00pm (6-13 years old)
Senior Class 7.00-8.30pm (14-Adult)
Wednesday
Junior Class 7.00-8.00pm (6-13 years old)
Senior Class 7.00-8.30pm (14-Adult)
JIMMY HARTE
Jimmy is a 6th Dan JKF, 2nd Kyu JKF Instructor and 2nd Kyu JKF Examiner. Jimmy is also the first JKF Wadokai karateka in Ireland to receive the honour of 2nd Kyu Instructor licence after passing his examination in front of the 7 man JKF Wadokai Technical Committee Panel in Tokyo in January 2020.
He travels extensively so as to maintain his high level and knowledge so as to be able to educate his students with the most up to date JKF Wadokai techniques and principles.
Contact: jimmy.harte@gmail.com
Stadium Wadokai Club
Monday
Junior Class 6:30pm – 7:30pm (6-12 years old)
Senior Class 7.30-9.30pm (13-Adult)
Wednesday
Junior Class 6:30pm – 7:30pm (6-12 years old)
Senior Class 7.30-9.30pm (13-Adult)
Friday
Junior Class 6:30pm – 7:30pm (6-12 years old)
Senior Class 7.30-9.30pm (13-Adult)
PAUL WHINNERY
Paul is a JKF Wadokai 5th Dan and a IWKA instructor based in Stadium Karate dojo. He has also competed on the IWKA squad at major european events in both kata and kumite.
After his successful 5th Dan grading in 2023 and passing his JKF 3rd KYU Instructors examination in Tokyo, he now holds JKF 2nd KYU examiners licence and a 3rd kyu instructors licence.
PATRICK BRADLEY
Patrick has achieved the rank of 5th Dan JKF Wadokai and his 3rd kyu instructor license along with a 3rd kyu examiners licence.
NIALL HARTE
Neil Harte Sensei has been training in Wado-Kai karate since the age of 6 and received his JKF 1st Dan Black Belt at the age of 15 in 2007. He then graded to 2nd Dan in 2012, 3rd Dan in 2015 and 4th Dan in 2019 and 5th Dan in 2023.
Additionally, he holds a 3rd Kyu JKF Wado-Kai Instructor Licence (the youngest person in Ireland and one of the youngest worldwide to achieve this) and now has become a JKF Wado-Kai Dan Grading Examiner since turning 30.
Neil has competed in numerous competitions over the years at national, international, and European level in both Kata and Kumite and holds a large number of medals and trophies at all levels of competition. In addition to competing, he has been an instructor since the age of 18 and is an assistant Kata and Kumite coach for the IWKA squad.
Neil also holds an ONAKAI Referee A Kumite and Judge A Kata Licence and Sport Ireland Coaching qualification. He has been Garda vetted and has completed Safeguarding 2 with Sport Ireland.
Where we Are
Blackrock Wadokai
Blackrock Community Centre
Sandy Lane
Blackrock
Co. Louth
Stadium Wadokai
Unit 13, Stadium Business Park
Ballycoolin Road
Blanchardstown
Dublin 11
Whiterock Wadokai
Whiterock Community Centre
Whiterock Road
Belfast
Co. Antrim
Wado European Championships
The Wado European Championships is the event we look forward to every year. Visiting a different country but meeting the same friends every year. The squad does be selected well in advance, so they have time to prepare with booking flights etc. Their consistency at club training as well as squad trainings and placings in national and international competitions are all considered. All six IWKA officials officiate at the championships.
O.N.A.K.A.I.
The IWKA is a member of the Official National Amateur Karate Association of Ireland. O.N.A.K.A.I. was established in 1978, it has been the only Irish karate body to be recognised by the European Karate Federation (EKF) and the World Karate Federation (WKF), and it is also a member of the International Olympic Council (IOC). Both the EKF and WKF are the largest and longest established European and World all style Karate organisations and host the highest level of Karate competitions in the world.
In 2002 O.N.A.K.A.I. was granted full recognition by the then Irish Sports Council, now Sport Ireland, as the National Governing Body (NGB) for Karate in Ireland. In 2018, O.N.A.K.A.I. was accepted as a member of the Olympic Federation of Ireland.
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