Profiles

Tony Croke

4th Degree Black Belt

My journey began on the 1st October 1992 when myself and brother Liam walked into Mr Billy Kellys dojo (then a second degree black belt) in Amsterdam. He said to us that night that he would give us the key but it was up to us to open the door. That all made sense in later years but we wasted no time in putting a foot in that door and the training in amsterdam was hard but enjoyable to the last with a small group of lads dedicated to one goal of studying Mr Parkers Kenpo with Self Defence number one on our agenda.

However competition also plaeyd its part with frequent trips to championships abroad mostly to the meccca of Kenpo in those days, Jersey Island where one of Mr Parkers most famous students Mr Roy Mc Donald resided. Seven years later Roy sat on an international panel which awarded me my first degree Black belt in Dublin in 1999. I was then a student of Mr Jimmy Poland who agreed to let me become a member of his club in 1997 the year I returned to Ireland from Amsterdam. That same year saw sucess for me in the European Championships being part of a three man team winning first place in brown belt fighting.On his team were two good friends of mine, David Phillips and Kieran Royle.

The following year I was part of a team which in Athens 1998 repeated this same award and where I also that year saw personal success in the individual brown belt sparring,After been on the competiton circuit in Ireland for some time I hung up my gloves to concentrate on the teachings of Ed Parker.

This train of thought stayed with me when 2 years later I became a student of Mr Gino Fusciardi whose instructor Mr Paul Mills was continuing the teachings of Ed Parker but with a whole new fresh dimension changing with the times and where body mechanics are high on the agenda to achieve that ultimate knock out punch while maintaining Kenpos trade mark of fluidity.

I first travelled to Las Vegas with Gino to see with my own eyes Master Mills in action in 2003 and that was a whole new world opening up to me. I never expected or knew if I would returned to America but just one trainig camp with Mr mills is enough to have you hooked and Ive been returning ever since.

To this day it still remains my goal to constantly improve myself which is a result of hard work but also my good fortune to have trained (and still do) with such quality and patient instructors which I am indebted to. So its my turn now to do what was done for me and help pass the Art on to others in any way I can.

Let the Journey continue.