Com Whooley

Colm Whooley - Instructor Wheelchair JKD Martial Arts

Colm’s background in martial arts and combat sports started in boxing and then in 1975, he took up Kempo Karate and continued until he was involved in a serious motorcycle accident in 1980 which resulted in him breaking his back and sustaining a spinal cord injury. Following extensive rehabilitation, now use a wheelchair to get around.

introduction

Colm's introduction to Jeet Kune Do and the possibility that it could be effective for a wheelchair user was an article a martial arts magazine about Martin O’Neil that really started to pull things together. Colm has been training with Martin since 2002

Travelling

Colm has travelled to Britain and Belgium to train with various instructors. He was also fortunate enough to train with Andy Kimura on a number of occasions. Andy Kimura is Taky Kimura’s son and Instructor at the Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute of Seattle.

a bit more about colm

After a lot of trial and error, challenging and adapting various Jeet Kune Do techniques, both Colm and Martin agreed that Bruce Lee’s Jeet Kune Do, offered a real and practical self-defence options for wheelchair users. Colm is now an Associate Instructor in Jun Fan Jeet Kune Do

Colm has also explored Combatives and Kali approach to self- defence and incorporated a number of techniques into Wheelchair Jeet Kune Do.

Colm has written extensively on self-defence for wheelchair users as a columnist for the UK Martial Arts Magazine Combat, the European Martial Arts Magazine Budo Blackbelt, and is a regular contributor to Irish Fighter Magazine.