Ireland 2025 Masterclass

Enter the captivating world of the Legendary Blackthorn Shillelagh, an iconic symbol of Irish heritage and a weapon steeped in centuries of history. With its origins dating back to ancient Celtic times and Irish Faction Fights, the Shillelagh has become an enduring symbol of Irish resilience, strength, and cultural identity.

Join us as we conduct an incomparable training experience of this storied weapon, exploring its uses as a martial arts weapon in the modern age. Imagine yourself on the lush green grounds of a stately Irish Estate, overlooking the verdant hills of the Town of Shillelagh, Co. Wicklow Ireland training in the fighting skills of the Shillelagh.

You will stay on-site, maximizing your training time. The sessions will be JAM-PACKED with in-depth concepts, principles and modern day fighting techniques of the Shillelagh. This is high caliber information you simply WILL NOT find anywhere else.

Irish Stick Fighting in IrelandAt the end of each robust day of training, we will head off to the local pub for some great food and local Irish music, where we will spend time together celebrating the day’s lessons over a classic Irish Stout.

Shillelaghs and Shenanigans 5 – Irish Stick Fighting Seminar

Join us on Saturday February 22nd for our next Shillelaghs and Shenanigans Irish Stick Fighting Seminar!

We are hosting our next Shillelagh Irish Stick Fighting Seminar, where we will train in the foundational defensive aspects of the Irish Shillelagh. All are welcome, no prior experience required. Just bring a positive attitude and a willingness to train hard! If you have never explored the Shillelagh as a martial arts weapon, then this is your chance to try it out and have a blast doing it!

Shillelagh Stick Fighting Training at the seminar will be from 10am – 3pm, then we will start the Shenanigans at 3:30pm! Irish themed food and refreshments (translated beer) will be served until about 5pm or as long as the group wants to enjoy.

This is an opportunity for us as a community to celebrate how far we have come since launching our system in 2019. We now have students in 45 states and 25 countries around the world!

Seminar Fee: $65.00
10:00am – 3:00pm (10am prompt start) Training
3:30pm – 5pm+ Shenanigans

Event will be held at the Pittsburgh Bujinkan Dojo
6901 Lynn Way, Suite 205
Pittsburgh, PA 15208

Please wear comfortable clothes to train in. No outside shoes or bare feet allowed on the training hall floor (socks are fine). All training items will be provided, however if you own a shillelagh or practice bata, you are welcome to bring it and train with it.Items will be available for sale at the end of the Seminar.

Tickets can be purchased here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/shillelaghs-and-shenanigans-irish-stick-fighting-seminar-tickets-1147547067169

Webinar – Critical Principles of Shillelagh Stick Fighting

Please join us on Thursday, June 8th 2023 from 7:00pm – 8:00pm where we will explore the core principles of stick fighting with the shillelagh as taught in the Combat Shillelagh system. The Shillelagh is a devastatingly effective weapon from ancient times and it is still an extremely practical and effective weapon today. We have spent decades in the martial arts studying staff and blade weapons of all sizes and shapes. We have brought this deep domain expertise to a modern-day interpretation of Shillelagh Irish Stick Fighting and this webinar is your chance to see and hear about the fundamentals of our system.  The principles we will be discussing however, are universal in nature and are some of the keys to unlocking your studies regardless of what you train in.

All are welcome regardless of background.

Shillelagh Irish Stick Fighting Seminar

Join us for the next Shillelagh Stick Fighting Seminar on Saturday January 7th, 2023. This event is open to all – current students and non-practitioners alike.

We will spend the day going through all three levels of the Combat Shillelagh system including up to (and beyond) black belt level. We will also take a look at applications and uses of both longer range versions of the shillelagh (known as a wattle) as well as short cudgel lengths.

This is a rare chance to experience shillelagh Irish stick fighting as presented in our system in a fun and relaxed environment.

You will learn strikes, blocks, footwork, rolls, defenses against grabs, joint locks, weapon disarms, takedowns and so much more. It will be a jam packed day and promises to be a rock and roll event!

No prior martial arts experience required or needed.

We will start at 10am sharp and run until 5pm to maximize our time together. If you own a shillelagh that you wish to train with you are welcome to bring it with you. Otherwise, we have sufficient quantities on hand in our training hall to accommodate a large class size. Items will be available for sale during the event as well.

Combat Shillelagh Level 3 Seminar

Please join us on Saturday April 16th, 2022 from 10:00am – 5:00pm where we will explore the foundational aspects of Level I, Level II and Level III of the Combat Shillelagh system.
 
The Shillelagh is a devastatingly effective weapon from ancient times and it is still an extremely practical and effective weapon today. We have spent decades in the martial arts studying staff weapons of all sizes and shapes. We have brought this deep domain expertise to a modern day interpretation of the Shillelagh.
 
The seminar will allow us to explore not only modern day applications of the Shillelagh with strikes and blocks against armed and unarmed opponents utilizing our “9 Gates” movement, striking and footwork concepts, but we will also incorporate grappling, weapon disarms, defense against grabs, ground skills and much much more. Part of the day will focus on the Black Belt level curriculum and the core Stanzas material, as well as an introduction to the “Troid Do Bata” Two Stick part of our system.
 
It will be a very full day packed with information on all aspects of the Shillelagh and the Combat Shillelagh system. For those who wish to rank in our system, this is a rare chance to get a full day on personal one-on-one instruction as required for rank advancement. All individuals testing for rank must have an active membership in the Student Federation at the time of the test AND have made prior arrangements with Senior Instructors or the Founder that they wish to test for rank.
 
The seminar will be held at the Pittsburgh Bujinkan Dojo where we will have access to a great training space and training weapons for our event.
 
Open to all, no prior martial arts experience necessary.
 
Seminar Fee:
$95.00 if not an active student of the Combat Shillelagh system
$65.00 if an active student
 
Payable ahead of time via paypal (founder@combatshillelagh.com), credit card, or via our website.
 
Start time
10:00am EST
Concludes
5:00pm EST
 
Address:
Pittsburgh Bujinkan Dojo
6901 Lynn Way, Suite 205
Pittsburgh, PA 15208
412-298-4486
 
Please dress in loose comfortable clothes. No outside shoes allowed on the training mats, so be sure to bring/wear clean socks. All training weapons will be provided for the seminar, however you are welcome to bring your own. Highly suggest that you bring a notebook and pen for notes during the seminar. Outside photography is not allowed without prior permission.
 
We look forward to seeing YOU at this event!
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Welcome to Combat Shillelagh

Welcome to the world of Combat Shillelagh!   

The Shillelagh is a devastatingly effective weapon from ancient times and it is still an extremely practical and effective weapon today. We have created a curriculum to apply modern day combative concepts to the ancient Shillelagh.
 
We  offer a robust Blended Learning or hybrid learning model that has proven to be very efficient and effective and is the first of it’s kind for learning the Modern Day Combat aspects of the Shillelagh!  This is not a traditional bataireacht lineage, rather it is a modern application with an ancient weapon based upon over 34+ years of dedicated martial arts studies by the founder.
 
Whether you want to delve deep into the Shillelagh as an entire weapons system all on it’s own, or you want to add to your existing studies of martial arts, then this is the course for you. Not found anywhere else, we provide access to an incredibly rich amount of learning material provided both online in a subscription model as well as face to face hands-on seminars and events. There are multiple levels of material and certification all the way from beginner up to and including Certified Instructor and Master levels.
 
We look forward to training with you!

Be sure to check out our shop for access to our online training courses!