Testimonials

We are truly honored to receive testimonials from our friends and clients, although anyone can put testimonials on their website, we only put up those that have touched our hearts, from people we know have written them from their hearts. Much respect to you guys 🙂 This page will continue to grow.

Over the past few weeks I have been fortunate to train with Mick O’Brien and the team from Self Protection Ireland based in Dublin, on the Senshido “Fundamentals of Personal Protection” and “Shredder” seminars.

 To be honest, I had very high expectations for both seminars, having completed the course with Senshido founder Richard Dimitri during April 2012 in Montreal, when I attended the course held by Wes Derequito, Ara Academy and Chris Roberts, Safe International.

 I was not disappointed!!

 Mick has a no BS approach to teaching and has an excellent interpretation of the Senshido legacy, which was incepted by Richard Dimitri during 1994 in Montreal.

 This is not line dancing or an attempt to model traditional A, B, C techniques with a compliant opponent.  Mick delivers an honest and refreshing approach to the three key parts of a confrontation – pre-fight, in-fight and post-fight thinking and combative tactics.

 During the seminars we all experienced several combative drills – tool and target development, conflict management, mirror drills and can openers.  Basic shredder to enhanced shredder drills, followed by pressure testing our training with the monkey in the middle drill.  At the end of the course were we awarded with black belts, certificates or medals?  No, we all had far greater souvenirs – bumps, bruises, scrapes and busted fingers!!

 In over 28 years of training with many of the best Judo and Jiu Jitsu Sensei’s and RBSD instructors, this ranks as one of the best seminars I have ever attended.

 If you want to learn how to swim, you have to dive into the swimming pool and get wet.  If you want to learn Senshido’s 5 principles of physical retaliation and the correct warrior mind-set, you will not learn it from a book, a DVD or on YouTube! 

 Do yourself a favour and book a course with Mick and SPI.

 You need to feel it to really experience it and bang hard during training.

 The Guinness and food is also very good!

                                          – Mark Griffith- Applied Jiu Jitsu Sandan, Judo and Aikido Shodan, Combatives Junkie

Self Protection Ireland offers training that is completely unique. It stands alone in its ability to teach the client in a way that draws from the realities of how a confrontation or an attack affects the potential victim on every level. I emphasis the word potential here, because the last thing you will be after experiencing this training is a victim.Mick and the crew will take you initially into the psychology of how a target is selected by an aggressor. You will learn and develop physical and verbal avoidance strategies which are extremely effective yet easy to learn and adapt to. Following on from this you will be introduced to every facet of what an unwanted violent encounter will present. In this regard I found that the training is second to none. The shattering emotions are explored and broken down into their physical and psychological manifestations, allowing the student to familiarise him or herself with them, and become somewhat comfortable with them. The benefits of this cannot be overstated. The training then deals with the physical aspects of assault, and many of the various tactics to deal with it. Nothing is spared. Violent scenarios are played out in a highly pressurised format, as this is the only realistic way to ensure that they will actually be useful should they ever be called into play. The emphasis here is on drilling, and drilling again and again until the appropriate responses develop into something in the realm of second nature to the student.It must be borne in mind here that the training is supervised by people who have spent decades dealing with confrontation on an almost daily basis, whether that be in the military, law enforcement or otherwise. These guys have walked the walk….It is fun, ugly, difficult and challenging, but for it to be otherwise would be an injustice. This training will fortify you on every level, enforcing your ability not just to handle situations on the street, but in every day life as well. No expense is spared by Self Protection Ireland in supplying the tools that facilitate the training. It is highly professional in this regard. Full body Armour is worn during drilling. They don’t teach you to hold back, or miss, yet great respect is demanded and reciprocated during the training scenarios which are always followed by a handshake. You will be bruised and exhausted by the end of a class but your efforts will not be wasted, that is a certainty.Life these days is extremely haphazard. Every day we hear of new horror stories of pointless attacks on people. People who left their homes or workplaces with everyday intentions who through no fault of their own, end up in hospital or worse. Their lives are shattered, as are the lives of their loved ones and for what? Nobody invites this upon themselves, yet how often have we heard; why him, why her, WHY ME??!! Self Protection Ireland offers you a means of arming yourself with the tools to prevent and protect both you and your loved ones. It is truly invaluable.

-Derek Molyneux – Author –When The Clock Struck.

Hi Mick,

I thought it would be nice to let you know the Senshido course was fantastic. I was already familiar with their concepts, but the keyword here is Relevance. I was impressed how relevant to real life violence this is. No doubt this is the best we will ever get to analysing real violence and learning from it in a controlled environment. Oh, the other very nice aspect of that of the teachers: they were always checking to make sure we were following every single point; step by step. I had great fun with really good laughs. I will definitely recommend this to interested people and shall carry this learning very dearly. Thanks for that

–Lex.

This was my first time for any type of self-defence, and I wasn’t at all sure what to expect!! The practical hands on approach takes you completely out of your comfort zone, but in a safe and controlled environment and give you the knowledge and skills to avoid potentially threatening situations and if necessary how to deal with them physically. I feel significantly more confident and empowered, despite my perceived feeling of weakness, I do have the power to defend myself and more effectively!!!  I am sill buzzing at the thoughts of being able to launch Paul off his feet. This seminar was excellent value for money and a must for all women. You won’t regret it!!

-Jessica Quinn- Staff nurse and mother of three.

Due to the increase of knife crime and assaults in Dublin we decided to run a seminar with Senshido Ireland for our members. Initially the seminar was to be run for just the team, but the Senshido guys encouraged us to bring wife’s , girlfriends and teenage kids along . I speak on behalf of the team when I say this was the best event we have run this year. The information we received was priceless along with the drills to heighten our awareness. Pride of place went to time spent on de-escalating a potential situation using  passive behaviour and body language, something most of us have never been exposed to before (this was really good fun).The  physical part of the day was  both gruelling and tiring but the end result was empowering. We will have these guys back again soon as we are in the process of organising a womens rape prevention course for our community. I highly recommend any community organisation to do the same; you won’t be disappointed .A full review of this event will be featured in our monthly newspaper.  

Many thanks for an extremely fun and interesting day.

-R.O’Neill-