Instructor Profiles
At Capital Krav Maga we are happy to share our knowledge and experience with you. If you read our instructor profiles below you will see we have a wide variety of skills, knowledge and experience that and we are share with our students in our weekly classes. All our instructrors are first aid trained & Garda-vetted. All our Krav Maga instructors hold current KMG instructor certificates. Please read below to learn a little more about our instructor team.
Carl Smullen
Carl Smullen is an Expert Level (E1) Krav Maga instructor and a full-time martial arts & self-defence instructor. Carl has 23 years of continuous training in martial arts starting in Taekwon-Do at a young age and reaching the grading of 5 th Dan Blackbelt. Carl became interested in Krav Maga as he seen the quality of self-defence training it provides and believes it to be the best system of self-defence for everyone, regardless of age, experience or fitness level.
Carl completed his Krav Maga instructor course in 2009 under Global team members Tommy Blom & Amnon Darsa with a G1 grade. Carl opened the Capital Krav Maga Club in 2009 and in the decade since has gathered a large group of dedicated students who train regularly and are reaching a high-level of Krav Maga skill & fitness.Carl believes in constantly trying to improve your own skill as an instructor & Krav Maga practitioner and regularly trains with Global-team Krav Maga instructors in Ireland, Israel and around Europe. Carl graded to G2 at the 2010 camp in Israel, G3 at the 2011 camp & G4 at the G-camp in 2012 following a gruelling testing regime under high-level instructors. While Carl achieved the grade of G5 at a training camp in Germany in 2013.
Carl has attended three Expert Camps in Israel, this 8-day training camp is the top level Krav Maga camp attended by high-level instructors from around the world. In June 2014, after the E-camp, Carl graded to the rank of Expert Level 1. In 2018 Carl completed the CRGI instructor development programme under Rory Miller, an expert in violence and conflict management. This course added a lot to the Capital Krav Maga approach to self defence which goes way beyond physical self defence to include pre & post fight considerations such as awareness & avoidance training and de-escalation. Outside of Krav Maga Carl is also very interested in Strength & Conditioning and athletic development and has undergone the Strongfirst Level 2 kettlebell & bodyweight courses. Carl is also a Ground Force Method movement coach and a certified Precision Nutrition coach, meaning Capital Krav Maga can provide you with the complete training experience.
Stephen Smullen
Stephen Smullen is Expert Level 1 (E1) Krav Maga instructor; having graded to this level at the 2015 Expert camp in Israel. Stephen has 23 years of continuous experience in martial arts and is a full-time self-defence instructor.
Stephen completed his instructor course in 2011, with the top results of his group. Stephen’s instructor training was conducted by Ze’ev Cohen, Ralf Ulbig, Tal Kvores & Albert Kagalski of the Krav Maga Global team. Stephen now runs his own classes at Capital Krav Maga Dublin and is gathering a large group of students. Stephen has been training and instructing at the Capital Krav Maga club since 2009, in this time Stephen completed many seminars under expert level Krav Maga instructors from around the world. Stephen attended the Graduate camp in Netanya Israel in June 2012 where he completed over 50 hours of training after which he graded to G3 after an 8 hour test under Ze’ev Cohen (Master Level 1).
Stephen graded to Graduate Level 4 & 5 at the Crosstown training camps in Germany in 2013 and 2014 respectively. Stephen has attended three Expert level training camps in Israel, led by Eyal Yanilov, Tommy Blom, Ilya Dunsky and other members of the KMG Global instruction team and was successfully promoted to the rank of Expert-level 1 at the 2015 camp.Outside of Krav Maga, Stephen is a Ground Force Method Movement coach as well as a 5th Dan Blackbelt in Taekwon-Do. Stephen has been a member of the Irish national TKD team since 2009, winning medals all over the world. In 2015 Stephen became a World Champion when his Team Ireland sparring team won the World Championships in Jesolo Italy.Like his fellow Capital Krav Maga instructors continuous development is very important to Stephen so as well as improving his technical knowledge and skill in KMG training camps Stephen has also completed bi-annual instructor updates and a number of instructor development courses such as the KMG Mental Conditioning Instructor Course and the CRGI instructor development course under Rory Miller.
Ken Hyland
Ken Hyland is a Graduate Level 5 (G5) instructor. Ken completed his instructor course in 2015 under members of the KMG Global & International team of instructors including Ilya Dunsky, Pavel Shreer & Balasz Szabo. Ken has come through the Capital Krav Maga club as a student and is the first member to reach the level of instructor. In Ken’s time as a student of Krav Maga he has been very dedicated to training, doing at least 4 sessions per week as well as taking part in many seminars and training camps including the 2013 P-camp in Ireland under Zeev Cohen & Albert Kagalski. Since becoming an instructor in 2015, Ken has continued his dedication to improving his technical and instructional skills taking part in regular instructor updates and training camps, grading to Graduate level 3, after attending the 2016 and 2017 G-camps in Ireland.
In 2017 Ken successfully completed the KMG Mental Conditioning Instructor Course, this course teaches skills for instructing students in developing the correct mindset for combat & self defence situations, to understand the body’s reaction to stress and how to correctly harness aggression into fighting skills. This set of skills is a very important addition to our repertoire in Capital Krav Maga where we train the physical, technical, tactical and mental aspects of self defence.
Outside of Krav Maga Ken is very much involved in charity, through his work with the Irish Children’s Arthritis Network.
Aoife Healy
Aoife Healy is a Graduate level (G5) instructor. She has 22 years of continuous training in martial arts, starting with Taekwon-Do (TKD) at the age of 10 and reaching 2nd Dan black belt. Aoife became interested in Krav Maga, when the TKD club at the university she was attending was hosting a switch class with the Krav Maga club. This involves the TKD club teaching the Krav Maga club some Taekwon-Do and vice versa. After this training session, Aoife realised the benefits that Krav Maga had to offer in dealing with self defence.
Aoife completed the Krav Maga instructor course in 2015 under global team instructors Ilya Dunsky, Balasz Szabo and Pavel Sheer. Aoife graded G1 in 2014 and her last grading for G5 in 2019, all under high level instructors from the global team. Aoife first became an instructor in Greystones Krav Maga club, teaching mixed adults classes, women’s only classes, kids classes and private classes. In 2019, Aoife moved to Capital Krav Maga club. Aoife continues to train regularly to improve her own skill as a student and as an instructor, and attends KMG training camps and instructors updates.
Outside of Krav Maga, Aoife attends her local gym to improve her strength and hikes mountains both in Ireland and abroad.
Brian Fitzpatrick
Brian Fitzpatrick is the Capital Kettlebell Club instructor specialising in Strength & Conditioning training and mobility work. Brian is a certified Strongfirst Instructor having completed the Strongfirst Kettlebell instructor course in 2016. This intense course is seen as the Gold Standard in Kettlebell instruction and requires an extremely high fitness level as well as months of preparation to complete.
Brian instructs our Saturday morning Strength sessions which are open to members of Capital Krav Maga. The philosophy of Capital Kettlebell Club is to improve the movement quality, strength and stamina of our members through intelligent training. This is achieved through mobility-training, as well as kettlebell, barbell & bodyweight exercises. Many of our members have reduced the re-occurrence of injury, increased their strength, improved their movement quality and even lost a significant amount of bodyfat from their training in this class.
As well as his Strength training experience, Brian has also been a student of Krav Maga for many years and achieved the rank of Graduate Level 3 (G3) at the Irish G-Camp under Israeli Global Team instructors .
As well training members of Capital Kettlebell Club, Brian is also a strength & conditioning coach with Newlands Taekwon-Do club, helping its elite-level members in their efforts to be selected for the Irish National Team.