When it s too tough for everyone else,
it s just right for me!
Gregory Doyle
Born in 1934 in Avondale, Newfoundland Greg Doyle grew up as rugged as the Atlantic coast he lived on. Learning everything from his father; from fishing, farming, and hunting, to the family style of Irish stick fighting.
Of the five boys in the family, Greg was the only one who showed any interest in the family legacy, and he did so with reckless abandon, learning everything about the stick fighting style he could. By the time Greg hit his teenage years, he was quite the proficient stick fighter.
At the age of 13, Greg began working on the Newfoundland railway work details as a water boy for the crews a job that would be the first of many travels. In 1950 the war broke out in Korea and Canada was sending troops. Greg never knew why he felt he had to enlist, but his fighting spirit could not be quelled and he actually forged his father s signature and enlisted in the Canadian Forces underage (he was only 16). After his intense training, Greg Doyle was now a Canadian Paratrooper and headed overseas. In Korea, Greg Doyle would spend his 17th & 18th birthdays on the front lines. Greg stated that although the training of the Canadian Forces was quite good, his skill in his family art of stick fighting is what saved his life during the hand-to-hand skirmishes against Chinese troops in Korea.
When Greg returned home from the war in early 1953 he was a different man, with a different outlook. He boxed for the Canadian Army in Japan, Australia, and the U.S. Eventually Greg got married and then in 1965 he welcomed his son, Glen.
Greg Doyle worked as an Ironworker for almost 40 years, working on every skyscraper in Toronto, and some in Detroit, and New York City and during this time he was sure to take the time to pass on his experience and knowledge to his son, Glen especially the family heritage of Irish stick fighting.
Greg retired from Ironworking in 1989 and moved back to the house he was born in Avondale where he spent the next 9 years until he sadly & tragically passed away after a battle with the only power greater than his own cancer.
Gregs son Glen continues to honour his father by spreading the teachings of the family stick fighting system throughout the world, and trying to live by Greg Doyle s motto "When it s too tough for everyone else it's just right for me".
Glen Doyle
Born on the island of Newfoundland in 1965, Glen Doyle started training in the art of boxing in 1969 under the tutelage of his father, Greg Doyle. In 1972, Greg introduced Glen to a family legacy, an old and almost forgotten tradition; the art of Irish Stick Fighting. Keeping in line with the authenticity, the style was passed on clandestinely throughout Glen s life and was the mainstay in the relationship between him and his father.
Glen never realized how much he learned from his father until later in his martial arts career when in his mid-teens he started dabbling in the Asian fighting arts. Using the grassroots techniques and principles taught to him by his father during his childhood years, Glen fused these principles with the Asian arts he was learning and eventually became a 3-time Canadian Kung Fu Champion, a bestselling author (The Martial Artist s Way), and a much sought after martial arts instructor.
Glen s realization of the effectiveness and functionality of his family s style of stick fighting pushed him to lobby his father for permission to teach outside the family to anyone who wanted to learn. Even in some interviews in international magazines like Inside Kung Fu in 1995 & 1996 Glen made mention of the style of stick fighting he had been taught, but mentioning it was all he could do, he had no go-ahead to teach it (though he later admitted to teaching some basics to a few close martial art friends in the early and mid 1990s but never revealed it as his family´s system).
For years Glen s father denied him permission to teach anyone outside the family, until sadly fate stepped in and changed the face of Irish stick fighting forever. In March of 1998 Greg Doyle was diagnosed with terminal cancer, the final talk between father and son covered every aspect of their lives together and resulted in Glen getting his father s full support to share their family jewel with the rest of the world.
In April of 1998, Glen spread his father´s ashes on sacred land and then officially began teaching the art of Doyle family stick fighting to the rest of the world.
This tradition continues to gain strength and momentum.