Hapkido Dojangs in Western Twin Cities MN

[tufrthanu]

Hey all, I have recently been looking into leaving my current tkd dojang and joining somewhere else. I was hoping to find a hapkido dojang in the western twin cities area however the only two I have found have some severe drawbacks. One does falling on carpet over cement which I am really not wild about...the other doesnt teach falling til blue belt which I find disturbing. Can anyone that is familiar with the western TC recommend a course of action?

[Blue]

Hello,

 

Being from the northern subs .. Shoreview, Roseville, Little Canada, i'm not sure if these would be in your area or not:

 

http://www.songmookwan.com/natfsite/index.html

 

They teach Hapkido here three times a week, but i'm not sure if it's a belt program or just techniques. Interesting place. Grand Master Ro is the son of Supreme Grand Master Byung Jick Ro - one of the original founding Kwan members of Tae Kwon do.

 

http://www.songmookwan.com/songsite/songhist.html

 

I'm sure you've heard of this place:

 

https://www.mnkali.com

 

Positively top notch training, Rick Faye is a direct student of Dan Insanto. Actually Mr. Insanto has a seminar coming there in Feb. and just had one in Sept. Nice place, laid back, not your average Dojang. Hapkido is not taught here, but it's a hell of place anyway.

Rick Faye is a direct student of Dan Insanto

 

Just as a footnote and edit, According to the website Rick Faye's JKD instructorship is under Paul Vanuk.

 

Otherwise you may be able to find Premier Karate on the web. But, i believe they're in Andover. From Minnetonka that's gotta off the beaten path though. If i'm not mistaken they base off of Combat Hapkido. Minnesota does not have many Hapkido options.

 

Regards

[niel0092]

Tufrthanu, it looks like you found a hapkido dojang after all (judging by your listed styles). Where did you end up? I'd be interested to hear any of your impressions of Hapkido schools in the Twin Cities as I live in the area too.

[tufrthanu]

Wow old thread...heh. Well niel it worked out kinda like this. While I was at my old school I heard about a couple of Sin Moo HKD guys that taught in St. Paul on St Clair. They were both extremely proficient, but they wanted us to take full force throws and stuff during training. I was a little trepiditious about this given my weight...280. I had some problems performing some of the techniques and they didn't really seem to know how to get me to do it the right way. After being hurt on several occasions and seeing that they were getting frustated with me as a student I decided to leave. Both instructors there however are very nice and if you want to learn how to fall really well as well as do some wicked kicks they are great. They also teach alot of self defense techniques.

After I stopped going there about 9 months later I finally got frustrated at my old school and started looking around for other schools. I checked out two that ended up having HKD that were close to me. GM Ro's school downtown and the school im currently at. I had heard about GM Ro's school from an acquaitance of mine Chuck Stepan...he's a 6th dan JiDo Kwan and writes occassionally for TKD Times magazine. He knew Ro Sr. and said I should check out their dojang. Unfortunately GM Ro was in Korea at the time when I went to see a class. His main assistant instructor was a woman who had a degree in nursing who seemed very nice and knowlegable. However, the man that actually taught the class had them moving at a glacial pace...and wasnt really watching the lower belts for errors. I beleive they also had the interlocking jigsaw mat type of flooring there which you really can't use shoes on they are too sticky and they are dangerous to go barefoot...I have sprained a toe because it got caught in between the mats. They would allow me to wear my MA shoes if I wanted to however. That was just the TKD class but the same gentleman taught the HKD class...which you had to sign up for seperately there...and so I decided not to go there.

The I checked out my current school. This school they do alot of different things, although I haven't been here a real long time so I'm still kind of discovering things. They mix TKD and HKD here. The throwing is pretty easy...I mean they take you down but they give you a chance to go with the technique and don't force you to flip in the air to get there. I have not seen any what I would consider throwing however. Such as a hip throw and what not...im not sure if they do those or not. I should say this school is WHF affiliated. My only contention so far is that perhaps they could do a little more self defense...and by that I mean techniques against various grabs and stuff. Mostly we do the techniques to a punch. We do do some self defense however. There is a special class just for self defense but I'm not sure if I'm allowed to go to that one or not under my current plan. The instructor here was just awarded his 5th dan and is very nice and knowlegable...he also tries to work with anyones disabilities rather than trying to make you conform directly to his style. Well I hope this was a little edifying at least Niel.

[tufrthanu]

Sorry just a little addendum...Another thing that dissuaded me from GM Ro's school was that it's located on Lyndale just north of Lake street...a highly congested area if your not familiar with it. Classes scheduled during rush hour would entail alot of traffic...and the fact that Lyndale is a 1 way street during certain hours...and all the parking around there is pay parking.

I also wanted to mention that there are a couple of guys that supposedly do HKD at the Training for Life place on Lyndale. They said that if I wanted to come in with help on falling I was welcome and their rates seemed reasonable. However from what I understand they were not affiliated with an org and had mixed the hapkido with a couple of other arts.

[niel0092]

Thanks! I knew of GM Ro's school but was unaware of the school in St Paul on St Clair. So, what is the name of the place you currently attend?

Ever hear of Won Ki Kwan out in New Hope? It's a hapkido and TKD school and it's a bit closer to Minnetonka then where it sounds like you were going. The instructors and students there were all very nice and what I saw seemed to be pretty solid. Of course, I only saw 2 classes and only tried one. It was a bit pricey for me at the time and too far from where I lived (Blaine). The head insturctor is actually from Korea and speaks only a little english. Most classes are taught by his head student with the head instructor supervising and translating when needed.

[tufrthanu]

It's called the Bloomington Karate Center...Which is on Lyndale and 90th. The head instructor there now is CB Bunkholt...who studied under Tim Mullin I beleive who studied under Jay Hyon...the guy that originally owned GM Ro's school as well as quite a few others in the TC. I had heard about the wonkikwan in New hope but hadnt found any listing in the phone book recently and their web page was taken down so I didnt know if they were still in business or not.

[niel0092]

Not sure if it's still there either truth be told.

Jay Hyon was actually my TKD instructors first instructor. It's fun to see the effect Hyon had on martial arts in our area. It's also interesting to see how the old korean masters divied up the state back in the 70's and how the second generation students have strayed from those agreements on where they would locate their schools. But that's a whole other story...

just for fun, here's my current school:

http://www.mntaekwondocenter.com

[tufrthanu]

Cool niel so you work out on St. Paul side? What ranke are you currently?

[niel0092]

Currently I'm a BB canidate. I should be ready to test in August or September but I'm not really in a rush to do so. I was holding onto the idea of getting my BB before my 10 year reunion but it looks like I'll miss that by a few weeks at least. Oh well.