Stuck in Pennsylvnia

[TeaL]

I guess no real MA guys want to come here thinking its a farm land, but we do have some pretty large citys...

anyways, i live in rather large town called "Lancaster", and well the MA is slim pickings.

I, and a few of my friends, REALLY wanted a bushido dojo, which we dont hav e and a Mui thai (sorry if i miss spelled) dojo. Which again we dont have.

What should we do? any suggestions?

PS feel free to come open a MA dojo here i know several who would join it.

[fallen_milkman]

Move.

Kidding, kidding. I sorta know the feeling, living in Erie and all. Luckily, we somehow manage to have a Grandmaster in Kuntao teaching here. His school is pretty much the only school I would bother with around here. No aikido closer than Pittsburgh, no Shaolin Kung Fu. It's mostly Goshin Jutsu, and I have absolutely no interest in that.

Basically, if I were in your shoes, I would buy some videos online and some books. Not as great as learning from a master, but if you have no other options, then what can you do? If you don't think you can learn it this way, then I guess the suggestion to move might not have been as funny as I thought.

[glockmeister]

I Live in lancaster county as well, there are soem good schools for kickboxing, boxing and TSD, I take Krav Maga in landisville which is not too far from lancaster city, it's the only place around that teaches it. I know how you feel about there not being any good MT schools or BJJ schools though.

Check out Terry Nye's kickboxing gym there in the city. I trained there for a good while awhile back. He also crosstrains them in boxing and MDK.

[karatekid1975]

I know how you feel. I was in a TSD dojang in NJ, and when I moved to upstate NY, I couldn't find an TSD dojang (the closest is three hours away ).

The dojos/dojangs here stink ... mostly the McDojo - belt factory type, or they are just for kids, ect. But I was lucky enough to find a decent TKD dojang (a bit pricy, but definitely NOT a Mcdojang).

My advice would be to find a good instructor. I know you really want to do a certain style, like I did, but the most important thing is the instructor, not the style.

[TangSooGuy]

Depends what your interested in, I guess....If you have any interest in TSD whatsoever, check out Mimidis Karate. Master Mimidis is a great guy, and a great teacher, and his dojang is pretty darn nice as well.

https://www.mimidiskarate.com

[glockmeister]

I trained under Master John Beam. He's in the book. plenty of conditioning and training for the real world as well as the traditional stuff for TSD.

[GhostlySykanRyu]

I visit Lancaster as much as possible, love the place, but I would imagine there would be little there for the martial artist. Know how you feel though, I at first had a choice between a big commercial school(karate), and a BJJ school...not what I was looking for. Luckily I dug deep and found my Sensei...hopefully something similar will come up for you.

[TangSooGuy]

I trained under Master John Beam. He's in the book. plenty of conditioning and training for the real world as well as the traditional stuff for TSD.

Master Beam is great too, and as traditional as they get, but due to some health issues, his school is mostly being taught by one of his highest ranking black belts, I think.

Either Master Beam or Master Mimidis could put you on a good track.

[glockmeister]

Yes it's sad. He has Parkinson's Disease and his health is starting to really go down. We also worked together in Corrections, and he has had to take permanent disability. Yes alot of his high ranking students are helping to teach the class.

[PatC]

How close are you to Philly. Might be worth while to see what you can find there. Or maybe Harrisburg. Good luck.