Quote:
|
Gaia Thurston-Shaine wrote:
Your story sounds great...
There is a dojo in Casper, I believe it is still in operation. It was originally started by my sensei who moved away a few years later. It is called Aikido of Casper and they did have a website but it isn't working any more. http://www.aikido.org/wyoming.html. Elizabeth Martin is my sensei's sister but i don't believe she is teaching there anymore. But I thought you might want to give them a call. I know that when the dojo first opened they had a quite a few students.
Good luck - keep training.
Gaia |
Aikido of Casper still exists. It was difficult to find however. When I moved to town, I called Elizabeth to learn she was not teaching anymore. She did however have the number of Gabe Phillips who is running the club these days. I called him, and we got together, and I trained with them for a short while. It had gotten smaller from what the tell me, a "big class" was 5 people on the mat. Fantastic people, every one of them. I stopped going not for any personal reasons, but a financial one.
They are teaching at the Recreation Center, and I need to pay the membership fees to train (there is an Aikido-only membership). I really just do not have the spare cash. Its been the story of my life, I usually "work off" my training by serving the dojo somehow. I've done everything from cleaning, to website design, to teaching. Because Gabe does not have his own space, I do not think I can work out a work-study program with him.
I did not have a great desire to teach in this community until early December when I met a young man who needs Aikido. Talking with him, I realized that the New School style that I teach would be a great match for his situation, attitude, and personality, and would serve him better than the New York Aikikai style Gabe teaches. Our styles
are different, as is our approach, I think Gabe's will appeal to some, and if I think its a good match I will refer them to him, but in the case of my young friend, I think my style is better match for him.
I do not want to compete with Gabe's organization. Now that it looks like my group is going to be a "go" I will call him soon and let him know I am hanging up my shingle, and hopefully set up some cross-training between the groups.
Though Casper may seem small to those living in the more populated states, there is plenty of population to support two good Aikido schools. Heck, its big enough to support more than a handful Tae Kwon Do schools already.