A little help for someone in the middle of Kansas

[Andrew Murphy]

My name is Andrew Murphy and I live in Great Bend, Kansas. I am currently not a member of ARMA, but was a few years ago. I have read some of the material and have a minscule knowledge of some of the movements, but my dilemma is thus, I have not found anyone to create a practice group with.

I have not renewed my membership hoping to form a study group and this is my last ditch effort to see if there is any connection to Kansas. I would love to find someone within reach to get together with to work on some of the principles of the art. I have done some asking around lately to people that I know locally, but have found no one interested in working with me. Currently there is not even any kind of martial arts in my town to recruit some of those people who may be interested in learning other forms.

I would appreciate any assistance from anyone on the forum.

Thank you in advance for any comments, or suggestions that you may make.

Andrew Murphy

[Stacy Clifford]

You might try putting an ad on Craigslist in your area or starting a group on meetup.com to see if you can attract some attention that way.

[Corey Roberts]

I have been a semi-solo member in Montana for quite some time now. I recommend the following course of action:

1. Join ARMA

2. Go to a 1.0 as soon as possible immediately after joining, as well as any and all ARMA events you can get to.

3. Train

4. Train harder.

5. Then worry about getting more people.

[Jason Taylor]

Hi, Andrew.

Trust me, I feel your pain. I didn't even really begin studying WMA until a year after I discovered it because I was unaware of the local ARMA study group. I was fortunate in that the group out here in OC, once I found it, proved to be sizable and active, so I've never really needed to start a new group on my own.But for that first year, I did understand the frustration of having an interest in WMA with nobody to practice it with.

At any rate, I recommend you get started practicing solo as best you can. If you don't have a waster, get one--if you can afford it, get two; it'll help with marketing.

Step two in my book is to get some exposure to the public. Find a public place with foot traffic and work your drills there, and be prepared to show people some cool two-person stuff if they ask (you can rehearse it on your own ahead of time). Have some method for them to contact you--set up a cheapie website, get an email for the purpose, whatever works for you. Meetup.com is what my group uses, though it's not free.

Step three is concurrent to step two--find a nearby college and canvas there for membership. You could take a class there, if it's cheap enough (I don't know what community college fees are like in Kansas; out here in CA they're dirt cheap). A good choice would relate to martial arts of some sort. Try to scope individuals out who might be interested.

If that's too much trouble, then make up some fliers, try to get them approved to be posted on campus (the rules are different at every school), and post them everywhere. Put the word SWORD in big letters. See what happens.

We work out at a park normally. Mostly, we get a few walk-bys interested in what we're doing, and a lot of immature cat-calls and so forth from the road. We've also met on the campus of the university I work at, and in two sessions of doing that, we've picked up one prospective member who seems pretty interested in sticking around and a couple other prospective walk-bys. This is on a Friday, the least populated day for the school. There just seems to be a more interested population at colleges than in the general public.

Good luck in your recruiting efforts. Google tells me you at least have Barton County Community College in Great Bend; maybe that's an option for you.

Jason

[Antonio Delgado]

Training solo can be really tough, especially to start. That said, I have yet to meet someone in ARMA who isn't more than willing to help out somebody interested in joining. I'd reccomend join ARMA as soon as possible, and then if possible visit your nearest study group. I'm not sure how the close the nearest group is to you, but if it's within driving distance (even to go a few times) I would say it would be worth going to pick up some advice on HOW to train.

That, getting to a NTP 1.0 if at all possible, and using online resources will actually get you pretty far. In addition to that, once a member you've got a slew of expierenced people to help you out with questions and clarifications.

Once you can show your friends some cool stuff, it's gets easier to recruit people (or at least get them interested).

[Sal Bertucci]

It also just takes time. I'm here in a college town and it took me almost a year of practicing/ getting the word out until I had someone consistent to train with, and I didn't even find him. My wife recruited him for me.

you'll be ok, just get started.

[Andrew Murphy]

Thanks for all of the advice. Oddly enough, two years ago, I had approached some of the people at the college about this and to be quite honest, it had slipped my mind. I have submitted my application, and I will look for a relatively close study group. In the mean time, I have travels that will take me to Clarksville, Tn on the 30 and 31 of March and to Kansas City on the 23 and 24 of April. Does anyone know a group or even a member or two in these areas?

I seem to recall that there may have been someone in KC. Anyway, thanks for all the great advice and I look forward to eventually meeting some of you.

Andrew

[Josh Warren]

Greetings, Andrew.

I am in Manhattan, Kansas.

I am not an ARMA member (but I would be if there were an active group near me, or if I had more time to travel and attend events), but I can point you towards a few of the WMA resources our state offers, if you like.

The only active fechtschule in Kansas that I know of is in Topeka:

http://www.selohaar.org/greatplainsfechtschule/

It's not ARMA, but they do represent a genuine Western Martial Arts interest group here.

In your area, there are a few individuals whose interests may coincide with yours. Contact me via e-mail and I'll be happy to put you in touch with them.

[James Sterrett]

I seem to recall that there may have been someone in KC. Anyway, thanks for all the great advice and I look forward to eventually meeting some of you.

Andrew

That would be us -- all two of us and somewhat pinned by a 2-year-old.

I clearly ought to check the board more frequently, since we could have linked up when you came through KC. :-/