Southern School of Martial Arts 30th Anniversary

In January 2026 we will begin celebrating our 30th Anniversary. I want to thank all students over the last 30 years for supporting the dojo. I’m thankful to both former and our present students for training at our dojo and the success of the Southern School of Martial Arts. Here is an article on how the school started and how it progressed through the years.

The Southern School of Martial Arts began as a thought in 1994. I had just moved to North Carolina and tried to find a place to continue my training in martial arts. I arrived in North Carolina as a Sandan 3rd degree black belt in Manabi-Masho Ju-Jitsu. I tried to find a place to train when I arrived, but never could find anything close to what I had learned in the past 12 years.

I tried a class at a traditional Aikido dojo in downtown Raleigh to find it was a very different from the changed short circle Aikido I learned in Ohio, besides the Ju-Jitsu I learned. I also tried a couple of classes at Karate International in Raleigh, but it was just Karate and Judo being taught there. I wanted to continue in Ju-Jitsu so that wasn’t an option. Most of all the schools in the area were Tae Kwon Do and Karate schools. Nothing like what I had learned.

In the Summer of 1994, my neighbor became interested in training after he discovered I was a Ju-Jitsu Instructor. He then became a private student and trained on and off for about a year. I still traveled back to Ohio several times a year to train with Professor John Casarez at the Tri-City School of Martial Arts. In 1995, my private student stopped training and about a month later, one paramedic I worked with showed interest in training. He began training in the Fall of 1995 at his apartment complex in Cary, NC. Later that fall, another paramedic trained.

We trained in a little apartment complex gym. In the winter of 1996, we had one of the apartment tenets that trained and then later in the winter of 1996 we had a friend of the tenet that started training. This was my fourth student. I continually taught these four students through the spring of 1996. In May 1996, we began training in my first student’s home garage and then progressed to my backyard at my home in Willow Spring, NC. I then enrolled another paramedic in late May 1996, my 5th student.

On May 16, 1996, I officially founded Southern School of Martial Arts. I came up with the name using “Southern” South version and “School of Martial Arts” from Try-City School of Martial Arts. So technically, this was the southern version of Try-City School of Martial Arts. I was the first to teach Manabi-Masho Ju-Jitsu outside the state of Ohio. I brought Manabi-Masho Ju-Jitsu to North Carolina. I also started the first Manabi-Masho Ju-Jitsu division outside of the hombu (home) dojo in Ohio. This is how Southern School of Martial Arts started.

I’ve had the Dojo in many locations over the last 25 years. In 1997, we had classes in several locations. In 1997, we had our classes in many places. At my home in Willow Spring, the Fuquay-Varina, NC. Community Center, Beyond Fitness in Fuquay-Varina, and at one of my student’s home in Wendell, NC. In 1998, I moved the dojo to the Smithfield, NC area off Hwy 210. We finally had our own structure to train in. It was a 16×20 barn that we used as a dojo. In late 1999, we moved the Dojo to a commercial location at 335 E. Market Street in Smithfield, NC. we had classes there through early 2003. In early 2003, because of a downturn in business, we closed the building and had classes at my residence in Smithfield. We had classes in a large room in my house for about 6 months.

In February 2004, I bought a new house in the McGee’s Crossroads, NC. area just off Hwy 210. It had a very large garage, and we moved the Dojo there and began having classes. In 2005, I started a separate class at the Langley’s Gym in Angier besides my garage in McGee’s Crossroads. We had that location through 2006. We continued in the garage through late 2009. In late 2009, we were outgrowing the garage, and I searched for a bigger location. In December 2009, we moved the Dojo to the Food Lion Shopping Center at McGee’s Crossroads Hwy210/I-40. We remained there through December 2012. In January 2013, we moved to our now current location at 27 Annette Drive. In the Summer of 2015, we opened a second location of the Dojo in downtown Smithfield. Ironically, in the same building we were in 2000. It became available for rent and I tried a second location there. It was unfortunate that business was not good there. We only had a few students. After continuously losing money and having a low amount of students, we closed that location and focus on our main location at McGees’s Crossroads. I do plan to open a second and third location in the future.

Even though we moved a lot during the early stages of the Dojo, I still continued to teach the art and continued to run the business. You have to grow into a business. It doesn’t happen overnight. It takes a lot of time, hard work, money and persistence.

In 2020, we had a crisis “Covid-19” The dojo closed from April through June and went to strictly online Zoom classes. In late June, we reopened for in-person classes again. This was the first time in the school’s history we completely stopped in-person classes. We continued the in-person classes using strict CDC guidelines, a mask requirement and social distancing. We never had a case of Covid-19 in the dojo. It was tough not to train with each other. However, I designed and made props to resemble punching hands and arms, artificial hands on sticks and many other props to use to keep social distancing.

2021 a new year and a new hope. Covid-19 vaccines have rolled out. I’m still using the CDC guidelines for safety. I am still using the props for training. I have taught a lot of striking and weapon techniques since the pandemic started and continue to do that. I awarded several students “Dojo Hero” and “Federation” awards for going above and beyond and staying with the dojo and continuing to train. These students were fundamental to keeping the dojo in business. It’s unfortunate that a lot of our neighboring Dojo’s lost their fight and had to close permanently. I am very fortunate and very thankful I could stay in business during this unprecedented time.

2022 through 2024: We continued to grow with more students and several new instructor level ones, two’s and three’s.

2025 has lots of exciting events coming.

More pictures throughout 29 years coming soon.

Next year 2026 will be our 30th anniversary and 30 years in business. There will be a big celebration event scheduled next year.

Thank you, Soke Murdock