Day 1: In search of the Sword...

I started off the first day of my quest with looking for sword lessons. My search was broad. I was not limiting myself to any particular sword type or form. I felt I would be lucky to find any at all in my local area.

My first searches on Google lead me to utter disappointment. Sword lessons are such a rare and focused specialty, that I feared I might have to do classes online, without the training and mentoring of a sword master.

As expected, the first results lead me to sword lessons in larger metropolitan areas, such as Atlanta (http://www.scholasaintgeorge.org/ ) , Calgary (http://www.swordacademy.com/), and Indianapolis (http://www.mudokwan.com/martial-arts/kendo) all of which seem like great programs, with the only drawback being that they are not close enough to feasibly be realistic sites where I could train.

The results were not looking good, but I needed to refine my search a bit to be more locally focus. With limited sites at larger cities, I did not have much hope that a local search would yield anything useful.

To my surprise, I was joyfully wrong.

Enter Thomas Urso, Kum Do/ Goshindo Instructor.

While this met my local search criteria for South Carolina, I did not immediately know where Thomas was located. After reading through a Note he had written on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=9943328412), I decided to find out more information.

Much to my delight, he is located in Clemson, SC.

God had surely sent me the means to make this part of my quest successful.

I will contact Mr. Urso today, and see when lessons can begin.

As my favorite author Robert Jordan would say, "Peace favor your sword."

I am,

Jeffrey R. Daniel