Reviews of Rivers Edge Bujinkan Dojo

My boys love this school! They have gained confidence and real world self defense skills in just a short time. As a mom, I appreciate the fact that the rates are reasonable and there are no contracts. Master Murdock is an exceptional teacher with an impressive background. My oldest son tried baseball and basketball but nothing stuck...until he tried this! My younger son is sporty, so during the on-season I will scale down Kobushi-Do to once a week. I appreciate the flexibility there. The classes have all ages, all skill levels, and girls too. They have a welcoming atmosphere and offer free trial classes for newbies.

My son Jackson has been attending Southern School of Martial Arts since September of 2012. Shihan Mark Murdock is an excellent instructor. He instills confidence, courage and uses various types of everyday situations that may occur to all of his students. He is one of the best if not the best I have ever seen. He really works good with youth as well at adults.

This dojo trains the students to react to real life situations. Shihan Mark Murdock blends in various types of martial arts such as Aikodo, Judo, Karate and Ju-Jitsu as well as others. You will learn the names of all the locks and techniques as well. Learning these different martial arts makes more well rounded and you learn how they all come together to make a natural flow. Weapons techniques are taught as well. I highly recommend this martial arts school to everyone.

You are made to feel very welcomed from the first class and before we came here we looked around and this school is the most reasonably priced for what you learn too. Shihan Mark is very serious about teaching you the skills you need for real life not trophies! Bobby Currin

I've tried martial arts of various forms in a vain search for true personal defense. Every school I found that taught various forms such as tae kwon do, karate, jujitsu (other styles), judo etc. All seemed to have a competition focus and taught you to pull everything.

Students gained rank because they spent money even when their form was atrocious. I agree, this can be encouraging to the student and keep them interested and spending money. They may be able to compete in a competition with strict rules and pulled punches. However, at the end of the day they cannot defend themselves!

There are no rules in a real world assault/attack/mugging/rape/murder. If you are unprepared, you will lose, guaranteed. However, with Mark Miurdock's training, you've got a real chance of surviving with minimal injury to yourself....which may not be true for your attacker.

So, if you want to look pretty and flashy or just compete and NOT be able to defend yourself...go somewhere else. If you want to survive in this crazy world, learn real martial arts that you can use, then come here. Moreover, with Mark's teaching style, you will get all the things other schools advertise like discipline, respect, fitness etc. Mark takes a realistic approach and covers all bases.

If you are looking for personal defense, look no further, this place is home.

I used to train there a few years ago when the school was in Mr. Murdock's garage at his home. I had to leave to relocate for a job. I've had a difficult time where I'm at now trying to find a dojo that teaches a realistic martial art like Manabi-Masho Ju-Jitsu. There's a Karate school and couple of Tae Kwon Do schools were I live now, but their focus is more on sport, forms and competing in tournaments and so on. I went to one of these schools to observe one night and asked if they taught any kind of self defense classes. They told me they did, but what I saw looked nothing like what I learned at Mr. Murdock's. What they demonstrated looked choppy, choreoghaphed and had no natural flow. I liked how Mr. Murdock taught self defense from realistic, random and practical approach. He told me that your martial arts has to be natural and without thought. I really miss training there. I'm glad to see the school has expanded. I highly recommend this school to anyone who is looking for the real deal. Mr. Murdock also teaches the children's class in the same realistic way.

My two children have been attending the Southern School of Martial Arts for almost two years. One is in the children's Kobushi-Do Class and the oldest is in the adult Manabi-Masho Class. Shihan Murdock is a great instructor who teaches self-defense techniques for real life situations. His number one self-defense technique is to avoid the situation if at all possible, but he demonstrates many usable techniques if avoidance is not possible. All techniques will not work the same in every situation. Also, what works in one situation may not work in others, but Shihan Murdock teaches a good variety so that a person's level of survival in a bad situation is greatly increased. He even shows techniques on surviving an encounter with multiple attackers, and attackers with weapons such as knives, sticks, and guns. Shihan Murdock works in a controlled environment and monitors the use of the shown techniques in order to prevent injury. He is however, a certified paramedic on the rare occasion that injury does occur. He also teaches values and morals to live by in both the adult and children's classes. Overall I think this is an outstanding class!

This martial art is so dynamic. It has striking techniques, finger, wrist and arm locks, It has several great ground techniques and weapon disarms from knives, sticks and guns. If you're looking for a school that will teach how to defend yourself this is the one.