The Club:

SPK Aikido NC is a not-for-profit Aikido club focused on studying and improving our skills in Aikido. We only ask that students contribute to the periodic improvements required to maintain a quality training facility.

We are a very small club, training twice a week. We have had students of all ages, some experienced with other martial arts, and some with no experience at all.

The atmosphere is friendly and relaxed, though we do follow traditional opening and closing etiquette in the school

The Instructor:

Dan Gilbert is the instructor at SPK Aikido NC. He has had experience in many martial arts over the past 34 years. He has studied jujitsu, tae kwon do, ishinryu, vita saana, traditional thai kick boxing, and was a competitive foil fencer prior to studying Aikido under Sensei Evans and Sensei Burrows in the United Kingdom. Dan has been teaching Aikido in North Carolina since 2005, he has taught children's courses at St. Michael's Catholic school and Gaston Day school as well as teaching adult classes at various locations.  Dan is married to Brenda Gilbert and attends St. Mark's church in downtown Gastonia where he now holds his classes on Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 7 to 9. Dan and Brenda have two children, Brendan who is serving in the U.S. Army with the 82nd Airborne division, and Breanna who attends Ashbrook high school.