Dojo History - Goju-Ryu Karate of Selah

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Kanryo Higaonna | Chojun Miyagi | An'Ichi Miyagi | Morio Higaonna | Tetsuji Nakamura | Gene Villa | Goju-Ryu Karate of Selah

Sensei Kyle Sonnabend-Liberty ran a karate school at the Yakima Athletic Club during the late 80’s and early 90’s. The style of karate originally taught by Sensei Kyle was USA-Goju. There were many students there and the Dojo occupied a few differnet spaces over the years including weight rooms, racketball courts and an Aerobics Studio.

In 1994 Sensei Gene Villa, a former student of Sensei Kyle, visited the dojo and demonstrated Okinawan Goju-Ryu to both Sensei Kyle and her students. Soon after this, Sensei Kyle made the decision that the Dojo needed to convert its style to Okinawan Goju-Ryu and join the IOGKF.

Later on, the dojo made the big decision to leave the athletic club and open its doors in a Dojo space of its own. The name of the Dojo was Goju-Ryu Karate of Yakima. The dojo grew in size and was very successful. Sensei Kyle had many students that trained hard and made the rank of shodan and higher at that time. Toward the tail end of 1998 many students began to leave the dojo due to health, further education, or job responsibilities. One of these students to leave was Andy Franz, who left to move to Spokane Washington in order to attend college. In late 1999 and early 2000 Sensei Kyle finally decided to retire from being a full time sensei and closed the school.

Early 2004 Andy Franz, reopened the school in Selah, under the name Goju-Ryu Karate of Selah. There it has been open for more than 10 years. Sensei Kyle Sonnabend, Sensei Gene Villa and many other instructors have visited and taught at the dojo over the years.

Black Belts Under Kyle Sonnabend-Liberty		Black Belts under Andy Franz
Kem Russell	Nidan	Mareli Drakes	Nidan
Nate Richards	Shodan	Tom Watkins	Nidan
Gene Amos	Shodan	Lisa Hill	Nidan
Seth Russell	Shodan	Danny Skinner	Shodan
Brian Moss	Shodan	Tigger Gamino	Shodan
Andy Franz	Shodan *	Patricia Edwards	Shodan
Mike Glover	Shodan	Scott Hanna	Shodan
Phil Cline	Shodan	Kevin Cadigan	Shodan
Bill Strange	Shodan	Matthew Watkins	Shodan
Jennifer Staley	Shodan	John Elyea	Shodan-Ho
Danny Dodd	Shodan	Elizabeth Trudeau	Shodan-Ho
Aaron Russell	Shodan	Jerik McCann	Jr. Shodan
	* Has attained Rank Higher than listed here	Austin Au	Jr. Shodan
		Kaylor Fullerton	Jr. Shodan
		Ben Hoxee	Jr. Shodan
		Aiden Cadigan	Jr. Shodan
		Ashlyn Knox	Jr. Shodan
		Jack Neumeyer	Jr. Shodan
		Hayden Gill	Jr. Shodan
		Cole Robbins	Jr. Shodan
		Jared Briggs	Jr. Shodan
		Charlee Elyea	Jr. Shodan