coffeecat

No, sorry. I did not mean my competitiveness makes me want my kids to compete. It makes me excited over tournaments and like that my school encourages participation.

It's a TKD style. My son has only been going few months and we went to one tournament as spectators. It seemed to have a mix of styles not just TKD. Another tournament is coming up and our school is encouraging participation. I think the tournament was fun, but I also sense ( because I analyze everything) that there is a business aspect to tournaments. So I am wondering from those that have been in the martial arts scene a while - do you see the value in the tournaments? Also, I admit I am competitive as hell. My friends Karate sons went to the first tournament with mine and went on and on about how the TKD kids suck. Their school does not participate in tournaments. It annoys me they keep putting our MA down . Life is not a Karate Kid movie.

What are your opinion of tournaments? What does it mean if a school is active in promoting tournaments and another school is not? Do you recommend participating in tournaments?

The way the wording is, it seems like it is about *teaching*, not learning from another school. To me ,that sounds fair. You shouldn't go to a school and learn their stuff and then go open your own school right away. It seems betraying.

Hey Joesteph, I agree with you! I'm not a Tiger mother. I don't want him to burn out and get sick of it. He can go whenever he wants. He also plays soccer so when soccer season starts it will conflict on certain days. The best part of this is it is right next door to his bro's work. He hangs out there anyway, so this will give him something more constructive to do instead of loitering .

Hi all, Bushido, your surprised response made me rethink putting those details on a public forum so I went back and removed them. I am looking at the flyer right now and that is indeed the advertised price per month for a lifetime membership. However, the flier doesn't say 2 for 1 so ... <>. I also think it's a good deal when I compare it to my friends deals, although I was not crazy about the 3 year commitment. That's why I was asking so many questions. You scare me a little when you say "it all depends on how the termination of the contract comes out"- What do you mean. I'm looking at the contract now and I don't see anything strange. There is this thing about never working for, being affiliated, blah blah blah with any other martial arts school for 3 years after completed training. However, that really doesn't sound unreasonable.

Yes, 3 years. I signed a contract for three years. It was a lifetime membership deal. The contract is they go free for the rest of their life after 3 years.The place gave me 2 for 1, so I included my oldest son for free. The Master was actually offering me to go but my maternal instincts reminded me that I have another son so I put him in it instead. Plus my oldest son works and goes to school so he needs to take some time for stress relief. Also last night they just told my 13 year old he can train with both srs and Jr classes. That is 2 and half hours every day. I know it is a long contract and it was not called a black belt program or anything like that. I know what you are talking about because my friends have a contract with their karate place but it is called a "black belt " program. I don't know how long it is though. However I do know they pay 150 for one and my deal was ** deleted for confidentiality **

Thanks all of you, for your replies. They have helped alot. I know I may seem a bit overbearing, but if I am going to sign a 3 year contract I want to make sure of what I am getting myself into. To the one that said my son will be in a better position to decide what he can do considering his age, you are right. As he grows up he can study whatever he wants. My son said ( but I haven't verified it yet) that at the TKD/Pasrayhu center there is full contact sparring. Full contact is better right? The contract will be for every day for 3 years. Classes are an hour with 15 minute sparring time at the end. All belts train together. Does that sound like enough time? And you're right, I need to tell him about this forum...

Hello all, I joined this forum because I am to gain some insight into Martial Arts to help my 12 ( almost 13 year old ) son. For almost a year , he has been training online with Capoeira nation training videos and was very interested in that form. He was very disciplined and would do this every day until he he became increasingly verbally frustrated and complained that he needed a real instructor because he couldn't see himself clearly to know if he was doing things right. I could not find any instructors for him that were close by and affordable. There is only ONE that I could find and it is far from my house and was more than I could afford. I looked into USA Karate, because some of my friends go , but he seemed resistant and was really insistant on Capoeira. Now recently, his brother began to work next door to a TKD/ Pasaryu center. The Master is Kang Rhee. It is convenient and affordable. After hanging out at his brothers work, right next door, he asked to sign up. By his reasoning, Capoeira was not going to happen so might as well. I signed him up and he has begun going every day. It's been 2 weeks. So I am here looking at these forums, and not really sure what I am asking. I just want to be helpful to him because I can tell he is passionate and disciplined. After browsing around the forums and doing searches I have read various things and just want to ask some questions. Someone said in one of the threads that Kang Rhee was not known for producing fighters but for his forms. Is this a bad thing? What is the difference? Pasaryu is a style that is developed by Kang Rhee himself but does not appear to be widely known or widespread. Is this something that is okay? Is it common to mix and match Martial arts styles? For example, can someone become proficient in one Martial arts style and then switch to another. I doubt that his passion for Capoeira is going to go away and if he eventually finds an instructor how realistic is it to switch back and forth between styles? Finally, I have several friends in USA Karate, and I think they do more MMA. I have realized after reading these forums that MAYBE I should be alarmed that my friends kids just joined last year and already green belts?