red dawn

Congrats!!!

welcome to the forums!!!!!

Okay, I'm getting an idea of what your trying to do. I think you've hit all the major spots. That would be a good idea to rent. But maybe, and I'm not sure what your trying to get out this (experience, a following, money for own your own school.) but maybe instead of trying to rent space from a local gym you can offer to teach some your MA classes there (And you might have a chance, Especially if it gives a good workout or is good for relaxing. I'm not sure what art you are teaching.) It would bring the gym diveristy for what they offer to it's members and you will still get your class. I know that it wouldn't run like a real MA school. But it might help you get a partnership with them. So they might rent some space out to you to run a school. And if not, it's still good for advertising. But not just at the gym, but at the others places you tried. Cheerleading places and Gymnastics gyms, sport centers, colleges, maybe even high schools or clubs. (a got a high school who wanted me to teach kickboxing to their school.) I also know that Womans Crisis helps centers for abuse and rape are usually always looking for new people to teach self defense tatics. (Many of the above can help your reputation, wich would be a big part in owning your own school and can even be a deciding factor for some people if they want to join your school.) And I'm assuming your overall goal is to own and manage your own school independently from any other organizations. But I think at the moment it would be a good idea to form some partnerships and ties with certain organizations and communities. And you never know, something good might present it self sooner than you think. good luck with that! I hope you find a place!

yes, at the moment it is worth it to me to stay. Because I love working with people and making a difference in their lives. Recently I have started cross-training at another dojo and I plan to keep learning there. My over all goal I guess I could say, it to just keep pushing my self to do better.

What my black belt means to me is that I have got the basics and I am ready to really start learning now.

yea, it would also be interesting to see jujitsu and maybe even aikido. But heck I would like to see jousting. I and I think aikido could use the recognition. Also, I've never watched TKD in the olympics. What competitions do they do? (Spar, kata, etc.?)

The only thing I can think of is going to the their official website. start here. The last question might help. http://www.olympic.org/uk/utilities/faq_detail_uk.asp?rdo_cat=10_37_0 There is probably some official office or person you have to contact.

I look to see how the school looks, how the people are, how I'm treated is important. Then I look to see how the classes are taught. Who teaches them. (Top instructor, black belt students), how good the teacher is. Just regular stuff i guess.

well, i'm not going to lie, my dojo is starting to turn into a Mcdojo. Which i am very upset about. (which is why I train else where now), but since I can't change the entire school I will spend what time I can making sure that the children and parents are getting what they paid for. We have good instructors just a stupid owner who only wants money. It makes it hard because the owner doesn't even like the children and talks bad about some of parents and their children behind their backs. But I work with these kids and try to instill in them good MA principles. And I hope I have. Sorry if I started complaining, but sometimes I don't understand why these people are in the MA when they only want money. It hurts everyone that way.

well, I can't tell you exactly where to go to rent space. You're just going to have to keep an eye out for places renting (and I see about 2 or 3 places a day were I am.) as well as check your local newspaper everyday. In the meantime while your looks keep getting practice with your art and teaching. Also, start makeing out your course plan for how you are going to run the school if you haven't started yet. Work out how your going to advertise and start trying to recruit some people who would be interested in signing up. So when you do start your school you will have a small following. You could start offering private/small group lessons for a small price with people you know. Then when you do find some space transfer them over there. Also, have you tried going to some colleges. They might let you teach there. At my college we offer a few different types of Martial Arts. My Sensei does this. This will help you advertise and maybe get you some money while your looking to get a real space. And I think most of those classes are only one day a week at a time of teachers choosing so it wouldn't have to interfer with anything else you are doing. These are just a few ideas. Hope it helped! And good luck!

Wonderful post USCMAAI! But I also stress yamesu's chaos theory. Nothing will ever go as planned. I guess you could almost count it as murphy's law.

your brain. Very powerful weapon. But for actual object, anything can be used as a weapon. As we can observe that most martial arts schools today teach farm tools as weapons. A pen, paper(if you know how ) paper clip, hair pin, chair, table cloth, keys, key chain, finger nails, a car or bus. Pretty much anything you can think of.

The katana is my favorite. I think I just a lot of respect for it because it is truly a weapon of war and honor. But the farm tools are neat also. My second favorite weapon is without question the Nunchaku.

I could use one too. (at least one that's not so skilled that he will kill me) I think it would improve my combat skills with these weapons. But my very first martial arts weapon was the Bo staff.

hmm....that sounds odd. Almost like spiderman. haha. I've never heard anything like that before. I know that after I have been sick I usually feel like a million bucks so I start training again harder then before, which I notice more improvement with myself. I also have to get used to my normal skill level again because of how poorly I do my techniques when i'm sick. Perhaps it's a mixture of the both? But maybe i'm wrong. And also, a second thought. Maybe your skill just improved. You know sometimes you try to do something (and you've done it a million times) and then one day out of the blue, you can do it perfectly. Other than that. You might just have an amazing immune system. Or it just be a common MA thing and I'm outta the loop too.

you know, I just had a class discussion about that with my spanish teacher (go figure). But it's so true. You need science to understand art. Well put Jiffy!

though i do not do TKD...I think I can safely say I do about 7 of those.

being a kickboxing instructor is not hard and you can be trained on the spot (but with a 2 weeks to months worth of training), as long as you don't consider your self a kickboxing fighter. When you teach kickboxing for fitness you only really need to know proper technique. But still, I think some experience with kickboxing would be better. Now martial arts and karate and fitness you need some real training in that! Even kickboxing instructor i think i would prefer some experience in at least kickboxing. the ad gave me a chuckle though.

the energizer bunny! It keeps going...and going...and going...and going...and going...and going...and going...and going...and going...and going...and going... and going...

I think 3 years is okay. It's is on the shorter end of the time length. It took me about 6 years to get my first degree. But then again, I started as a kid. And I had training lags and such. I think as long as you worked hard for it then you earned it and it wasn't just given to you.

seeing how far I have come with the MA, and how much more I still need to learn keeps me going. It's almost an unexplainable drive.

I'm sorry. You would think students would have more respect for their teacher. But even so, it must have been a big thing if eveybody pulled out of the tournament. But it still must be a bummer. I hope everything gets solved between the student and your sifu.

that's wonderful! What a great way to use MA to give back to the community. And 24 hours...wow...congrats!

Good luck! I hope everything goes well!

I thought that was pretty funny. that's a good one too.