Former ATA students and instructors

[MasterH]

Hey all,

I've been seeing allot of former ATA students and instructors on this and other forums. Why did you leave? How far did you get? (rank) And who was your instructor?

As for me I made my 4th Degree and realized that I didn't have the students to make my 5th Degree so I followed my instructor, Master Jack Pierce, out. The political climate didn't look like it was going to change, and it really has not.

I do have good memories of the ATA, so I don't want to make this a hatefest, but you can be honest.

Remember the user guidelines, I've been censored three times now, and don't want to get yanked.

Master Adam D. Huntley

[Rateh]

is there a point where u have to be an instructor to get a certain degree?

do u have to own a school?

just curious, since u said u didnt have the number of students for 5th degree

[MasterH]

is there a point where u have to be an instructor to get a certain degree?

do u have to own a school?

just curious, since u said u didnt have the number of students for 5th degree

When I left you needed a certian number of students to test for your 5th degree, something like 200. They may be high but I don't think so. You need to be a certified instructor, which I was, and the head instructor of your own school to test for 4th.

I think that has changed, they have some type of point system now, the more students you have the more points you recieve. But there are other ways to recieve the points. And remember all you get once you recieve the required number of points is permission to test. I'm friends with one person who has tested six times for her 5th Degree and has failed every time. It's easy to get to an ATA 3rd Degree after that you do pay for what you earn.

And I do mean $.

[younwhagrl]

I've never been in ATA myself, and I do not want to start anything about it, but I have an aquaitance that has been in ATA and he got to his green belt, and wanted to do weapons so he signed a contract for training and weapons which was $100 a month, well they never taught him weapons, they just did training, and he never paid the $100 because he was not getting what he was supposed to be paid for, so they took him to court and he quit. Not downing ATA, but that is not very fair at all. There is an ATA school in the area that I train in, and it is a very successful school.

[tkdBill]

I quit the ATA when I moved too far from the nearest school. I was a second degree when I quit. That was many years ago, and I totally left MA's for a few years.

Although I like the training I received, I was getting a little soured about the politics. I'm sure that like any large organization they have good and bad schools, but then there are good and bad independents too. Their instructor training is among the best and most rigourous around.

The school I went to was owned by Robert Allemier, who was a professional full-contact fighter at one time. Since some of the other instructors at the school were into full-contact and MMA competition, our training was pretty intense.

--

[Muaythaiboxer]

well when i was young and needed something to do after wrestling season my dad put me in the ATA i got angry because i could destory all the kids my age and i really just wanted to wrestle, anyways i quit and whenever someone asks me about the ATA i just say that if a 11 year old wrestler can beat a 13 year old ATA BB you should take your money elseware where you will get quality training. overall i have a very very negative view of the ATA there nice people but any school that makes you buy sparring gear from them and only them and then tacks on an extra $60 for profit and then ontop of that even though your decked out in $150 sparing gear wont let you make contact and wont let you use your hands to the head i seem to see a really really watered down version of the game of slap tag.

AMITABHA

[MartialArthur]

When I was in the ATA (a few years ago) there was definitely significant contact at the Black Belt levels. You were not allowed to spar until reaching green belt, and we taught the green belts to use light or no contact so that they could learn control and how to spar without killing each other. Since they had little control at that level, the safety gear was essential to prevent injuries. Acceptable contact levels increased at higher color belt levels.

I'm not with the ATA now, but my current organization has a similar arrangement... except we allow hand contact to the head.

I ask my students to buy their gear from me. I charge the catalog price, which is about $160 for the whole set. Hopefully my students would rather see their instructor make a few dollars than the big corporations. Century already has more money than they need. I'm trying to keep my monthly fees reasonable, so the money I make on gear helps me do that.

[angus88]

if a 11 year old wrestler can beat a 13 year old ATA BB you should take your money elseware where you will get quality training...your decked out in $150 sparing gear wont let you make contact and wont let you use your hands to the head i seem to see a really really watered down version of the game of slap tag.

LMAO

Yep - that's pretty pathetic. But I'd say from some of the stuff I've seen, this problem is not completely owned by the ATA.

And I know this thread isn't for bashing light to no-contact sparring practices, but the way I see it, non-contact martial arts will only get you hurt when you try to actually use it. I understand light contact for gold belts, but come on...

[MasterH]

MA,

You could not spar at orange or yellow? What's up with that? I was sparring at low-yellow back in 1985 with out gear.......I guess every school is different.

-Adam

[MartialArthur]

In 1983 I was a yellow belt and we did not spar until green (there was no orange back then). At green we started sparring, and yes, we did not use gear. A few years later we started using gear for training only, and eventually went to gear for tournaments as well.

Today I don't think that I could get insurance if I didn't require my students to use safety gear. I would probably have difficulty getting students as well. Many people have to go to school or work the next day, so black eyes and broken noses won't do.