Best Academy of Martial Arts

[The Almighty Ram]

Hi all,

Have any of your heard of this dojo in Champaign, Illinois? I'm going to be attending school in Champaign, and I really want to learn jiu-jitsu, after my 8 years in TKD. This is their site: https://www.bestacademyofmartialarts.com They teach jiu-jitsu, Karate nd Budo apparently.

I just want to know if any of you think this is a mcDojo.

Ram

[ps1]

Check it out and see. It's very hard to tell from a website.

[The Almighty Ram]

I'm definitely planning to. I live in California, so it'll be a month or so before I get to the college.

[bushido_man96]

I was kind of hoping to find a guy named Best as the head instructor or something. That aside, it doesn't look too bad. Nice bios on the instructors, and they have resumes, so to speak.

My question is, can you get all of that training from the school, or do you just pick one and go? Or, if you want to do more than one, do you have to pay extra?

Personally, I think having that many options available would be great, but I would like to play around in all of it. That is what I would find out.

[Brandon Fisher]

I was looking for instructor bios but didn't see them on the site. Anyway they are claiming to teach budo as a style budo is not a style it is the "martial way" not a school or system of martial arts. Thats the thing that bothers me. To many people claim to teach budo and many times make themselves sound or look foolish. Even if they are very qualified. Look at https://www.uskk.org they are based in Peoria, IL and might have a dojo in Champaign or close. They teach Matsumura Seito Shorin Ryu

[Rateh]

If you click on an art, then across the top it says "instructor" and you can look at the bio. Theres a different one for each art. The one for kung fu says that hes a 10th degree in shotokan...which makes me kinda worried...

[alsey]

a guy with a 10th, 9th, 8th and 6th dan???????

something about all of it sounds dodgy to me. if you go, ask to see the instructors certifications and stuff. maybe i'm being paranoid but a guy having a 10th dan in a single style is almost unheard of these days.

don't really like the idea of a budo class either.

they do have a free class though. you may as well go and see what its like and talk to the instructors (and check their credentials!!).

[Brandon Fisher]

If you click on an art, then across the top it says "instructor" and you can look at the bio. Theres a different one for each art. The one for kung fu says that hes a 10th degree in shotokan...which makes me kinda worried...

Thanks for telling me where to look. Well it wasn't Shotokan it is USA Shudokan. Still shaky to me.

a guy with a 10th, 9th, 8th and 6th dan???????

Yeah this seems very odd to me. You can buy that many ranks and I have heard of people ranked that high in 2 systems but not 4. The question I would have to ask is how proficent can someone be studing that many styles and having that high of rank. In particular the 8th, 9th and 10th dan.

The karate instructor wearing that Kyoshi belt which outside of ju jitsu is typically worn at 7th and 8th dan sometimes 6th in karate. In ju jitsu its more common at 5th and 6th. But to this just all seems a little shaky I would be careful. That doesn't mean that they are not ok just things seem weird.

[Brandon Fisher]

Google is a beautiful thing. Take a look at the links that same up: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=USA+Shudokan+Dr.+Brownridge+&btnG=Search

[cathal]

This school is rasising my personal alarm - I'd avoid it. But you being there, feel free to check out a few classes and gauge whether or not they're legit.