Does this school sound OK?

[Bobu-san]

OK There is only one MA school that is in my town, and I'm not driving 25+ miles several times a week to study the school I'm most interested in so I'm going to have to settle. Luckily I have seen a few demonstrations and it seems pretty awesome.

 

OK this school teaches TKD, Hapkido, and Gumdo, I dont know if its all at once or one after the other or what. It cost $100 for 3 months and the gi, then $50 bucks a month after that.

 

The instructor is a 7th dan Black Belt in TKD, I'm not sure what he is in the others. I have this this guy's assitant throw a ping pong ball into the air and have him cut it in half with a sword, BLINDFOLDED.

 

So tell me what you think!

[Pacificshore]

First and foremost welcome to the forum. Second, the fee you listed sound reasonable. Have you had an introductory lesson at this school, or did you just drop by to see what was up?

 

You say that you will settle, but 25 miles isn't that far to drive. It may not hurt to check out the other place that your most interested in so as to make a more informed choice for your training needs. Heck, I've traveled as far as 5hrs. to train.

 

Either way you choose, I'm sure you'll have fun once you get going.

[karatekid1975]

I agree with Pacificshore. It does sound reasonable. Go for a intro class to see what ya think, and to check out the instructor's teaching method.

 

Wow! Pacific. You traveled 5 hours to train? How many days a week? I was thinking of traveling 2 hours for a TSD school, but decided against it, because upstate NY (where I live) gets a lot of snow in the winter. Bad for traveling.

 

 

[TKD_McGee]

Sounds good, but what does the place look like?

 

Is it a sport club, or grandpas garage?

 

 

[Mamutti]

fee sounds reasonable, and the three month trial period is also reasonable. I also agree with Pacific, it is worth the 25 mile drive for a good school. Saving communting time is worth nothing if you don't like it or they are not effective instructors. Try it out. I pay 50 dollars an hour for some of my lessons-semi private- and it is worth it and the three hour round-trip commute. I don't go as often to that school, but it like a special treat once in a while.

[Pacificshore]

Hi KK1975!

 

Fortunately for me I do not do it weekly. It's more like every few months when I go and train usually 3-4hrs. at a time for 3 to 4 days with my head instructor, or sometimes the GM himself. Otherwise I'm teaching.

 

But the point being is that I decided that I wanted to study a particular style and decided to seek them out, learn what they had to offer, met with them informally, and thus made my deicision to train with them, even if it meant driving to where they are located.

 

Now 5hrs. drive time may be extreme for some, but in my case it is fine, and I've chose not to settle which would have a definite impact on my training. Just my opinion.

 

Have a good one!

[karatekid1975]

Pacificshore. Good post. It got me thinking about a school I looked at a few months ago

 

Mamutti made a very good post too. If it's a really good school, it's worth it to travel.

 

But then again, I go to a school now that is 20 minutes away. They are kinda on the steap side ($$), but it's worth every penny. Very good instructors, and they offer more than most schools around here. And everyone is helpful and friendly. So it depends on the school, not the location

 

 

[Bobu-san]

This school seems really good, its clean with mats and a few trophies around, it looks much better than most of those schools that are 25 miles away

 

 

[rabid hamster]

Who cares about distance. Even if it's 25 miles away, if you like it better I would go. But don't be like Yoda and go to one that's 5 hours away LOL. That's kinda hard. If you like the one closer you should go to that one though.

[koreantiger81]

The price is reasonable. HOwever, make sure you know if he's officially certified in kum do and hap ki do. (I mean how many people do you know that have a black belt in all 3 martial arts?) I'm always skeptical. Also don't be suckered in by fancy demonstrations. Sure cutting a ping pong ball blind folded is impressive but being a good martial artist is different than being a good martial arts teacher. Unfortunately,since this is the only martial arts school near you, you have no choices of schools to pick from...Since it's cheap, i say go and join it....