Is it a MCdojo?

[Sir Gerbil]

Hey i was just wondering... is my karate place a Mcdojo?

here are some facts....

1. my instructors used to work for kicks karate and they say they hate it, so i assume they want to be nothing like it.

2. i got my gold belt in a month, and yellow in the next two

3. we dont rush into every technique, we still have around five essential kicks we've been doing since day 1.

4. I go twice a week for 50 min.

5. we dont do many forms, we spend the time reviewing our basics until they're flawless (hey, better than forgetting them within a month!)

6. It is not a chain and is a small place. they have about 6 people together in the adult class (1s now in college and doesnt come too often, one doesnt come much, 3 are at home because their brothers having surgery, and 1 will be going back to ghana where she came from soon, so that leaves just me... some of the others should have come back by then.)

7. our teachers are both 25. 1 does tkd, karate and aikido (soon ju jitsu) and one does karate, muay thai, ju jitsu and kickboxing. it is good because this way they can both teach us different techniques. they have been doing karate for 15 years, and hearing about their training (it took them six months to get their white belt, they did really rigourous training) makes me want to make sure that when i earn a blackbelt i can feel acomplished.

usually we start the class with 200 jumping jacks, ten laps (this place is tiny, though), stretching, bowing, and a minute of push-ups. by then the other people are panting, and it makes me feel pathetic.

please tell me, is it a McDojo?

[Hwa Rang Warrior]

Doesn't seem like it to me. As long as you're not paying x amount of dollars to achieve each rank with little regard to the actual training required then you're fine. The way you describe it seems like you'll get a lot from the class. Also remember you get out what you put in.

[ps1]

Do you think your place is a McDojo? If yes, why? If no, why not?

[Sir Gerbil]

Do you think your place is a McDojo? If yes, why? If no, why not?

lol i guess im just a bit paranoid, i dont want to get a black belt without it meaning anything. i guess that it will progressively get tougher.

[Elky]

1. my instructors used to work for kicks karate and they say they hate it, so i assume they want to be nothing like it.

No idea what this is, so can't comment

2. i got my gold belt in a month, and yellow in the next two

What's a gold belt? Is that the first belt? Did you have to pay for it? How much? How many belts are there?

3. we dont rush into every technique, we still have around five essential kicks we've been doing since day 1.

Nothing wrong with that. There are onlya few kicks that are especially useful.

4. I go twice a week for 50 min.

 

50 minutes is a very very short lesson. Unless you're about 7 years old, most clubs would train for about 1.5 to 2 hours.

5. we dont do many forms, we spend the time reviewing our basics until they're flawless (hey, better than forgetting them within a month!)

Do you try them out on each other? Do you do partner drills/kumite?

6. It is not a chain and is a small place. they have about 6 people together in the adult class (1s now in college and doesnt come too often, one doesnt come much, 3 are at home because their brothers having surgery, and 1 will be going back to ghana where she came from soon, so that leaves just me... some of the others should have come back by then.)

This doesn't really give us any clue as to the quality of the training - and that's what matters!

7. our teachers are both 25. 1 does tkd, karate and aikido (soon ju jitsu) and one does karate, muay thai, ju jitsu and kickboxing. it is good because this way they can both teach us different techniques. they have been doing karate for 15 years, and hearing about their training (it took them six months to get their white belt, they did really rigourous training) makes me want to make sure that when i earn a blackbelt i can feel acomplished.

This makes me dubious. Maybe it shouldn't, but quality 25-year-old instructors are not especially easy to come by.

usually we start the class with 200 jumping jacks, ten laps (this place is tiny, though), stretching, bowing, and a minute of push-ups. by then the other people are panting, and it makes me feel pathetic.

Cool, physical conditioning is a good thing

please tell me, is it a McDojo?

Do you feel that your fighting skills have improved? Are you happy with the amount that you pay for lessons? 50 minutes is a quite spectacularly short martial arts class, so I wouldn't expect to may more than about £2.50 (roughly $5) for a class (since I pay £2.50 or £3.00 for a 2 hour lesson in my current club).

The essence of a McDojo is providing substandard martial arts for an inflated fee. Do you feel the standard of the martial arts is good and the fee is reasonable? If not, time to think again.

If you have a website link that'd help to give us some more clues.

[shinbushi]

I dunno, it sounds like a mcdojo to me but if you're happy with it, stay. 6 months to get your white belt sounds weird since I've never been at a school where I had to "earn" my white belt. I've trained in all the styles you've mentioned at one time or another, too. I think you're starting to question the school if you brought it up, here, go with how you feel.

[Sir Gerbil]

well im in clarksburg, Md, and this area is growing really fast, so i imagine that they had to pay alot to get the slot in that shopping center. It opened in march, and the price: 130 bucks a month. seems like alot to me. our last belt exam cost us, 28 bucks. And when you say the 25 year old teachers are hard to come by, do you mean thats good or bad?

yes we train kicking while the other one hold the pads, 2 times, switch.

ad this week we start sparring! (equipment = 70 bucks... )

i feel it is expensive because its not a franchise and they need a boost to get going.

goldbelt (for some reason) iis the belt coming after white, then yellow is after gold. all in all there are about 15 belts.

and since the training is repetitive, we are getting the hang of it. ( the last time we learned a new kick was back in march, we have been doing the same stuff for a long time.

and how could you not have heard of Kicks karate? its the mcdonald of karate.

thx for your help!

[BudoTiger]

no it doesn't sound like it to me, BUT the term "mcdojo" in my opinion is thrown around way too often now days from people who are jealous. everyone has a different opinion of what a mcdojo is. it may mean something totally different to someone else then it does to me. go with how you feel in you rheart. not with what other opinion is.

[shinbushi]

I dunno, I always use mcdojo for a school that hands out black belts to people that are nowhere near a real black belt level.

I don't attach age as the requirement of a good teacher; a 25 y/o can be a good instructor. Unfortunately, a lot of schools that teach high volumes of kids gravitate being a mcdojo in order to cater to the kid's and there parents so they can pay the bills of the school. Now, before someone misunderstands what I just said, I'm not saying every school with kids is a mcdojo, just that A LOT unfortunately end up being one because of the $. It doesn't even have to be a lot of $, but I come from a different background then a lot of martial artists in the USA so my opinion is just my opinion...and you know what they say about opinions

[Elky]

and how could you not have heard of Kicks karate? its the mcdonald of karate.

I'm English - we have GKR instead