Trial class nightmare!!!

[ps1]

Just like the BMW salesman who tries to sell you a car by criticizing your entry level Benz. Sure way to get on your good side.

Beautiful! I have now stolen this! I love the analogy. There are no more McDojos...only used martial arts lots.

[sensei8]

Free trail lessons are a very valuable tool for any MA school. While the free trial lesson is to show the prospective new student what they can expect from THIS MA school. However, a lot of MA schools forget that while they're also evaluating the capabilities of the prospective new student; THEY TOO are on display, and in that, the MA school only has one chance to make that positive impression. Once that moment passes, there's usually no second chance at gaining that particular new student.

Imho, the MA school that you went to was only interested in one thing: showing you and his students just how bad YOUR Judo is/was and that your Yudansha was a joke. That is not what any free trial lesson is for, imho. It's about respect across the board!! This instructor wasn't interested in signing you up because he was more interested on tearing you/Judo down. He tore you down to his current students in the attempt to build up Sambo.

Imho, a free trial lesson isn't about proving which MA is the best because "BEST" is an illusion across the board. The free trail lesson is allow the prospective new student a chance to see if "that" style of the MA is the best fit for THEM.

[sojobo]

I'm not even kidding it was under a mile in total. No crabs across the floor, no rolling, no katana above the head quarter-mile jumping etc. Just a leisurely jog around the dojo, that lasted maybe 10 minutes.

Please don't tell me that this is running arround with a sword above your head....?

Sojobo

[Daisho]

haha, i meant bokken! we set up cones with rope bridging them 3 feet apart once around the track next to the dojo (1/4 mile) then hold the bokken over our head and two footed hop all the way around.

it's guaranteed to make you light headed, and new students lose their lunch

[bushido_man96]

I wish I could say that I was shocked. I wanted to cross train in another style and there is a MA studio not far from my house so I thought I'd check it out. This MA studio offered a few different styles that I was interested in. I emailed the instructor and asked if i could come in and check out a class. The instructor offered me a free class. I went to the class and enjoyed it. I met with the instructor after the class and he proceeded to tell my current style (Tang Soo Do) was a waste of time, blah, blah, blah. I was shocked and offended. I thanked him for letting me take a class and I never went back.

man Geo, that's so ignorant on his part that it drives me nuts. a friend of mine faced a similar situation when we went to a BJJ studio and was informed all his years in TKD was worthless. This guy had ridiculous power and thighs like tree trunks. Anyway he came to train with us, which is how we met, and his Judo game became ridiculous really fast. Having that background in TKD, plus the ability to keep himself off the mat, he was an absolute beast. the guy would do all sorts of feinted kicks and windmill looking kicks that came in so damn fast it was more than a little intimidating getting in close enough without blindly rushing. then once you were inside his Judo game was all sorts of tight.

i can't think of any MA that can't be taught to be extremely effective. The fact that his TKD dojo made heavy use of spar and kumite, and they regularly competed made his ability to fight leaps and bounds better than anyone we'd ever seen join our dojo as a white belt.

I just don't get where folks get off talking like that. Its funny how it is expected that respect runs rampant in the Martial Arts, and then we hear about stories like these...

Daisho, I'm sorry to hear you free class ended up being in the tank. But on the other hand, it has to be gratifying to know what the quality of the training you have received in the past is like.

[Daisho]

honestly bushido, among people who've had any decent quality of instruction, I've experienced nothing but respect and camaraderie in the martial arts community. It's too bad schools like this even exist. If people left that class that night and thought to themselves how shoddy Judo must be in comparison to their training due to their sensei's apparent disdain for my experience, it's a real shame…. as the type of Sambo that guy seems to be teaching seems like nothing more then poorly executed and understood Judo anyway.

I mean the whole point of the throw they were trying to teach is to feint a push technique first to get the opponent's momentum moving into you to accelerate the throw. Not only was that part completely left out, but these poor guys are trying to do it all with arm strength alone. yeeesh

[sensei8]

I wish I could say that I was shocked. I wanted to cross train in another style and there is a MA studio not far from my house so I thought I'd check it out. This MA studio offered a few different styles that I was interested in. I emailed the instructor and asked if i could come in and check out a class. The instructor offered me a free class. I went to the class and enjoyed it. I met with the instructor after the class and he proceeded to tell my current style (Tang Soo Do) was a waste of time, blah, blah, blah. I was shocked and offended. I thanked him for letting me take a class and I never went back.

man Geo, that's so ignorant on his part that it drives me nuts. a friend of mine faced a similar situation when we went to a BJJ studio and was informed all his years in TKD was worthless. This guy had ridiculous power and thighs like tree trunks. Anyway he came to train with us, which is how we met, and his Judo game became ridiculous really fast. Having that background in TKD, plus the ability to keep himself off the mat, he was an absolute beast. the guy would do all sorts of feinted kicks and windmill looking kicks that came in so damn fast it was more than a little intimidating getting in close enough without blindly rushing. then once you were inside his Judo game was all sorts of tight.

i can't think of any MA that can't be taught to be extremely effective. The fact that his TKD dojo made heavy use of spar and kumite, and they regularly competed made his ability to fight leaps and bounds better than anyone we'd ever seen join our dojo as a white belt.

I just don't get where folks get off talking like that. Its funny how it is expected that respect runs rampant in the Martial Arts, and then we hear about stories like these...

Daisho, I'm sorry to hear you free class ended up being in the tank. But on the other hand, it has to be gratifying to know what the quality of the training you have received in the past is like.

I don't get it either Brian...it perplexes me to no end. I avoid all of that stuff because imho, it doesn't belong in the MA. That's why, for me...Proof is on the floor!!

[brickshooter]

I cross train at different dojos & gyms a lot. And my general rule is to answer "no" when asked if I've prior training. I do this when moving from style to style, but also from ryu to ryu.

I just hate having to sit throught a propaganda session. And even when they're nice, I find that the new instructors waste an enormous amount of time contrastring on how "we do" opposed to how "you do" it. And frankly, it takes too much energy to keep my eyes from rolling from one side of my head to the other.

Generally I wear a nicely washed speckled cleaned white gi with a white belt. And when inquired about prior training, I answer "no" or "no" or "no" no matter how many times they repeat their question.

[bushido_man96]

I cross train at different dojos & gyms a lot. And my general rule is to answer "no" when asked if I've prior training. I do this when moving from style to style, but also from ryu to ryu.

I just hate having to sit throught a propaganda session. And even when they're nice, I find that the new instructors waste an enormous amount of time contrastring on how "we do" opposed to how "you do" it. And frankly, it takes too much energy to keep my eyes from rolling from one side of my head to the other.

Generally I wear a nicely washed speckled cleaned white gi with a white belt. And when inquired about prior training, I answer "no" or "no" or "no" no matter how many times they repeat their question.

Ok, so how do you handle it when they see you perform, and it becomes obvious that you have had prior training, and they ask you again?

[Wastelander]

I cross train at different dojos & gyms a lot. And my general rule is to answer "no" when asked if I've prior training. I do this when moving from style to style, but also from ryu to ryu.

I just hate having to sit throught a propaganda session. And even when they're nice, I find that the new instructors waste an enormous amount of time contrastring on how "we do" opposed to how "you do" it. And frankly, it takes too much energy to keep my eyes from rolling from one side of my head to the other.

Generally I wear a nicely washed speckled cleaned white gi with a white belt. And when inquired about prior training, I answer "no" or "no" or "no" no matter how many times they repeat their question.

Ok, so how do you handle it when they see you perform, and it becomes obvious that you have had prior training, and they ask you again?

I also wonder about that--don't you have a problem with blatantly lying? When I started training in Shorin-Ryu I told my instructor about my Judo and Shuri-Ryu training and he didn't give me any propaganda speeches or comparisons beyond mentioning a difference between what I was doing and what they teach.