Go-Kan-Ryu discussion.

[Nidan Melbourne]

Did Kenshukai Karate (Exactly the same as GKR), recruited same way as described above, learnt very little but got high up the ranks, loads and loads of politics, left, much happier now.

I hate to say it but if you dont know much about martial arts then the door to door method of selling to you really does work. Who wouldnt be interested in becoming a black belt or an instructor in a short amount of time and if your being positivly renforced (when recruited) that what your doing is good and effective/authentic then how are you to know?

That is a good point. But, in a wierd way, they kind of help by exposing others to the Martial Arts to begin with.

You are right it did expose me to the world of martial arts but I did learn stances and blocks really well and there were some very talented people there who had nothing but the style but it kind of set me up for when i moved on in terms of mentality of the martial arts but i found that the focus on class numbers and politics was a big thing and i feel it is a substandard style having mastered the syllabus by 4th kyu and i became much happier when i left and started learning more and better things. Overall it gave me a starting point but i would only recommend it to those people who have a family and want to do karate with their kids in same class as a way to bond and keep fit and to those who want to be a black belt by age 12 (something i came across).

Yeah you have to be a bit suspicious of a style where you learn everything before you hit black belt.

I have looked at their website and they say that they learn or are introduced to advanced kata at different grades but i doubt many of them are knowledgeable about those kata themselves.

There are a couple of students that are black belts that are 12 at my dojo, BUT they have trained for multiple years (obviously). And they cannot grade for Shodan until they have matured a fair bit and have become older. our youngest shodan is 14 but held his shodan-ho for 3 and a bit years before grading for it.