Keep with contract or leave? Mcdojo problem

[rabid hamster]

hey i don't live in california. thanks for your responses, i know what you guys mean about the quality of training, but..

 

if the place actually taught what it was worth i probably would have still stayed around. But the thing is, other than the fact the classes are boring (we do the same stuff each class), the instruction is horrible. They don't even tell you how to do a technique, they just have one of their blackbelts do a technique really quick and expect you to figure it out. and most of their blackbelts can't do the moves properly, so it's hard to learn (a lot of them are little kids). since i couldn't learn the techniques from my class I just looked it up from books and learned it liked that, but im tired of doing that all the time. and i've been going for almost a year now and we still haven't started contact sparring. we do no contact sparring every now and than, but barely. i'd say once a month at most. really horrible.

 

thanks for your replies.

[LeaF]

I believe you made the right choice, you made a commitment, an obviously uneducated one at that, when you signed the contract. It is your responsablity to honour that contract whether you like it or not, it is the mere principle of the situation. Now when you choose your next dojo I am sure you choice will be much more educated, because of the expirence you've been through. Even the worst of situations can have a positive twist

[kchenault]

Please don't break your silence for us Tobias.

[jiu-jitsu fighter]

what honour leaf?

 

is this a tma's thing or do i not get it, who cares about honour ,if he doesn't like it and its innefective to him or for him than he shouldn't stay.

 

is it a big deal if he loses his sensai's respect? when is he ever gonna see him again and 2 months, he could be starting a new ma and actually get somewhere in two months

[Dekan]

Personally, I prefer a traditional self-defense oriented school as opposed to a competition oriented school. There is nothing wrong with those competition based if that is what you are in it for.

 

But, I want the skill of the art to defend myself, I don't really care about rising up through the belts on winning trophies.

 

My experience from looking at different schools in my area is, if they either want me to sign a contract for some period of time, or if they have a bunch of trophies on display, then they are not the school for me.

 

I have been fortunate to find a couple of local schools that focus on self defense using the arts and are not particularly interested in making gobs of money off of me, or competing for trophies. In fact the schools I've actually participated in, the Instructors don't particularly like tournaments at all. If a student wants to participate, they pretty much have to drag the teacher to go.

 

Again, nothing wrong with the modern, competetive, schools, just not what I am personally in it for.

[rabid hamster]

yeah i will "honor" the contract by paying them 200 dollars. thanks leaf, now I know I'll never sign contracts again, at least not for MA.

 

thanks dekan for your input, when i first went to check out the TKD place they had trophies set up everywhere. maybe trophies can be a sign that the club is into making money? maybe not. hmm.

 

what are some other signs i should look for to see if a MA dojo is for real?

[LeaF]

If I were you I wouldn't just base your opinion on what the school looks like, but ask to watch or participate in a class and then from there make an educated decision. Also go to several schools so you have something to build on, then choose the school that best suits your interest.

 

And ju-jitsu fighter, perhaps you took the word out of context, or I spelt it wrong but anyways rabid hamster knew what I was getting at I meant that when you sign a contract it is generally accepted that you are going to follow or honor it, and rabid if you are going to pay that money you might as well get something out of it no?