Your opinion about my dojo

[Valn]

I'm going to describe what we do in general, and I would appreciate if other karate students could evaluate the quality of my dojo.

 

*The style is goju ryu

 

*List of belts, white, yellow, orange, blue, green, purple, brown, brown 2degree, red, and black.

 

*the class is 45 mins long.

 

*the class is all in English, no japanese terms.

 

*The owner of the dojo is a 7th degree black belt but in reality 9 times out of 10 it is a 3rd degree black belt who teaches the class.

 

*stretching last 3-5 minutes.

 

*I get the impression sometimes that I am doing aerobic karate instead of practicing my techniques.

 

*For the most part, the class constitute of practicing bunkai which are application of the kata. For instance, take Heian shodan and practice the downblock followed by a punch.

 

*We practice also kicks such as crescent, wheel kicks, hook, front, roundhouse, tornado, turning crescent. Punching are also practiced of course.

 

*The kata are always practiced. For instance we might do each kata 2-3 times.

 

*After the movie "kiss of the dragon" it has become almost mandatory to bring Swahili sticks to practice. (Swahili sticks=two bamboo type sticks, it has his origin in the Philippines).

 

*People in the dojo may have different gi, for instance black and red, all black and white gi.

 

*When I look at brown belt, the quality of their moves don't look all that great. I mean they aren't very clean and smooth.

 

*Sometimes the instructor talk too much and the class is slow to start. The discussion is usually not karate.

 

*Sparring is availlable 2 times a week, and you must be a yellow belt and buy the equipment to participate. ($150).

 

*The sparring doesn't look like karate at all. It looks sloppy in my opinion and the techniques reminds of little kidds throwing punches and kicks but with the karate precision and style.

 

*Because of the fact that the back of an opponent doesn't count for points, the fighting stance looks really messed up and I would never ever use that in a street fight. In fact, I'm afraid of getting in a bad habit. However, my instructor says its very good for practice.

 

*When I started sparring I had to spar with black and brown belt which is anything but fun. In fact, sparring with 7 degree black belt is humiliating and you get hurt, but you can't complain or else the instructor will say you're a wimp.

 

*When I spar I already got hit in the jaw, temple, and teeth even though the rules says no contact at all in the face. It's strange but even as a yellow belt I was able to hit right on the helmet and never the face, while my instructor 7 degree black belt always end up getting me on the temple or near my eyes.

 

*When a referee says point, my instructor continue on attacking even if you have your guard down. His excuse is that "he can't help it, because he likes to fight and its too hard to stop".

 

In conclusion, my instructor seem to know their stuff. You know work the proper angle and they know quite a few things. However, I still wonder because I had karate before, and I have seen shotokan karate in action and it looked far more proffessional and serious.

 

Thanks for reading and I would appreciate some feedbacks.

[DarkMonkey]

Things that seemed a bit off:

 

45 Minutes seems too short. Our training is twice that long although it's held just twice a week in my town (the instructor holds it two times a week in a town about 50 miles away too).

 

I'm not a fan of humiliating somebody unless they are showing ridiculous arrogence. to put a yellow belt in with a brown belt who doesn't know how to properly spar (Unless your style enjoys real pain in sparring as opposed to controled hits) is dangerous. At my club when we spar or do any kind of kumite we often have white or yellow belts sparring with brown belts. If one was to hurt you I'd expect an apology and admitance of fault. Not "Oh I can't help it, I just like using my ten years of martial arts training on Yellow belts for fun!!!!".

 

Your teacher should be able to control himself and set an example. If even he can't control these dangerous techniques when you are just sparring what kind of message does that send out to newer members who have yet to learn to control their moves, nor do they probably know the full power those moves posess.

 

I'm sure he's a fine teacher but it sounds a bit odd really. I'm not a fan of violent sparring, if I accidently get hurt that's okay but I wouldn't like it to happen from a senior grade and certainly not repeatedly.

 

It also sounds like your lessons might be slightly repetitive, I'd expect some form of kumite or light sparring to be held as part of the lesson rather than charging you large fees before you can even try.

 

My cents.

[Kickbutt]

Hi Valn,

 

I agree with the above observations as well; 45 minute classes to begin with is alright, as you're just learning and working your way up to being more fit, but they should increase to at least an hour when you get more advanced - we do our warm-ups ourselves before class, so we have more time to really work. Sounds like your instructor likes wasting time during class with pointless babble - you are paying to learn and discuss karate, not the days events in the news or whatever, so that would really irk me

 

Lori

 

_________________

 

If you think something small cannot make a difference - try going to sleep with a mosquito in the room.

 

-Unknown-

 

[ This Message was edited by: Kickbutt on 2001-08-29 09:27 ]

[thaiboxerken]

My opinion... find something better. Then again, I really don't like karate or kata, so maybe I'm not the best person to ask.

 

 

[Valn]

Another thing that I would like to add.

 

In one year that I have been at the dojo only 7 new people with 17+ years of age have joined, and now there are only two of them remaining.

 

The dojo has especially a lot of little kidds between 4 and 9 which means that my sensei really makes his money on the little kidds.

 

In my opinion, the kidds class looks more like a kindergarden than a karate class.

 

Anyway, is this the way most karate school operate? A few adults training once in a while and lots of kidds.

[Kickbutt]

No Valn - we have alot of kids in our school, but we have alot more adults training - sounds like your school isn't very good at student retention, and with good reason. My 5 year old is in kickboxing and she's always expected to respond, and to listen - there is no running around tolerated and it's not like a kindergarten class. Of course, because of her and other kids' ages, they do of course take that into consideration, but that doesn't mean they let them run around like maniacs.

 

Lori

 

_________________

 

If you think something small cannot make a difference - try going to sleep with a mosquito in the room.

 

-Unknown-

 

[ This Message was edited by: Kickbutt on 2001-08-29 10:38 ]

[babysteffee]

My class (which is kickboxing, not karate) have two sessions...under 13s and then over 13s. The childrens class lasts an hour, and ours lasts an hour and a half. We do spend 5-10 minutes warming up in the actual lesson though...

 

All I can say is I love my class...I can't think of any faults at all...

 

If you can name even just one or two faults then you're in the wrong place...

[Joecooke007]

Please don't quit Goju Ryu. You have to be the only other person in the whole forum that practices Goju Ryu like me. Although your sparring seems shoddy and your sensei should not call you a wimp. You should always spar with people that are your rank. Your instructor should never break his own rules. You should also speak some Japanese when practicing this form. Your lessons should not be based on a movie. Bunkai and kata are very important though and it is great that you practice them so much. I am wondering if there are any other dojos that are close to you. Privately message me as to your whereabouts. My class is practiced by a Shihan and if you live close to the dojo I would recommend you switching. I wish you good luck on your quest for descision.

 

 

[rgovoro]

Like anything we do, Karate is a mirror reflecting our souls. A persons personality manifests itself in all they do , and a hard worker will develop admirable skills, and a lazy person will develop sloppy skills. In our system the group lesson is 1 hour long twice a week.When you leave you're drenched in sweat. Also, once a week you get a personal lesson to teach you new techniques. You DO NOT spar with the instructor unless you have a 6th degree black belt or above. EVERYTIME you spar you are remided that everyone in the studio are friends.Karate is about more than brawling and feeling good because you can mop the floor with someone else, it's about control, discipline, and HONOR. As your knowledge progresses, your control should too. Bottom line is you don't go into instructing to get rich, you do it because you want to pass along a gift given to you by a QUALITY sifu, sensi, etc. Find yourself one of those Valn.

 

 

[Kickbutt]

Damn...now why didn't I just say that????!!!