July 20, 2006

How to choose a karate school

I’ve been getting some emails from curious readers about how to choose a karate school. It’s a very good question, and extremely important to know what to look for (and what to beware of as well). I consulted my instructors and some other karate-ka’s to find out what they would suggest. The suggestions below are a compilation of what to do when shopping for a karate school.

Ask about costs. This is very important. There are some karate schools who will bleed you dry when it comes to money. They have inflated monthly costs, rarely offer a discount for additional family members, and charge astronomical fees to test. These are the same schools who require your little ones to test every two to three weeks. The tests are meaningless; they only serve to bring more money into the school. As an example, my karate school charges a monthly rate and additional family members receive a large discount. There are no testing fees (some fee for testing is o.k. but make sure it’s not going to force you to take out a second mortgage). My dojo even gives students a gi and provides all belts. They are extremely generous and not all dojo’s have to be like that to be good karate schools. But, do beware of inflated costs. Call around for sure.
Be extra wary of long contracts. My dojo requires no contracts what-so-ever. Karate schools that require long contracts, especially for young children, are only looking for your money. They can’t guarantee your child will like karate, so they guarantee one thing-that they’ll take your money. These types of schools are notorious for getting a large group of students to sign up, pre-pay long contracts, and then they pack up and leave the area. Make sure the school is an established one. If the school is fairly new, find out where the instructor/s trained and make sure they’re legitimate.
Observe several different types of martial arts classes. There are so many forms and you really need to shop around and make sure you’re choosing the right one for you. It’s an individual choice. There are no wrongs or rights here, but of course another warning. Make sure that the school answers to a higher authority. Is there an organization that oversees the dojo? Are there other schools that teach this type of martial arts? Look it up online and see what you can find. A karate school that can’t tell you what type of karate they teach and can’t tell you the lineage of the kata’s is probably not worth your time.
Talk to students at the dojo, children and adults alike. Talk to the parents who are observing the classes or sitting in the waiting area. Do they have any complaints? If so, what are they? Karate parents are notorious for speaking up so ask away.
Ask who the instructors are and what their ranks are. Find out their credentials. It’s o.k. if non black belts are helping out with the classes, but they shouldn’t really be teaching the classes, at least not on a regular basis.
You can not learn karate online. You can not buy videos and become a warrior. My instructors tell me all the time about some people who came to the dojo a few years ago after "studying" karate videos and thought they would waltz in and be handed black belts. It’s never going to happen. You can supplement class instruction with videos or online demonstrations once you already have a good understanding of what you’re doing, but that’s all the online stuff is good for.
If you’re inquiring specifically for your child’s interest, ask how many junior black belts there are in the dojo. Ask about the testing policies for junior black belts and find out age requirements. Let’s be honest here; no one goes to karate with the intention of staying a white belt. Black belt is the goal so find out what the road there looks like.

I think that is about all. I know there are a lot of karate-ka’s out there who read this blog, so please use the comments section to add anything else you think is relevant.

Now I’m heading off to rest. At karate class tonight I was used as the "attacker" by the instructor who likes to bring students to their knees, literally. He’s excellent at teaching self-defense; but for obvious reasons, I enjoy watching him demonstrate on someone else. He demonstrated his favorite self-defense jitsu technique on me and I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that my shoulder blade is feeling a little yucky right about now. I’ll describe it some other time. Maybe I’ll even video tape me showing my husband what’s up. . . now that’s an idea!

Yells to husband: Where’s my back massage????