Moving soon, found karate school in new town

[Brandon]

I agree with Phoenix and Chihua. At their roots, styles are artificial, and really point to the same thing (Funakoshi and Bruce Lee talking about branches/leaves of the same tree?). But no matter what you practice, how you train and therefor who teaches you are the most important part of progress.

Side note, I may be taking a graduate school position soon, and there's a jujitsu club on campus. I've wanted to learn it for a while now, so that would be etremely convenient, and a great way to relieve stress from school.

[Chihua-ku]

I agree with you, Phoenix. You are absolutely right: the instructor is more important than the style. I am very blessed and lucky to have a very good instructor who cares and even better, still practices actively his art. I had seen schools in which the instructor lives off of old glories and achievements, does not keep in shape and does not practices his art anymore. A good instructor is hard to find and that is why I don't mind bowing to my teacher and show him my sincere respect. I really luck out.

Students come and go. I remember asking one of the oldest guys why he wasn't friendlier towards beginners and he answered something like: do you know how many people starts and quits within three months? I don't agree with the statement but I can see where he is cominmg from. But when I looked for a school I also watched for student diversity. But again, in most dojos/schools, the instructor is the only main constant.

[phoenix]

This may be blastimy to some, but sometimes the style is secondary to the instructor/students and their personalities.  I think changing instructors could be harder than changing styles.  I don't have a lot of personal experience, because I have only had 2 instructors in 32 years, but I have had several students that have changed.  Good luck.  Andy

[Brandon]

I've been fortunate. I've lived in several places in the last few years, and always managed to find a good school that welcomed me as a "lonely blackbelt." This included a Soo Bahk Do dojang, a Shotokan dojo, and a school teaching Shorin Ryu and Ju Jitsu. I think what helped me is that I found the most "traditional" school that I could, and then spoke to the owner before-hand and explained my situation. It was also luck. I tried to maintain an attitude of, "while I have my own experience, I would like to learn from you." Of course, these moves were short-term from the start, so it was a bit of a different situation from moving to a new place for an indefinite period.

Good luck, please keep us posted.

[NightOwl]

If you were here in DFW there are a couple of Tae Kwon Do schools that I could recomend to you.  Each do jo and dojang are different.  Leadership and emphasis are from the top down so I'm not sure that I would throw a style out just because....  unless you are dissillusioned or have needs that the style won't meet.   It might be worth a visit to you at least unless you already know the instructor by rep.

If you visit the school and you like what you see of how the instructors teach and treat both each other and their students.  It might be good to arrange a meeting with the chief instructor and talk about your past.  You could also ask to see his BB class if he has one and arrange a work out so you all can look at each other and see if you fit in.

Sincerely, NightOwl

[Mindlore]

Thanks for all the input!!  This has been very helpful to me.  The school is Shorin-Ryu Karate and I was wondering what that style emphasizes. There is also tae kwon do and judo in town.

I used to do tae kwon do and got to 2nd dan, but they disappointed me when they showed me they were all about the money.  Since then, I moved to zen judo, and so far have gotten to nikyu. So at least I have experience in switching arts.

I am a little weary about joining tae kwon do again because of what has already happened to me, and I am also worried that the judo they teach might be too sport specific since most judo dojos are and I don't train for sport.  Which leaves me with Shorin-Ryu karate.

[NightOwl]

Good Move Robin:

Sincerely, NightOwl

[CreatetheFutureNow]

Hello! I too have moved around a lot.  Finding a new dojo is usually no fun. I have only found a handful that would ever take a lonely black belt just looking for a place to train. They usually want to prove they are better than you.  One time, I went to a martial arts school that was totally different from what I trained in and did not tell them I was a black belt in another style and they never asked.  I signed up for the two free classes and the free uniform.  Then after a month the head instructor came to me and asked me if I was a belt (not black, mind you) in another style.  I said yes but I need a place to train without all the who is better.  Also, I am curious to learn a new style.  He let me stay as long as I paid ) Thus the reason I am now a black belt in more than one style.  He treated me like one of the karate-ka and that was the end of that.  In the long run, this changed his mind-set.  He put ads in the paper looking for lonely black belts and even had a seperate class for them.  I decided to continue as I was because I did not want to shock the rest of the school.  However, sometimes all it takes is a little water to move a rock. As I mentioned above I do not recommend this all the time but when you are desperate you will do almost anything.

[phoenix]

My first question, is, being that Karate has become a generic term, are they teaching TKD, something eclectic or Traditional Karate?  What style are you taking now?  Is it going to be a style change?  Are you moving from a big school to a small one, or a small one to a big one?  These are all important questions.

 I too once changed towns, even though the style was similar, the instructor put me off.  After talking to him, I never returned.  I never had the chance to train with him, his arrogance  was more than I could handle.   I had been training for about seven years and was ready for NiDan.  I ended up starting my own school at the urging of my friends and Sensei.  That was 24 years ago.

In addition to what Bogirl and Chihua-ku said, look and see if there are any black belts, I know of schools that have taught 20 years and never promoted anyone to black belt, this is a red flag.  Promotions can be important because they mark your progress.  Is this the only school in town?  Good luck.

[Chihua-ku]

I would add: watch a class and observe how the students relate to one another and to their teacher. Are they enjoyiing themselves. Let's face, martial arts training can be very repetitive and can get boring after a while if the teacher does not keep it fun and challenging. And also, like Bogirl kind of point out, there is too much ego on martial arts. You don't want to train (and most likely you will start from zero regardless of current level) with a bunch of cocky, arrogant dudes. You want to train on a friendly, welcoming atmosphere.

[Gambatte Karate]

well said bogirl. contracts arent always a bad thing, but if it's either a requirement or a super long term(i.e. more than a year), stay away. as she said, if there are 10 y/o blackbelts, move on. if you go therea nda fter a month are able to beat up their blackbelts, move on. also, too much no contact sparring is bad for your training. point sparring is good to a  point, but again too much is bad and produces a person with a false sense of security who will get beaten in ar eal confrontation. also, make sure that they teach more than JUST one range of fighting.

[bogirl]

Hello and welcome to the board. 

You should be able to observe a class or two, and most dojo will let you try a class so you can get a feel for it.

Watch how everyone acts towards each other.  Are they respectful and polite to everyone, or is there am "I'm a black belt, bow to me" attitude.

What are the ages of the students?  Kids are great, but a large number of 10-year and younger black belts is a bad sign.

You should not have to sign a long-term contract or "black belt contract."  I saw one dojang that had a 2-year black belt contract.  You train and test as scheduled and pay your dues (to the finance company) every month, and you will get your black belt at the end of 2 years!  If you quit, you still have to finish the contracted payments.  If all you want is the piece of black cloth, you can buy one here for $8.95: http://www.karatekorner.com/index.cfm/action/productdetail/productID/9259.htm

Associations are fine, but if they have a location in every strip mall in your area, it's a McDojo.

Tournaments and trophies are a lot of fun, but they should not be their main goal.

[Mindlore]

As the subject implies, I am moving to a new town soon, and I found a karate school there.  I was wondering if anyone could give me any pointers on what to check for to see if it is a desent school or a mcdojo.