So I got into a heated discussion on another forum because I said I wouldn’t send my kids to a particular local school.
My rational was 3 things but 1 was the Affiliation it had.
This particular school is only affiliated with
http://www.chinesekaratefederation.com/index.html
Another person came in to the thread later and promoted his school which is only affiliated with http://www.akki.com/
I feel Karate is completely overrun with these tiny “Federations” that look more like Chapters of Hell’s Angels than a professional governing body.
I pointed out that I would try to attend a school that was Affiliated with either of these since the person asking about local schools was looking for Karate.
and at the very least if not interested in Competing at all to go to a Kukkiwon Certified Instructor if you go Taekwondo.
Whats the T opinion? And any other governing bodies for sports like Jiujitsu, Brazilian Jiujitsu, Aikido, Kickboxing, Mauy Thai?
I know Judo is http://www.usjudo.org/
And then what are your feelings on these lesser Federations like the aforementioned Chinese Karate Federation and American Kenpo Karate International?
its all marketing. There are so many that its hard to differentiate between a McDojo and the real deal. In BJJ, as long at their black belts can be traced back to Helio or Carlos Gracie in 3-4 steps, you’re good. With Muay Thai, its best to look at the fight record of the teacher and learn from someone who’s had at least a 10:1 win/loss ratio. Another thing to look at is sparring. No full contact sparring=McDojo. If they dont encourage their students to compete, that = McDojo. Most legit schools and academys, unless they are a new school, will post fight/tourney results and pics everywhere in the place. If there are none, that = McDojo.
Basically, its really hit or miss with schools in my experience. As for a grand poo-ba of x art or y art, that might be hard to verify. These places are out there to make money. The only way to really judge how good a school is, is by looking at the fight records of its students IMO.
The short answer is that they’re all bullshit. Every one of them. Unfortunately, every fuckin school seems to belong to one and push it…probably why I don’t have interest in going to a martial arts schools anymore.
Really there’s no difference between any of them. A lot of them sound real hard, but when you go look into it, they have “distance programs” where they can send you videos and you send them back a video of yourself doing the move, and bam! you’re an officially licensed instructor.
So affiliations don’t mean much to me. I’ve found a couple great instuctors that weren’t affiliated with any of that bullshit… those are the ones I like better.
This page is very detailed, and might be able to help you address some of the questions as far as disseminating a mcdojo from a real one. Commercialized Martial Arts Schools (McDojos)
Look for “club” instead of school. For example, Seattle Sambo Club. I find that “clubs” are more of a more sweat less talk kind of atmosphere.
I know most on this forum are more about the MMA but what about the Olympic Committees do you consider even those Organizations to be bullshit? For example to be in the Olympics for Taekwondo you must be a Kukkiwon Certified Blackbelt and a member of the WTF (in America this is done by joining the US-TKD).
Judo and Taekwondo are now in the Olympics and the Karate organization is making real pushes to be in as well. As a parent looking to get your child into a program does the Olympic dream just not really fly anymore and now its all about producing the next top prize fighter?
I will say most people in the Kukkiwon unless they are really high up in the ranks only get certified to 1st Dan. My own instructor is a 7th Dan and told me not to bother with Kukkiwon after 1st Dan. I’m certified enough to be a coach, ref, instructor anything else is just extra fees.
[quote]Enders Drift wrote:
I know most on this forum are more about the MMA but what about the Olympic Committees do you consider even those Organizations to be bullshit? For example to be in the Olympics for Taekwondo you must be a Kukkiwon Certified Blackbelt and a member of the WTF (in America this is done by joining the US-TKD).
Judo and Taekwondo are now in the Olympics and the Karate organization is making real pushes to be in as well. As a parent looking to get your child into a program does the Olympic dream just not really fly anymore and now its all about producing the next top prize fighter?
I will say most people in the Kukkiwon unless they are really high up in the ranks only get certified to 1st Dan. My own instructor is a 7th Dan and told me not to bother with Kukkiwon after 1st Dan. I’m certified enough to be a coach, ref, instructor anything else is just extra fees.[/quote]
Honestly, I’m not into MMA at all but I don’t know enough about the sanctioning bodies, I guess you could say, that exist outside of boxing.
Maybe Sifu could provide an answer if he sees this…
But, just as an aside, why do you want to put your kid into tournament based arts? I’m just curious, because I’m not a fan of them, but I like to see why folks do what they do
Well I don’t have a kid. When I do I will let them choose a sport for themselves.
The best time I had training was with the special tournament team and after that with the demo team. But definitely tournament first. It was a different group of students that really wanted to be there, none of the afterschool specials that were forced there by their parents. Thats what competition did for us. We also got to experience high level competition, Taekwondo
Should I ever have a kid and they want to do martial arts I’d prefer if they competed in both Form and Sparring.
I would like to see Taekwondo or Boxing in high schools. I think it would be a great way for students to learn to focus their energy in a disciplined manner and learn real respect for each other the same way Wrestling does. (I’d say Judo but we already have Wrestling in most high schools)
The Olympic Committee also sets a standard and structure. Kids as a rule of thumb want structure in their lives.
[quote]FightinIrish26 wrote:
This page is very detailed, and might be able to help you address some of the questions as far as disseminating a mcdojo from a real one. http://www.nononsenseselfdefense.com/commercialschools.html[/quote]
A good read, specially for someone who’ll eventually open up their own gym. I’ve been to at least 2 McDojo’s that fit the descriptions listed there.
Never gonna happen. You will have some mother up in arms that her kid got hit and sue the school. Kids can barely play tag in American schools anymore so any kind of martial art is not gonna happen. No matter how many positives it brings to their life. Sadly we have become a nation of over protection.
Some people are a fan of tournament or the sport side of martial arts because they enjoy competing. I was never a big fan of the self defense situational stuff. It has its place in life and I would like to think that if someone tried to attack me I could defeat them but I love the sport side much more. Its a different strokes for different folks thing.
I’m not even a big fan of Olympic rules taekwondo, there are some other styles much more suited to eventual full-contact competition, self defense, and a general lack of bullshido. I prefer ITF to WTF, simply because they score hand strikes to the head and wear less padding in their matches, but really any governing body the scores extra points for turning your back to your opponent gets a skeptical glance from me.