Every 3 months and thats what the sensei said about the belts, think he was meaning that a yellow belt could be a blue belt if he trained harder blah blah. It is a cash cow and i wont say how much i pay because i will get the ass and pull my son from the club. I nearly did during the competition because of his performance in th the kata after the club changing shotokan to shotyru. My boy used to beast the kata when doing shotokan but for a number of reaons didnt get past the opening round this competition in kata. I dont want him doing shotyru anymore its a tough one. Luckily his performance in the kumite mellowed me for now and we went training lastnight.
I know it a business as well as a sporting club but the prices are high but then maybe that reflects the results they get.
Do you train , or just your lad ?
Care to post a link to the club he trains at.
There are certain clubs/organisations that are classed as "McDojo's" and they are well documented on certain MA forums.
No i dont train a couple of parents do but its mainly kids ranging from 5 upwards to 18. They used to be called sska now eskf not sure what the letters stand for based in lewisham/deptford area of se london. They are unofficially affiliated with the egyptian national team and we get them over all the time inc current and past world champions, i have checked this out too when we go to tournaments in the uk we are normallythe club that wins the most medals. I just think they take the **** on the fees because they can..i dont really know. If they are a mcdojo they must be the best in the country.
I posted a couple of vids of my son in this thread above. Maybe thats a way to base the training he receives? he has trained since 5 with a years break inbetween. His sensei actually cut back on sparring as thanks to one of the mums spent 5 hours in a cell threatening to be charged with child abuse. I found this out last week when we were in serbia for the world champs.. When the egyptians come over they fight there way through any english competition they face kumite/kata i have never seen them take less than a gold..they are like machines.
A McDojo is a school that teaches a watered-down and impractical form of martial arts in the name of making money. They place the importance of profit well ahead of teaching anything realistic or credible in terms of self-defense, and are dangerous is the aspect that they send unprepared & often over confident students into a world thinking they can fight when in actuality they have no real fighting skills. Often McDojos teach a lot of bullshido, which is a term used to define deception, fraud, and lies in terms of martial arts.
There used to be a time where a black belt meant something, back in days where it took years upon years of intense training, pain, and sacrifice.Those who wore a black belt around their waist had earned it, and they knew how to fight.Those days are gone though, and honestly, having a black belt anymore is useless. Who doesn't have one?With McDojos cranking out thousands of black belts to students who've trained maybe one or two years, there is no standard anymore.We have hundreds of thousands of black belts under 12, many evenunder 6, and a society that believes they earned them.We have 12 year old 3rd degree black belt instructors, wheelchair bound people with black belts, morbidly obese people with black belts, and we have 30 year old 9th degree grand masters. We have people who have never been hit or actually hit another person wearing a black belt, and people who think forms and one-steps are crucial to learning how to fight.All of these people are essentially ballet dancers with gi's on: they've taken the martial arts and turned it into a dance.To accommodate everyone and anyone willing to pay for their black belt, they've lowered the standards so that even a 6 year old could pass the test. They've ruined any honor of earning a black belt forever, yet these students who unknowingly wear the rank they have not truly earned yet don't know that they don't have any real fighting skills.They don't know that all they've done essentially is memorize forms, punch the air, and then pay for their belts month after month, and they won't know until either it's too late or until they seek out the truth.
---------------> If the school exhibits any of these, even just one, it is a 100% McDojo, without a doubt or question. <---------------
Kid black belts: the younger the black belt, the worse the school is.
Belt Factory: If students are promoted quickly, such as reaching a new rank every two months, and/or reaching black belt in less than 3 years. Skill is usually superseded by the ability to pay for testing fees.
Lack of sparring: the school rarely spars or never spars, for whatever reason.
Point sparring: If the ONLY sparring that is done is "point" or "tournament" sparring, or is watered down with numerous rules such as no contact or light contact, no punching to the head, no catching, trips, throws, take downs, joint locks, grappling, hits to the back, legs, below the belt, etc… and the techniques encouraged are kicks, jump kicks, and spins.
Instructor claims to be a high ranking master (such as 9th degree) and is under 50
You can get a more detail on what a Mcdojo is here McDojo FAQ
Cmon you can do better than cut and pasting lol. Ofcourse i will be answering yes to a few of those points.
In serbia we were staying in the same hotel as the ukrainian team and they had nothing but praise for my son. First time they entered a comp which isnt full contact and they said my son was amazing. One of these guys (trainer)was the ukrainian full contact no gloves gyu whatever discipline 6 times champion he takes martial arts very seriously and could most probaly kill a man.
Vid above is my son has he learnt anything in the time he has been there or haveci just paid for the belt? Thats the best way to judge surely?
Evertime i see the kick on 3.40 i think omg but im not a karate dude.. But surely you dont just buy that?
I can't view YouTube from work so I can't comment on the video. I only posted as you seemed to be unhappy about the increasing costs you are having to pay out to further your sons Karate training and I just wanted to make you aware of the increasing amount of Martial arts clubs/orgs out there that are in fact McDojo's.
Would appteciate if you could watch the vid. Its just him and his cousin at my cousins he teaches mix martial arts. His cousin is just providing a target. My cousin doesnt rate karate highly but is at the same time impressed by riku's application. I could pull riku from karate and he could train with my cuz for free but deep down i thonk the club is good for him even though i moan about the fees. Ofcourse at his club some kids dont deserve tge belt they wear but i think they are the bread and butter that keeps the club running.
I had a heated discussion with 5 of the parents of other kids at the club after a few drinks in serbia mostly mums and all they want is for there kids to get a black belt and i was saying they will get one if they keep paying.. its a business and thats how they pay the bills. There is maybe 10 kids mostly older around the 14/15 age bracket that are worthy of there belts. Mcdojos normally train for an hour our club trains 2.5 hrs a session. Its expensive thats my only real gripe not the training. Riku trains with a weights vest on which is 20% of his body weight and thats quite hard in itself plus arm and leg weights. Its not another form of day care.