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Selecting a Martial Art School
By Spa guru | May 31, 2009
So after seeing so many different martial arts movies, you want to see if you can do that kind of stuff? Good luck — it’s not easy to learn. It takes years of discipline and proper schooling to understand how to keep your mind and body in focus long enough to perform the kinds of feats many martial arts masters perform. Your desire is a good start and the right school can help. But how do you know if you’re choosing the right school?
Given that it’s not easy to learn the martial arts, how do you make sure you find an appropriate martial art school? Well, if you just want cookie cutter martial art training, you could scour the yellow pages in the phone-book and find the first martial art school that teaches the martial art styles that you want to learn. However, the best martial art schools won’t try to draw customers with a lot of marketing and may not even be in the phone book. Martial arts history dictates that the student looks for the instructor, not the other way around.
When you find a martial art school that appeals to you, go visit. Sit in and watch a session or two. Go on different days at different times to see how the instructors handle each class and interact with the students. A good school will always allow visitors to drop by. Take note of how large the classes are. Are men and women taught together? Do the instructors and higher-ranking belts treat beginners with respect? Do they have children’s classes? And if so, how are the children treated? What principles are the students taught?
Find out who the Sensei (chief instructor) is. Talk to him or her: find out what kind of training they had and who taught them. Ask them their rank and how long they’ve been practicing. You also need to know what style of martial arts they teach. The most common of the combative arts are: tae kwon do, kung fu and shotokan karate. Each style will stress something different in their techniques. If you don’t like being thrown (takedowns) or grappling, then the grappling arts of judo and aikido are not for you. A style like tae kwon do will stress kicks, while Okinawan Goju-Ryu karate will offer a nice balance of hand and leg work. Is your own personal goal fighting, competition, or strictly self defense? Ask the Sensei what his particular school focuses on.
Before you sign a contract with a martial art school, be certain that you are absolutely comfortable with the martial art school’s environment and the instructors. If you are offered the opportunity to take an introductory course as a trial run, by all means do it. An introductory session will allow you to work with one or more of the instructors one on one or in a small group of other beginners to see if the style is right for you.
Questions are always helpful. The best martial art instructors will tell you, “There’s no such thing as a stupid question.” No matter what, a real martial art school isn’t going to make you feel stupid for wanting to learn. So if you’re curious — about either tradition, a stance, or anything else — be sure to ask.
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