My son really liked karate but we ended up in a belt mill.  Pay the money and move on up.  We stopped going after my wife had a run-in with the sensei.  He made my son do push ups repeatedly during one class for disrupting class.  The problem was he was disrupting class by turning to look at another student’s child run around on the mat screaming.  The young and attractive mother in the class didn’t try to correct her child and didn’t have to do push ups.  She would have understood if the mother and our son both had to do push ups.  Anyways not the problem. 

Is there an easy way to avoid belt mills and find a good place for your child to take martial arts.  Our goals are fun, self defense and sport.  I’m not try to create the next MMA megastar.  Should we not look at karate dojo’s?  There are several options around town but they all seem the same to me (no martial arts back ground).

Thanks,

Scott

Here are a couple of things:
1.  Ask the head instructor how many black belts they have.  (We have been open 11 years and have 3.  2 were belted before starting with us.  One has gone from white to black)
2.  Observe a class.  Talk to the other parents and ask how they feel about the school.
3.  Most place charge for testing.  This makes it a financial transaction.  Look for places that don’t. 
4.  Chains.  Don’t go in.  I’m sure you will find an occasional gem but it is generally like mucking around in a pig trough.
5.  Contracts.  Month to month is better.

Garddawg - 10 December 2009 07:34 PM

Here are a couple of things:
1.  Ask the head instructor how many black belts they have.  (We have been open 11 years and have 3.  2 were belted before starting with us.  One has gone from white to black)
2.  Observe a class.  Talk to the other parents and ask how they feel about the school.
3.  Most place charge for testing.  This makes it a financial transaction.  Look for places that don’t. 
4.  Chains.  Don’t go in.  I’m sure you will find an occasional gem but it is generally like mucking around in a pig trough.
5.  Contracts.  Month to month is better.

Let’s see, there were at least 7 at this location.  I can’t speak for the other 3 locations around town….

Like GD is saying, really look around and try to get a good feeling about the place. We do not charge for belts, but what you find now is that how come my kid is not testing? Maybe they are not ready? Martial arts for kids should be fun. A good instructor will combine a fun class with practical Self Defense without the kid even knowing. Sometimes the parents don’t see this either. Hope you find a place.

I started my son in Tae Kwon Do this year (he was 5). Although originally hesitant, I have been very lucky as the head instructor is very good both technically and with the kids generally. Both of these attributes / skills are more important that the style itself - and I notice that neither Big D or Garddawg mention anything about the style being practiced, but more importantly how the school is being run.

I couldn’t agree more with both of them. Many clubs will have an open day around the start of the school year or allow your son to try out a class or 3 free of charge. That’s when I think you’ll really see if the class is a good fit for you or not.

Good luck in your search.

All, thanks for the input.  We are going to start looking around in early 2010 so we can get him back into it once school’s out.

Another thing to look at is what they have available once you become a black belt.  The school I participate in is great for teaching you as you move up the ranks towards black.  The problem I am now experiencing is that now that I am a black belt, there is not specific or specialized training.  We are doing the same stuff as the color belts.  While I know even as a black belt, repetition of forms and the techniques are necessary, but new knowledge would be nice too.  Kind of discouraging.

I found that looking at the number of levels within a belt to be a good indicator of the “belt mill”. The more levels the more likely that it is a belt mill. We have only solids and there are only white, blue, green, brown, and black then 10 dans of black.

silvey_80 - 04 April 2011 03:54 PM

I found that looking at the number of levels within a belt to be a good indicator of the “belt mill”. The more levels the more likely that it is a belt mill. We have only solids and there are only white, blue, green, brown, and black then 10 dans of black.

My son is at a mill….  They have 14 belts below the black belt.  Belt tests cost $50 each.  Contracts are a year long.  Some classes have 60 students.