Teh El Macho
10/30/2006 9:11pm,
Ki-Itsu-Sai Judo club is one of the "top dogs" when it comes to Judo in the United States. Mr. Jhonny Prado is the director and main point of contact. And Mr. German Velazco is the main sensei. Located in North Ft. Lauderdale, it trains a good competitive contingent of around 20 youth in their mid teens coming from as far away as South Miami for training.
The dojo always at least two instructors present, sometimes boasting up to four at a time. That would give it a 2/10 instructor/student ratio. Mondays and Wednesdays through Fridays is strictly devoted to nagewaza, with Thursdays devoted to newaza. Classes are from 7pm until 9pm. Classes are usually composed of 30 minutes warmup, followed by around 1 hour of instruction and drills around 50% full speed and power. The last 30 minutes is devoted for randori.
On Saturdays, classes are a bit more ecletic - depending on the season, it may be for regular training or for advanced education (katas and examinations.) It is a non-for-profit organization, and as such the training fees are $60 a month (plus a one time yearly registration for the USJI).
The facilities are quite simple and borderline spartan. What it does posses is an amazing mat system. It has 4" mats (I believe Swain's mats) layed on top of a platform located on top of a system of automobile tires. This allows some protection during breakfalls. In addition it has a crashmat for practicing throwings non-stop (you don't want to do that on mats alone.)
In my opinion the school has a lot to offer. However, I give it a 5 in atmosphere. The reason for this is that I believe the school is not that much open for training adults that do not posses much experience. The spirit and energy of the school is in training its contingent of young judoka for competition. As a result, an adult may not get the same attention and positive feedback one would find in commercial dojos (BJJ dojos for example) as well as in other Juo clubs (.ie. Tomodachi Dojo in Boca Raton.) That was my personal experience with Ki-Itsu-Sai; others may have a different experience.
All in all, I strongly recommend this club regardless. This is a place with zero bull when it comes to hard training.
The dojo always at least two instructors present, sometimes boasting up to four at a time. That would give it a 2/10 instructor/student ratio. Mondays and Wednesdays through Fridays is strictly devoted to nagewaza, with Thursdays devoted to newaza. Classes are from 7pm until 9pm. Classes are usually composed of 30 minutes warmup, followed by around 1 hour of instruction and drills around 50% full speed and power. The last 30 minutes is devoted for randori.
On Saturdays, classes are a bit more ecletic - depending on the season, it may be for regular training or for advanced education (katas and examinations.) It is a non-for-profit organization, and as such the training fees are $60 a month (plus a one time yearly registration for the USJI).
The facilities are quite simple and borderline spartan. What it does posses is an amazing mat system. It has 4" mats (I believe Swain's mats) layed on top of a platform located on top of a system of automobile tires. This allows some protection during breakfalls. In addition it has a crashmat for practicing throwings non-stop (you don't want to do that on mats alone.)
In my opinion the school has a lot to offer. However, I give it a 5 in atmosphere. The reason for this is that I believe the school is not that much open for training adults that do not posses much experience. The spirit and energy of the school is in training its contingent of young judoka for competition. As a result, an adult may not get the same attention and positive feedback one would find in commercial dojos (BJJ dojos for example) as well as in other Juo clubs (.ie. Tomodachi Dojo in Boca Raton.) That was my personal experience with Ki-Itsu-Sai; others may have a different experience.
All in all, I strongly recommend this club regardless. This is a place with zero bull when it comes to hard training.