Rick Hall's Karate

[foxcompany1]

First thing I noticed when I walked into, "Rick Hall's Karate" was the large amount of children with black belts. I mean 7 year old girls with 2 dan black belts. I had previously trained Taekwondo and was shocked by these. Also I felt the egos of some of the students as they trained their eyes on me. So immediately I was uncomfortable. I talked to Mr. Hall and discussed my prior martial arts experience and what I wanted to get out of training. He told me what he expects from his students and the kind of discipline it takes to train at his school. After our conversation I told him I would like to set through a typical class and see what I am in for. I set there from about 7pm to 8:30pm watching so family type class and then, "advanced black belts" class. For one the School is called, "Rick Hall's Karate", but they apparently do TKD, and it seemed to be a mixture between the two. The sparring was little to no contact that looked like two cats pawing at each others faces and tossing up what seemed to be random kicks just in the general direct of the other guy who was doing the same. I was embarrassed to say that this was, "Taekwondo". Afterwords I talked to Mr. Hall who didn't show any sign that what he just taught might not be what I expected. I told him I would consider training there and I appreciate him allowing me to get a sneak peek into what I would be working towards. I honestly don't know if he caught my sarcasm at all there at the end. I really just wanted to tell all his students that they weren't training TKD. Long story short if you see a school in Tennessee teaching Taekwondo "Plus" (ITA Taekwondo) think twice before going there to train seriously. Great for families looking to bond and do something together. But all the over weight black belts and poor sparring technique lead me to believe that this place was a Mcdojo.

[dwkfym]

thank you for the review
he teaches Gracie Jujitsu apparently.

[Coach Josh]

I must say without a shadow of a doubt Mr. Hall is a very good instructor and was an inspiration to me when I was in TKD. While Tiger Rock/ITA/USTA or whatever it is now is a McDojo he is still a great instructor and good martial artist.

Even though I had my falling out with the org. the majority of the instructors are good people and do a great job of instructing in TKD. If you are looking for a place to send you 5-10 year old to get into MA these people are a good start.