Eastern Washington University Goju-Ryu Karate

**Smoke** · Posted On: 10/07/2010 6:57pm

I am currently a sophomore at EWU and I am looking for clubs. I saw advertised, Aikido, Judo, BJJ, and finally Karate. I came into the class and noticed many kids my age, only a handful wearing gi's. They were warming up throwing random Krotty kicks and punches.

I talked to a girl I knew, and she told me the teacher was always late and didn't teach the class well. I thought to myself, I'll be the judge of that.

Yep, the teacher was 20 minutes late (classes start at 1:00 pm Tuesdays and Thursdays) and was older (about 50) and wore a faded black belt (chipping up, looked like dye).

They began with kata, no formal warm up, but a bow in and formal introduction.

The kata for the most part seemed like traditional 20 move Okinawan karate.
I was NOT impressed how most of the student's techniques were off. I gave them slack seeing they were n00bs, but even the purple belt had room for improvement. This arranged from too short stances, too WIDE stances, and no mobility what so ever. This even included throwing bad punches. Overextension of the punching arm while throwing with the shoulders, that the shoulders went too far past the hips resulting in loss of balance. Fists so tense that if i were to punch a wall, I'd be punching with the middle knuckles.

Kicks like the front kick were taught to punch up. Uhh..I thought your were supposed to drive a front kick through like a punch? not like an uppercut?

Herro?! Sensei, are you correcting any of this?

I was not impressed by the fact that he would not participate with the students. My Kyokushin and Isshinryu teachers always walked the walk.

I facepalmed at this, which probably wasn't a good idea because he them told me to leave because "I looked bored."

I'm sorry for the vague review, i came in once. I probably should find the name of teacher?

**helmutlvx** · Posted On: 10/07/2010 9:21pm

You gave striking instruction a 1, but aliveness a 7?

How does that work?

**Smoke** · Posted On: 10/07/2010 10:28pm

It was disciplined and the effort put out by the students was good.

Or I don't know what aliveness means in the reviews? Is it different than attitude/atmosphere?

**helmutlvx** · Posted On: 10/07/2010 10:46pm

You should have read the guidelines about posting a review before you ever considered typing this out.

RATING AND YOU - READ THIS BEFORE POSTING YOUR REVIEW - No BS MMA and Martial Arts

**Smoke** · Posted On: 10/07/2010 10:58pm

You're right i'm sorry, I'm such a noob.

I guess it's best if this thread is deleted.

But I did fix it.

**default** · Posted On: 10/08/2010 10:35am

no offense, but for $10/month, what do you expect?

**Smoke** · Posted On: 10/08/2010 1:33pm

It's a club/credit class.

**mrbigglesworth** · Posted On: 10/12/2010 10:11pm

This is not the first time I've heard of bad college/university dojos. But a sensei so confused that he doesn't know whether he teaches krotty or tkd doesn't deserve 10 bucks. Get a Damn refund!

**Smoke** · Posted On: 10/14/2010 4:02pm

Luckily I didn't give him my $10, because i just watched.

I'm going to try the campus' Judo or BJJ club next week when I can (I have a foot infection).

I know nothing on grappling, so I hope this is a good one. I wouldn't know a good grappling school from a bad one.

He's so set on discipline, it's not even Karate any more.

**mrbigglesworth** · Posted On: 10/14/2010 4:09pm

Stay away from campus! Look for a school that has the name gracie or machado or something recognizable in the dojo name. Check the net and ask for credibility.