Thoughts on ESKF Shotyru Karate

**bigstu31s** · Posted On: 10/21/2012 4:49pm

I've been having a conversation with someone on another forum, non martials arts but the subject of Karate came up because his 8 year old son son trains in Shotryu Karate under the ESKF in East London. Anyway this guy was a little annoyed that the grading fees have gone up recently from £50 to £75, yes I did say £75. My immediate thoughts were Mcdojo but this guy has been telling me about how many medals the club wins in International competitions etc and how they also train with the Egyptian National Team etc.

This guy is clearly a proud father so I don't want to cause offense. He also posted a video of his son sparring, hoping for positive feedback, but I thought it was pretty poor but again his son is 8 and I dont want to be too harsh.

Anyway here's the video, please tell me what you think and I what I should say to this guy.
Also, has anyone here had any dealings with the EKSF in the UK?

EDIT: His son is in white

**thrutch** · Posted On: 10/21/2012 6:01pm

Shotryu?

Did you mean Shotokan? These people presumably.

£75 for a kid's grading is outrageous, imo. If class fees are super-cheap it may be slightly justifiable, but not really.

**bigstu31s** · Posted On: 10/22/2012 4:33pm

From what I was told they used to teach Shotokan but now its Shotryu under the ESKF.
The link you posted doesn't work by the way, well not for me anyway

**thrutch** · Posted On: 10/22/2012 6:46pm

weird, it did last night.

this? They've got Egyptians and a successful kids' competition history.

"Shotryu" is a made-up system, it would be dubious even by karate's standards. I suspect he's got his wires crossed.

**bigstu31s** · Posted On: 10/24/2012 10:35am

Originally Posted by thrutch

weird, it did last night.

this? They've got Egyptians and a successful kids' competition history.

"Shotryu" is a made-up system, it would be dubious even by karate's standards. I suspect he's got his wires crossed.

Yes i think thats the right club. I can see they win lots of things but £75 for a childs grading is crazy money...isnt it?

**thrutch** · Posted On: 10/24/2012 10:46am

It certainly is.

Having said that, if they only grade a couple of times a year then it's £150pa, or the cost of three PS3/xbox games.

If they're grading at that price every three months then they're straight into McDojo territory, regardless of tournament successes.

**Caittheref** · Posted On: 4/17/2013 6:25am

Originally Posted by thrutch

It certainly is.

Having said that, if they only grade a couple of times a year then it's £150pa, or the cost of three PS3/xbox games.

If they're grading at that price every three months then they're straight into McDojo territory, regardless of tournament successes.

As Chair of ESKF Karate Family Association, I need to correct some of the misrepresentations in this thread.
The club changed from Shotokan to Shitoryu about 2 years ago. The Sensei is an experienced Kata player. When the parent quoted withdrew his kid from the club he said it was because they didn't do enough Kumite and his son preferred football. The backstory is that his son didn't get a medal at WUKF Junior world cup in Serbia in Oct 2012 - the club bought home 8 medals and currently ranks no 2 in England.

It is always sad to see parents living their lives through their kids and putting a lot of pressure on them. I saw a lot of that in Serbia.

We are a family club - since Serbia about 10 parents have started training and we now have a group of referees trained up.

Grading takes place 3 times a year and costs £60. The club has over 120 members and there are training sessions 5 days a week.

The Family Association supports the club by fundraising - we want to take a Team to Rio in 2014 - many of the families cant afford that.

Advert over!

**thrutch** · Posted On: 4/17/2013 4:33pm

Thanks for posting.

Got to be honest here - £180 pa is still pretty fucking expensive for gradings.

**Vieux Normand** · Posted On: 4/17/2013 5:10pm

Watching the vid reminds me of the great number of kids who would be able to properly spar, with well-placed defenses and decent biomechanics of attack...if only someone would take them off the assembly-line and teach them correctly.

There are a **** of a lot of kids I see, in vids like this one, who want to do the right thing, and definitely have the energy and attitude to try...and then get deep-sixed by shitty teaching and coaching.

Seriously, what a fucking waste. Poor kids.