Margate (Broward Ct), FL - Ki-Itsu-Sai Judo Club

**Teh El Macho** · Posted On: 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.

**El Neko** · Posted On: 11/01/2006 10:44am

my personal take on Ki itsu sai is pretty much the same, this people are there to train the next world or olympic champion, is not a recreational club (like tomodachi, witch is my main concer and only complaint with my club), but if you're into competition, you can not go wrong with them

**Pandinha** · Posted On: 11/01/2006 11:15am

Nothing wrong with that type of training to excel, I was in a similliar Judo school in Canada, they knew I was there for excercise and hobby, and did not push for me to match their training intensity.

Originally Posted by Neko687

my personal take on Ki itsu sai is pretty much the same, this people are there to train the next world or olympic champion, is not a recreational club (like tomodachi, witch is my main concer and only complaint with my club), but if you're into competition, you can not go wrong with them

**Teh El Macho** · Posted On: 11/02/2006 8:03am

See, the thing is I'm all for that kind of training. But I just felt the were not inclined to take adult noobs. Plus I have the distinct feeling they wanted to go hard on me for me to leave or to see if I would crack or stay.

I have not had that feeling at all anywhere else, neither with the Popovitchs or with Master Rollyson or Edson (all of them super competivite instructors), and neither when I used to do Shotokan and Kempo nor at Banzai Judo club all the way down in Miami. Plus I'm accostumed to work/perform under pressure.

When I visited the Tomodachi Dojo, the instructors were polite enough to explain what to expect and so for. When I visited Ki-Itsu-Sai, and I asked for information the main Sensei gave me a smirk, grabbed a dirty flier off the wall and gave it to me (which didn't have all the answers to my questions) and walked away without even saying anything.

I can understand if he was busy, but he wasn't (the class hadn't started yet), and he could have said "could you please wait? I'll be back" or something of that nature. If was after the third week of me hanging out that I began to see a change in attitude.

That left me with a bit of sour taste in my mouth. I still consider Ki-Itsu-Sai a place I may train again, but with reservations.