American Martial Arts in Jefferson City, MO

**mib2112** · Posted On: 8/10/2007 10:46pm

A friend of mine is interested in putting her son into martial arts, which would be just fine if she lived in St. Louis where I could recommend a few good schools, and a crapload of bad ones. But she lives in Jefferson City, 2 hours away.

A quick Google search brings a few results, one of which is this one, the American Martial Arts Academy. http://www.jeffcitymartialarts.com/

They look like they mix a lot of Christianity into their arts, I am willing to let that slide if the training in fighting is good. I want her to pay for martial arts, not seminary school.

But they have a lot of instructors listed on their page, several of them with a Sensei title. And a dietician on staff.

It smells to me, but I could use a professional opinion from some of you guys. I need to pay a visit to my friend soon anyways, so I may pop in and see the facility and talk to the staff in person. But if it is total crap, then I will save myself the headache of dealing with them and concentrate on some of the other schools around.

**chalkieusa** · Posted On: 8/11/2007 1:14am

Try the search function on this site. I am almost sure that I have seen this school before.

**rangerdavy** · Posted On: 8/11/2007 1:42am

Actually, I've been to this school. It looks really McDojo-ish (even inside the actual place), but the guy's training is first rate. Now, I've only taken his Kali classes and some MMA, and I've seen his TKD. Some of his classes (the TKD I saw for certain) are just baby-sitting, and consist largely of kids. However, his Kali is all adults, and they train hard and well. The MMA I haven't gotten much chance to explore, but he's very competent, and I know he's trained at least one successful cage fighter (Chad Beza).

On a more personal note, he also isn't very religious in class. He's just a nice guy, and actually pretty funny. He agreed to come do Kali once a month for our college club, getting only gas money in exchange.

I highly recommend him, but make sure your friend makes it clear that she wants her son to learn something, not just kill time.