I'm looking into a school of TKD in my area

[kepitronic]

And I was wondering if any one has checked it out/knows its lineage/trained there/knows if its any good.

Here's the link http://www.akta.com/

The reason I made the thread is because I can't find anything on the net about this place at all that isn't directly from the website I linked.

[m4949]

I am not seeing any red flags. But you never know. You need to go there and try it out.
what are you looking for? what do you want to get out of doing any martial art? You need to ask yourself tthat before evaluating any school. I cannot say I see any crap here. he looks like an old school TKD guy which is good if that is what you are looking for.

Don't sign any contracts until you have been to 3-5 classes. make sure you start at white belt and don't have to "earn" your white belt. I fucking hate that ****, there is a reason it comes with the uniform.
See what the Black Belt retention is like. Schools that can't keep people past black belt tend to offer little.
Do not let them pull yopu into any "belt contract".

But you have to ask yourself what are you expectations before you can truely evaluate a school.

[TheWanderingTaoist]

:icon_rend

I am not seeing any red flags. But you never know. You need to go there and try it out.
what are you looking for? what do you want to get out of doing any martial art? You need to ask yourself tthat before evaluating any school. I cannot say I see any crap here. he looks like an old school TKD guy which is good if that is what you are looking for.

Don't sign any contracts until you have been to 3-5 classes. make sure you start at white belt and don't have to "earn" your white belt. I fucking hate that ****, there is a reason it comes with the uniform.
See what the Black Belt retention is like. Schools that can't keep people past black belt tend to offer little.
Do not let them pull yopu into any "belt contract".

But you have to ask yourself what are you expectations before you can truely evaluate a school.

Seriously, are there any TKD schools that don't have contracts? Every one of them I have checked out especially the ones with high ranking Korean instructors all have contracts. How can anyone avoid it?

[omoplatypus]

excessively overweight black belt and a retardedly wide horse stance from a 3rd dan black belt.

kiddy black belts



really????? I MEAN REALLY???????????



with years of practice, you too can be as awesome as this 5th dan master!

http://www.akta.com/aktaevents/promo...tschedule.html
test every two months to get your black belt ASAP!

i dunno, i would tread carefully here.

[omoplatypus]

:icon_rend


Seriously, are there any TKD schools that don't have contracts? Every one of them I have checked out especially the ones with high ranking Korean instructors all have contracts. How can anyone avoid it?

mrs. kimbo's uncle owns an ATA/MMA school that has contracts.
his contracts are for one year of "black belt club". this contract gets you one extra uniform for free, and your sparring gear.

the contract is voided for moving more than 30 miles away, or transferable to any ATA school you move near. your choice. if you want to get out of your contract, all you have to do is show a medical reccomend or cough up a hundred bucks. there is no guarantee that you will get any belt other than orange (try NOT passing that test).

if the contract isn't similar to this, don't sign it. also, you might be best off, when he hands you the contract, to say "let me take it home and read it more closely. i'll bring it back tomorrow for you."
then you can scan it and we'll tell you how much bullshit is or is not in it.

[t v tkd]

Contracts for martial arts schools turn me off. That smacks of being more concerned with $$$$ than with actually spreading martial arts knowledge. When I open my own school, the pay as you go method is all I'll use. Monthly fee for regular classes or per-session fees for private students who don't wish to attend a regular class.

I can understand higher tuition fees if a person is making their MA school their primary occupation than an instructor who teaches just to teach (I know that my own instructor often coughed up money for the school's rent from his own pocket at times, when we had small classes, or when people didn't pay tuition on time.) But locking someone into a contract just doesn't sit well with me.

[TheWanderingTaoist]

Contracts for martial arts schools turn me off. That smacks of being more concerned with $$$$ than with actually spreading martial arts knowledge. When I open my own school, the pay as you go method is all I'll use. Monthly fee for regular classes or per-session fees for private students who don't wish to attend a regular class.

I can understand higher tuition fees if a person is making their MA school their primary occupation than an instructor who teaches just to teach (I know that my own instructor often coughed up money for the school's rent from his own pocket at times, when we had small classes, or when people didn't pay tuition on time.) But locking someone into a contract just doesn't sit well with me.

I completely agree with you. If I was running my own school I would charge month to month or give them a small discount if they wanted to pay 3 months at a time or given them a free uniform.

I do think the reason contracts got started are because for many foreign born instructors martial arts is all they know. That's all they studied in college and that's all they can make a living at to support their families. So I can understand them wanting a steady guaranteed monthly income; I mean doesn't everyone else? However there should be ways to get out of the contracts that are reasonable.

At least here most of the gyms, not dojangs specifically but all the weightlifters and aerobics gyms are contract and no longer monthly. Even some yoga places have gone to 6-month to a year contracts. There's few things you can do on a month to month basis. Unfortunately seems to just be the way things are done these days.