I need your advice/Help! Please Read!

Discussion in 'General Martial Arts Discussion' started by D.Alessandro, Sep 26, 2015.

  1. D.Alessandro

    D.Alessandro New Member

    I have a Problem and maybe some of you can help me.
    first Some Background Information: I used to do Karate twice a week, from age 8-12. I was very motivated and I loved the Sport, it was great Dojo aswell. (Not a "MCDojo") I had the Purple Belt. With 13, my father told me that i need to decide between continuing learning guitar or continuing with Karate. I chose the Guitar.
    With 15 i got sent to a Boarding School. Now i am 18 Years old.
    About a Half a year ago i had the interesst to start with a Martial Art again. I searched for different Schools and found two: Krav maga and Taekwondo(and hapkido). I signed up at the Taekwondo school and i was very excited to train again. I now have the yellow belt. But somehow lately i started to realize some things: we don't train much sparring or self defense technics. Just some things that i used to train alot in Karate. But we often do the excersize, where we hit eachother with out belts, appearantly meant as hardening. The instructor shows us moves with full force, so that even some students got injuries sometimes.He mainly focuses on Katas but doesnt explain us how these moves should be transferred into fighting. There are about 4 Students in my age group and 7 Students are between the ages 7 and 13. Sometimes training is more a run around from the younger students than serious training. I started questioning and googled the "symptoms". An there i had it: there were several signs of a Mcdojo... Now a friend of mine and I are thinking about leaving the school and changing to Krav maga.(since there is no other choice of martial art) We went to one trial training and were quite fascinated. The Trainer is Serious and everyone there is over 18 Years old. We did sparring and simulated real life situations. We would like to change but we don't know how to tell that our Instructor.
    Do you guys think it would be better to change? How should we tell our Instructor? I'm just new to this Forum so please bear with me. Every kind of answer is very appreciated! Thank you :)
     
  2. Pretty In Pink

    Pretty In Pink Moved on MAP 2017 Gold Award

    You don't have to tell them anything at all if you don't want to. You are a paying customer. Stop paying and stop going if it doesn't interest you.


    Good luck :)
     
  3. Dead_pool

    Dead_pool Spes mea in nihil Deus MAP 2017 Moi Award

    if you enjoy the krav, go to it for a few weeks, if you think you want to stop the TKD, then do so, if you want to drop the intructor a email explaining why, any good instructor would welcome that, but you dont need to if it makes you uncomfortable.
     
  4. Knee Rider

    Knee Rider Valued Member Supporter

    TKD school sounds awful. If you want to switch then switch. Although it would be good ettiquette to tell them why, you don't owe this particular instructor anything as it appears he hasn't even been mindful of his students' safety let alone progress. Cut and run if I was you. However beware that Krav Maga also is one of the biggest offenders regarding mcdojoism. Keep an open and critical mind.
     
  5. CrowZer0

    CrowZer0 Assume formlessness.

    Based on what you're saying you like the Krav so do it. The TKD sounds like a fitness class for kids.
     
  6. furinkazan

    furinkazan Valued Member

    do whatever you like: seriously, it's your life, youre paying them money, what you do outside of that class is nobody's concern but your own. If something sucks to you, drop it.
     
  7. aaradia

    aaradia Choy Li Fut and Yang Tai Chi Chuan Student Moderator Supporter

    Personally, I think it is a respectful thing to tell the instructor of the school you are leaving. Just be polite about it. Don't burn any bridges in case you possibly ever want to go back.

    You can just say your are looking for a more adult oriented program and you wish to go in a different direction with your MA's. Thank him/ her for your time there. You can leave a note or an E-mail or do it in person. Don't get into the whole McDojo thing. If they have half a brain, they know what they are and can read between the lines.

    Train where you want. You don't have to train in a place that doesn't fit your goals.

    And welcome to MAP!
     
  8. Arlion

    Arlion New Member

    Post a bit long, but lets not go in unnecessary details, so to put it simple the answer is YES get away from that dojo as fast as possible(saying `run away like bat out a hell` is wrong cause it needs to be much faster).
     
  9. Arlion

    Arlion New Member

    As for telling him, simply apologies and tell him that you will have to quit dojo, don`t go in to details simply apologies and inform him that you are quitting and that`s it.
     
  10. Rated Red

    Rated Red ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Supporter

    I endured an injury that needed surgery due to this type of 'instructor'. This goes against my usual stance on being polite and courteous when severing business ties but in a situation like this, you dont owe a fraud anything.
     
  11. AJMartialArtist

    AJMartialArtist Valued Member

    TKD is more about techniques patterns and fitness not really self defense it also sounds that you enjoy Krav I suggest you keep going to Krav a few more times and see how you go
     
  12. Remi Lessore

    Remi Lessore Valued Member

    I do agree with the other posts - if you don't like it, then as the customer you have every right to leave whenever you want to - with or without apology to the instructor who sounds as though he is on a bit of a power trip.
    I would also heed the warnings about technically poor Krav Maga. It is very common.
    You would be better off with much sports combat - kick/thai boxing, judo, etc. Having said that, there are also TKD instructors who teach good physical self-defence skills.

    It sounds as though you are not in a big city or you would have more choice.
    What part of the world do you live in?
     

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