They're all class this mob. lol Now they want you to pay $40 a year to join there website www.gkrkarate.com They even have an online shop. Full thread here http://www.gokanryu.info/forum/showthread.php?t=5780
lol. They're still at it? Theres loads of threads and/or posts on MAP about those guys (I think I even started a thread asking about them). But don't be surprised if someone snaps at you for not looking for other threads on them.
'Established in 1984, Go-Kan-Ryu is here to stay, and that’s the statement you’ll make wearing our men’s 2 tone ‘1984’ tee.' lovely. Although they missed out: 'LIMITED PERIOD ONLY: Every tshirt now comes with free black belt and 9th Dan certificate! Whilst stocks last!
GKR so called "karate" are an absolute joke i recently found a job application for a GKR assistant karate instructor that said "starting wage 12K a year working up to 18K no previous martial arts experience required" NO MA EXPERIENCE REQUIRED hahaha oh what scenarios could occur: Student "Sir why are you about as flexible as a brick and thought a Gi was a rare jellyfish?" Assistant Instructor "For 12K a year who cares!?!" haha thats bullshido of the HIGHEST standard.
That they have a busy customer complaints line? 'Your call is important to us - Please hold...' *'Kung Fu Fighting' slowly fades in on the phoneline*
All of a sudden I've decided I want to try a GKR lesson. And don't worry, I'm not going to turn to the dark side! Just wanna see it for myself...
There´s some pretty good clubs that go from door to door trying to get new students. It´s just 1 type of recruiting. Unless you don´t want ANY new students in your club at all!
Come to think of it, our club didn't want new members, so when any beginners turned up, the sensei used to work us all stupidly hard - like 300 pressups a lesson kind of thing. The ones who came back; you knew they were there for the long run! We don't need to do that any more though, since we're out of the squash court and in to a specially made dojo
There web site says they are a "non-contact " form af Karate. How the can you teach self defense with no contact. :bang:
I supose they just go throught the motions and spend more time on kata and basics, but it really doesn't make sense, does it?
Not to me at least, I have always felt that the only way to really learn a technique was to have it applied to you and gain sensitivity to your uke.
I've been to one of their clubs before when I've been on holiday. They spar like ITF TKD - they wear hand and foot padding but hit with controlled contact, no throws and no leg sweeps below brown belt. The kids generally just tap each other - c'est la vie. To be honest, if it wasn't for the very dodgy business practices, I'd have few qualms about sending my kids along to the class I visited. It wasn't that bad. It's just the business side of things is horrendous and the quality of the instructors is so immensely variable. The class I visited had a real black belt (not one of the stripey belt ones) as an instructor who knew what he was doing and practiced what looked like traditional Goju Ryu style form. He was also a tough-looking bloke who looked like he could handle himself regardless. I just really object to the low graded instructors, the pressure they're put under to be salesmen and the commercialisation of karate in this way. I'm sure there are some instructors in the organisation who are good karateka, it's the organisation itself that makes me unhappy.
They spend a very considerable part of most lessons practicing solo basics on the spot (ie. no stepping forward or back, so its just the arms that are working). Kata (performance not bunkai) and (supposedly) touch contact sparring complete the training. There are no partner drills in the syllabus as such. Mike