I have to state here that the threads posted about Keith Hafner's Karate on this forum are inaccurate, immature and unproductive. I have been an instructor at the school for over 6 years, and have had the opportunity to visit with instructors from all over the country that come to learn more about running a successfult school. Our Black Belt program takes about four years to complete, taking two classes per week, with an intense 6-month 4-5 day per week preparation for promotion, and includes Tae Kwan Do forms, Jujitsu, Arnise, Kenpo and other requirements. We teach solid techniques for self-defense, sparring and forms. We reserve a small portion of each class to discuss the relationship between our Martial Arts training and the way we approach life. I don't think that's a bad thing... The folks submitting their threads on this site obviously haven't visited the school, and are parroting heresay with some other motivation I think. I don't see anyone here talking about the fact that we fed over 400 poor families a complete Thanksgiving dinner in their home for many years, or that we bring in musical talent and other guests to talk with our students to enrich their lives. Speaking from personal experience, I can say that I went from 268 pounds to 200, and am in the best physical condition ever, and have used my TKD skills in one real serious situation successfully. Please respond if you have REAL questions about the place, and I'll provide an honest answer.
No "a" in it either . . . just an observation. Real question then. If it is karate/TKD and you teach Jiujitsu and Kempo do you have seperate instructors for those who are specialized or is it that instructors have been taught something from the art and are passing it on? How do you judge what solid techniques for SD are? How do you train/pressure test these techniques? What is the standard training in a typical class? PS: Take a look at the last post date, may have been a good idea to let sleeping dogs lie.
So if you went to this school you get ice-cream and a belt!wow... Reminds me of (going of TKD topic) GKR karate, I worked in this tennis club and the karate people would practise in the hall near the park, I saw about 10 students arrive for their clasess and then one day loads and loads of people turned up for a grading the line went out into the car park, I got fed up with being asked "where is karate?" or "where is kung fu?" and I would correct them by saying "Its KARATE, and its over there". Next week after the grading there was about 7 students turning up for the lesson... Anouther class used to train there Choi Kwan Do and they were all mix if colours like a couple of skitles. I would say stay away it looks poo. Tans
Wow...sounds horrible. A school thats really succesfull. Oh yeah change the name...its obviously a problem, too many people are joining. Whats so bad about this being a decent venture. At least its a good starting point for folks to train. They can later see other schools or learn more and decide at what level they need. Getting exposed to martial arts IMHO is a great thing and will make better kids be better adults. Getting a good system down that can do it not so bad. Maybe the advice would be from someone who saw the school and gelt it should have special trainings for those that wanted to step it up. Clearly good retention and good pull of more students. Rock stars do what they love and do well...yes there sell outs there too...dear gosh. Olympians doing ads etc. This is our way. Kudos to a school that succesfull. I can only hope it offers all venues of training. Cheers
There are a couple of reasons I would speculate about... 1. In its early years, Taekwondo was developed from (Shotokan) Karate for the most part. Koreans used the word "Kong Soo Do" to say "Karate". For some of the early pioneers, there wasn't a lot of difference between ealry Taekwondo and Kong Soo Do... so caling it "Karate" wouldn't bother the too much in foreign locales (although in nationalistic Korea, no way...) 2. When Taekwondo began to spread around the US, "Karate" was the big thing... with the most name recognition. You'll find a lot of schools around that advertise "Korean Karate" or similar. It was more apt to attract students in to train instead of the name "Taekwondo", which was fairly new and fairly unknown.
Okay so this is my karate school, I don't know about you guys. It is a great school, I have learned a lot from going there, They do teach Taekwondo they don't call it that because a lot of people didn't know what that was when the school was created, so they were trying to get people to understand what they do there. The thing about the guy peeking in the locker room never happened. Also I am pretty sure you didn't see Master Hafner test to become a master, because if you did you might think of him differently. You guys don't know what you are talking about. The teachers are great, I wish you would stop saying it is horrible and cheesy. It isn't. I have learned about different types of martial arts there and met very interesting people. It is not a babysitting service. It is not a waste of money.
very true Thomas, I had a cloth badge on my first dobok around 77 that said 'Teakwondo' on top and 'Korean Karate' at the bottom, I still have the top and badge but it does not fit me:hat: it was a time when everyone in martial arts e tire either where seen as doing Karate or judo so I always perceived it was loosely used to save a longer explanation.
zfilmcat just setting the record straight and if the clubs still going strong quite viable imo bests Paul
You necro a thread this old to post apologetic, anecdotal an unsubstantiated fluff? The kiddie pool at munchkin land has more depth than this - begone necromancer!
