Ok so i'm due to go uni at Brighton university- which obviously cuts down my training here in Surrey quite a bit, i've done some research of my own but i wanted to hear peoples recommendations on any good schools in Brighton- i'd be interested to participate in competition but that's not essential so long as there's sparring/ resistant drilling. Grappling would also be nice but much as i love it it would probably be beneficial to train striking as well, weapons would be fun but aren't essential. I would also like to point out that being at uni i'd probably want to keep the costs down as well- provided it doesn't compromise the teaching quality. If anyone here studies/studied at Brighton it'd be cool to see where those in the student body train as well.
Have a look at the student union you can usually find some good cheap options many if which are connected to legit instructors in local clubs. Judo, kickboxing and 'jujitsu' usually feature. Stear clear of the Jitsu foundation if you want actual jujutsu and/or none sucky training. They usually latch onto university unions for recruitment.
Thanks for the heads up on the jitsu foundation i was considering it although i dimly remember being turned off by lack of sparring
Thanks for the heads up about the jitsu foundation i vaguely recall being turned off by the lack of sparring- was there anything in particular about it that made it avoid-worthy?
Leftfield http://www.the1595.com/ If you've got a car, a short trip from Brighton and pretty unique to the area http://www.whitecranefightingarts.com/
It's your usual gendai masquerading as traditional militaristic budo, with poor training methods. I have never met anyone that trains with them that was good without cross training. If you look at their promotional material and stuff from their atemi nationals then you can draw your own conclusions.
Kung Fu wise theres a Dragon Style and a Pak Mei school down there. There was a wrestling team (i think was based at the Uni) but that was 7yrs ago so not sure if they're still there.
The 1595 school looks interesting but i can't find any information on prices- anybody know if that white crane school spars? Also -any people trained at elements martial arts in town? - nam yang pugilistic association, saw a thread on map about it and was wondering if it was still running / still good
White crane spars and competes. Nam Yang is still running. Some of my Jitz friends speak very highly of Dani Vlad at Elements.
Good to hear- i was originally looking at cross training nam yang and elements but i don't think I'd be able to afford both It's tricky judging the classes without going but until I'm actually there this'll do- i feel like bjj/judo would gel better with my jiujutsu but i also want to try something different
Zoltan Dienes at the University. High quality training from a very experienced coach. http://www.sussex.ac.uk/sport/public/marts/ima/
I like the look of Zoltan's classes- i think it'll either be that or judo at brighton uni, or both maybe
Following John's link I see there's a Nam Pai Chuan group at University of Sussex, personally I prefer their Kung Fu to Nam Yang's and they tend to do decent sparring and San Shou comps.
Ben Gash- out of interest is there anything that stands out as being better than nam yangs or is it just the general quality of the students?
It's style and flavour more than quality.I just don't find their Kung Fu personally appealing (and that's as someone who has serious training in Fujianese martial arts). Interestingly the White Crane Fighting Arts guys do the same system, I believe even learned from Nam Yang, but I prefer their performance of it. Maybe their study of Fujian dog boxing has bled through into it.
I would back up what John recommends, Zoltan is a psychology professor at Sussex University, which is where I think the club is based. I trained with him in shotokan karate back in the early 90's and since then he has branched out into a with a much more holistic approach and a great degree of X-training .. Certainly not a formal or "traditional" approach. I would highly recommend him and his associates.
There's Lung Ying - http://www.dmaa.co.uk/class-times/ And here's also a Chow Gar SPM class in 3 bridges Crawley about a 25min train journey from Brighton. Small classes and hard training inc sparring and weapons.
I am in Brighton too. The Judo club is good with Monday class being more technical and Wednesday is very intensive randori (I can't last a full lesson). The Wednesday sensei is also a former all Japan champion which is bloody impressive. I also train bjj at elements and they seem to be a nice bunch and as soon as you get your first stripe on the white belt you get to spar at the end of each class. They attend competitions and do well. The teacher there participates at least to European championships level. Mind you I have no previous experience in bjj so I do not know much about it other than the general questions of "do you spar" "do you participate in competitions" and my personal feeling of it which is very good so far. But I could be wrong. Links: http://www.brightonjudoclub.org/ http://www.elementsmartialarts.co.uk/