i've trained at jji. incredible! had to stop because the schedule just was not very helpful, 3 days a week only. no contract, very reasonably priced. incredible instruction! i would stay away from degerberg.
Thanks for the info I like the first place you showed me first on your last post. I saw that Hapkido place website a few days ago, but it's a little over my budget. Master Jangs place is only 105 a month which is a cheaper than most places I looked at. But hopefully next year I can do both Hapkido and MMA school.
Bottom line, yes, give master jang a chance. As much as the people here are knowledgable and helpful. You won't know until you go, you'll get a sense of it and check out not only her abilities but her other students. (just cos an instructor is talented, doesn't mean they're any good at teaching).
Its official i joined up with Master Jang's school, i had a good time in my free try out class. Worked up a sweat and everything , i even learned a few new moves.
Hapkido in Chicago... Glad you found a home at Master Jang's... Just to answer a few other issues, I don't use contracts, and cost wise, I believe that I am comparable to any other dojang in Chicago. It seems several of you don't really know anything about Hapkido, so I will have to read more of your comments to address them correctly, but the Hapkido of YouTube is generally not what the art is about... Zaad...at 20 you seem to have a lot to say about what is traditional, and what constitutes a mcdojo...very interesting reading... Anyway, if you are in Chicago or travelling through, stop in for a class, we will make you feel at home.
I had studied from He-Young Kimm whom had studied from/with Park Lee-hyun, in turn whom had studied with Won Kwang-Hwa (If I am at error, I stand corrected) I had visited your site and took a liking to it.
Glad you liked my site, thank you for the compliment. And I made that comment in response to a few things I saw in the thread that seemed biased against Hapkido...not trying to be argumentative, just going to try and follow things a little closer here so that i can interject in a more timely fashion.
Please do. I don't know much of hapkido but i know that if i was to learn self defence of someone i'd like it if that person had been through a few conflicts and knew what they were dealing with, rather than just learning from a blackbelt who has never been through a mugging. Same with knife fighting - if i wanted to learn to fight with kinves i'd want to train with someone who used knives regularly (i.e. almost every time they trained) rather than train with someone who learnt knife defence on a course they went on one weekend. I like what i have seen of hapkido, a good mix of throws and striking but that makes no comment on how a teacher address self defence scenarios and conflicts. Correct me if im wrong, but hapkido is as traditional as judo, its a creation from this century, which has it's tradition in uniforms and etiquette. Similarly wrestling can be seen as traditional as they're using the same traditional etiquette (a handshake) that people have used for centuries.
I agree with most of what you said. Training with someone that has some background in actual combat on the street is very important. I might disagree with the need to do FMA for knife fighting, the guys I have trained with have varied backgrounds, some with FMA experience, some just street fighters - they seem to have the most usable background when it comes to actually fighting with a knife. In terms of the "traditional" idea, that is probably in the eye of the beholder, but traditional to me in Hapkido is definable lineage to the Founder, Choi Dojunim, I feel there is certainly tradition in the technique, in its approach to training and execution. Hope that makes sense. And oddly enough I am in the process of making a few short videos about translating techniques from the school to the street - not trying to teach technique, but rather a few demos and some explanation of some possible uses...http://www.youtube.com/user/JungKiKwanMidwest/videos
Yeah agree with you on the knife stuff. FMA seemed most easiest to give as an example but anyone who trains with knives enough can usually bring it on the knife front. apologies if you felt that i was insulting hapkido. i was just making OP was being cautious and finding a school that fit his aims. so may mcdojo's out there and it's easy to get trapped when you're new. It's good to see that you're actually making an effort to translate techniques into SD uses and that you're actively cross training and expanding your knowledge base to people who have that SD experience. i'm always cautious when people mention learning martial arts specifically for SD. i've seen/experienced some pretty terrible SD stuff from people that have never tried pressure testing or thought about psychological responses, aggression and laws concerning self defence and arrackers.
Well that's why I came here to ask questions about Hapkido and Master Jang, both which have answered. But don't get me wrong it was difficult to get a concrete answer since a lot of people are saying MMA is the way to go. As far as Master Jang goes I already heard from 2 different people which by the way one is a black belt that she is a good teacher so hopefully I will learn a lot.
Just out of curiosity, is it normal for schools to charge testing fees for belt promotions? I remember as a kid when I was taking tae Kwon do they did but a few friends of mine at work said based on their martial arts experince said they never had to pay testing fees.
