Looks like I may finally be getting my raise, so getting back into MA looks like a deffinite thing in my near future. Ive decided that I want to try MMA rather than going back to what I already know. I figure Im going to need to travel a bit regardless of where I choose to join, but within that bit of traveling I have a feeling there will be a lot of places to chose from. I dont know a ton about MMA so I wanted to ask you all if you had any tips for me as to what to look for in chosing a school. Any help would be appreciated.
http://www.grapplearts.com/SchoolListing/United-States-Grappling-Clubs.htm#NewYork hope i was helpful
thanks iamraisen.... Its helpful, but im more interested in tips on how to chose a good place. Like are there tell tale signs of good or bad?
Go and check the classes and ask the teacher about his/her teaching methods/ideas and what sort of training you will be doing. This should give you a good idea of whether you like the classes or not.
look at the teachers. what qualifications they have, how much experience, and also thir MMA record (or if they have individual teachers for each art then look at those records). also go down and check out the facilities- while fancy facilities arnt always the sign of a good MMA school its always nice to have proper equipment
Well, obviously how long they have been teaching/training for and have they got any acheivements in their art. Anything else?
a good few years of teaching expreience, and preferably a good MMA record or around 20 fights. you can also look at their grading in their specific MA if they have one and who taught them for example i tihnk matt serra's school is in NY. he is a black belt in BJJ and trained under a gracie and has a good MMA record.
I am no expert but when I was looking for a new gym my priorities were instructor skill, instructor credentials (years teaching, experience, who he learned from, fight record,etc.), nice facility (not fancy, just clean and safe), attitude of other students, and cirriculum (if it suited what I wanted).
And what is the "obvious" amount of time you would look for? 6 months? 5 years? 10 years? Any particular styles? Such as what? Belt ranks (how high, what styles)? What if they don't use a belt system? Tournament trophies (what kinds of tournaments)? "Instructor of the Year Award" (from where)? Well, that should be a good start... (iamraisen and Mrs. Owt, nice posts)
I was thinking sensibly here mate....i agree with most of your posts but i think you'll agree that it is quite obvious thta 6 months training is not enough to be a teacher or were you just being pedantic? Belt ranks from crediblr schools, success in competion...again credible tournaments....it's really just common sense to me.
Ummm...I don't think Thomas is actually trying to be awkward. I see his point. In arts such as MMA the qualifications and credentials are very loosely defined. It is very hard to trace some peoples "qualifications". When you talk about credible schools, what if it is the first school of MMA in your community? What if the instructor has no competition wins or even has never competed? Does that automatically rule him out? When something is as new as MMA sometimes the common sense questions are hard to answer. With MMA you have to go to the different gyms and comare them. Then you will see if the instructor is the real deal or not. My advice is do not just join up at the closest place or the cheapest place because of conveinience and cost. Heck, they may turn out to be the best but establish a comparitive scale against other schools and instructors and then make your decision. If you are a total newbie of course the instructor is going to sound knowledgeable and beat you three ways from Sunday. The trick is determining if he is good on a comparitive basis to people who actually know what they are doing - not just good compared to yourself!!
woa woa woa easy now guys. there is another post in the MMA section about what is the right length of experience to teach (which i think thomas started if i remember rightly). too many people are jumping on the MMA bandwagon to cash in without the proper experience so it is only right to be careful
So, how many years of experience would you recommend? What styles would you recommend for their background, and at what rank? It's easy to say "good qualifications and experience", but how do you measure that? Ha ha ha ha! I am indeed pedantic... but it takes lots of research and study to be so. Any specifics? How do you determine a credible school? What makes a tournament "credible"? What if they don't hold "belt" ranks? I am not trying to be mean to you, I am just looking for a little more specific answers to questions many people take seriously. It's easy to say "experienced" or "good background" but it's hard to quantify that. The thread I started about experience (http://www.martialartsplanet.com/forums/showthread.php?t=21166) nevere really produced many clear answers on what people should look for in instructors.
Make sure the person teaching "MMA" actually has bona fide training to instructor level in the things he/she is teaching. I know that sounds real obvious but you'd be surprised! For example - If the school is teaching a "blend of kickboxing and grappling" make sure the instructor has a good level of training in kickboxing and grappling. I know of one such school where the instructor's only formal training is in Karate - and everything else has been "learned" from video tapes - with very predicatble results. It CAN be done - but success is by far the exception.
Everybody has already pointed out a knowledge of MMA is imperitive; so as well as that, i think a genuinely keen instructor is very important. Someone who doesn't take instructing as just a job, but enjoys teaching and instructing. Someone who genuinely likes to see enthusiatic students progress in what they love doing.