Favorite Place to go to for Phase classes

[TigerUpperCut]

As I've been doing research on all of the national training centers that offer phase classes its become obvious you can only learn so much from promotional web sites and text descriptions, so I thought I'd ask people who have actually been to phase classes at one or even better more than one location which ones they went to and why they liked it.

I don't want this to be a my training was better than yours type of thing, but taking cost and geographical location out of the picture if you could train where you wanted (in the US) where would you go and why.

[Al]

I'm biased, but my belief is James Hiromasa is the best Phase Instructor in the country. He owns Colorado Krav Maga in Broomfield, CO.

[crazy_train]

Al is right, James is an awesome instructor, and training in Broomfield was a blast! I liked it because his school was right next to a super market so I could grab food after training to take back to the hotel. Training in columbia, md was good too. The facility is great, and there's two hotel right next to it. My only problem was there wasn't a decent grocery store close by, at least that I found while wandering aroundafter training for the day. I had a great time at both and hold them both equally.

[saruotoko]

Just my $0.02, but it's hard to beat the National Training Center and the sister school in Sherman Oaks. :)

[La Revancha]

Originally Posted by saruotoko

Just my $0.02, but it's hard to beat the National Training Center and the sister school in Sherman Oaks. :)

Yup. Home court advantage.

[Kirsten]

I only go to NTC's and that is where all my students go... I just figure why send my students to anywhere but the HQ. However I only I live one state away from the NTC's. So its more cost effective to send my guys to them instead of farther away to another location. I personally think its well worth the extra expense of going to the NTC's because they have so many other fantastic instructors there that you can also take classes from if you have the time or energy.

[TigerUpperCut]

Thanks for all of the responses. I have to imagine for a school to become a national training center they have to have good dedicated people there.

I suppose time is also an issue, seems like the classes are not offered in every location very often, but then again you have to be able to fill a class to offer it so it's a bit of a catch 22. Either way I'll get to one of the classes this year.

Does anybody know is there any offical wait time between phase classes short of the black belt and any invitation only levels? Not trying to rush anything just curious.

[unstpabl1]

Originally Posted by Kirsten

I only go to NTC's and that is where all my students go... I just figure why send my students to anywhere but the HQ. However I only I live one state away from the NTC's. So its more cost effective to send my guys to them instead of farther away to another location. I personally think its well worth the extra expense of going to the NTC's because they have so many other fantastic instructors there that you can also take classes from if you have the time or energy.

Plus think about who trained the others to be Training centers

[Ryan]

Mike, that's not necessarily the case. There are folks running centers outside of LA who have more time in the system than some of those teaching phases in LA. No judgment on either, but just because someone is in LA doesn't mean they are more experienced or had some part in training those outside LA.

Beyond that, was the question about instructors or centers? Trainers in LA and out of LA often travel to other centers to run these courses.

[TigerUpperCut]

The general question where to go for Phase A, B, C etc... just wanted to hear postive stories/experiences at some of the places. I have been out to Colorado for the winter camp and enjoyed myself alot. Great training and everybody was helpful and overall good experience.

Denver is also the closest place to me, however I don't want that to be my only deciding factor. I will agree with Al in that James is a very good instructor but don't see any dates listed for there yet.

[Kirsten]

James' KM place then would save you a lot of money if you can go there if they are closer. Maybe email him and see when they may be offering up some phase A courses. They might be working on them and just haven't posted it up yet. If not, then the trip to LA might be well worth it if you have the time and don't mind a little extra in airfare.

Good luck!

[TigerUpperCut]

Kirsten,
Thanks for the advice hopefully something is in the works soon. However some day I'd like to travel out to several different locations to get a feel of what different settings and teachers are like. So a trip to the NTC or anywhere is not out of the question.

Maybe we should start an exchange program.

[Ryan]

I think it depends on the goals, if any, outside of the course itself. If you want to learn aspects of the business, take a bit of a vacation, get exposed to other systems/styles/instructors, etc.

As far as teaching phase, beyond my own place, I love going to Veracruz and San Antonio.

[Kirsten]

Hahaha Tiger, I like the idea of an exchange program!!! But I would want to go to another country for that.. Holland would be #1 place to go then for Phase! Maybe stop by TGG and get some training time with Cor Hemmers and Ramon Dekkers :D

Your on to something I think!

[TigerUpperCut]

Ryan,
to answer you question about goals it is a little bit of both. Obviously going to Phase I want the best instruction possible, but beyond that each instructor brings there own aspect to Krav which would be interesting to observe and learn from. Also my day job pays very well right now, but if I could find a way to make Krav a full time gig I would sure have a lot more fun going to work each day.

So I guess there is some travel sometime in my future.