Evaluating a school

[jarcher]

Hello…

I am lucky enough to have 2 choices for training near me, one in Attelboro MA and one oin East Greenwich, RI. I have never done any Krav Maga before, and I am wondering how to evaluate a school. Are there any credentials the instructors must have? Is there a way to check their credentials / experience / whatever?

Is anyone familliar with these schools?

Thanks very much…

Jim

[g-v]

Re: Evaluating a school

quote \”jarcher\:

Hello…

I am lucky enough to have 2 choices for training near me, one in Attelboro MA and one oin East Greenwich, RI. I have never done any Krav Maga before, and I am wondering how to evaluate a school. Are there any credentials the instructors must have? Is there a way to check their credentials / experience / whatever?

Is anyone familliar with these schools?

Thanks very much…

Jim

Can you participate in a few lessons before signing up? If so, throw on a pair on gym shorts and give it a try. You’ll learn pretty quick whether it’s a class you wanna continue taking, I think.

[siayn]

I think a key thing is finding out how many classes are available. I have heard of some Krav schools that offer Krav classes for 1 hour on Tues and Thur. Other schools have classes every morning and evening, every day of the week. The school I go to has Mon-Thur, morning and evening classes, and Fri-Sat mid-morning classes. With my strange work schedule this was important to me.

Also, find out what else the school teaches. Because Krav is such a new MA, many schools teach something else in addition to Krav. If you are looking for diversity, some of those schools may have a Krav instructor and also a BJJ instructor, and possibly allows you to take all classes for one price.

If you have kids, find out if the school has a kids program (not necessarily a Krav program). My school does some kind of kids ninja-dragons-XMA thing right before the adult class. Many people I work out with are there watching their kids before hand, so it allows easy scheduling of both parent and kid activities (i.e. you dont have to miss a class to run Suzy to soccer and Billy to t-ball).

Ultimately, G.V. has the best suggestion. Go try it. If a school wont let you go to at least one or two classes for free, then they probably are not a good school.

[jarcher]

Thanks for the replies and good suggestions. I guess what I am really wondering is, as a beginer, how can I tell if the instructor is someone who has studied KM for many years and really knows it, vs someone who knows another martial art and read one or two magazine articles on KM?

[g-v]

Re:

quote \”jarcher\:

Thanks for the replies and good suggestions. I guess what I am really wondering is, as a beginer, how can I tell if the instructor is someone who has studied KM for many years and really knows it, vs someone who knows another martial art and read one or two magazine articles on KM?

Jarcher, getting at this truth fast requires you to use the ancient, almost-lost art of conversation. 😆

Ask him.

[krunchyknuckles]

I don’t know if it’s standard practice or just something they do at our school but all of the instructors phase training certificates are displayed in plain view where I train. You might look around and see if they do the same thing at your school. The certificate doesn’t necessarily tell you everything about the instructor but the NTC doesn’t just hand those things out to everybody so it might be a good starting place. As GV said, conversation is certainly an option too 😀

[jarcher]

Re:

quote \”KrunchyKnuckles\:

The certificate doesn’t necessarily tell you everything about the instructor but the NTC doesn’t just hand those things out to everybody so it might be a good starting place. As GV said, conversation is certainly an option too 😀

Ah! So there is a certification process! That’s the kind of thing I was wondering. Thanks!

[g-v]

Re:

quote \”jarcher\:

Ah! So there is a certification process! That’s the kind of thing I was wondering. Thanks!

Oh yeh, there most certainly is a certification process, Jarcher.
The thing is, just because the instructor has a KM certificate, doesn’t mean that’s what he’s teaching.

From what I’ve read somewheres, martial arts instructors *used* to have to take only a few classes followed by a skills test to get that cert. This was allowed mostly so that KM could get more exposure out there…like say a TKD school could now claim that their instructor is cert’ed in KM and can offer classes.

Hence, if you sign up at that school, you may not be learing strict KM. Quite often, you’d be studying some blend of KM and something else. Of course, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Everything could be improved upon, including KM.

[jarcher]

Well, I guess a certtification is better than nothing. I think I’ll check out the school in Attleboro. I vaguely remembering reading something good about that place, and the East Greenwich place turned out to be a boxing gym, which is not very appealing.

I’ll just see if I like it. They have a web site here:

http://www.americasbestdefense.com/ABD/default.htm

It seems that they have people who are experienced, and they have programs for kids. My Daughter might want to try as well.

I’ll let everyone know how I make out in a few weeks after I get off mu butt and head up there. Thanks again!

Jim

[djinsd]

Certification

If your instructor is Certified by the NTC, then he/she did a lot more than attend a couple of classes and take a skills test. The Certification process is very difficult and many do not make it.

If you are taking a \”Krav Maga\” class and something other than Krav Maga is being taught, then the instructor is violating the terms of the agreement between the school and the NTC and the NTC should be contacted. We have several programs in our school but our Krav Maga classes are strictly Krav Maga. There have been many instances which have been referred to in previous threads of this kind of thing happening.

Good luck on your selection.

Darryl Johnson
Chief Instructor
Dynamic Martial Arts, Inc.
El Cajon and Pacific Beach
http://www.dynamicmartialarts.net

[g-v]

Re: Certification

quote \”djinsd\:

If you are taking a \”Krav Maga\” class and something other than Krav Maga is being taught, then the instructor is violating the terms of the agreement between the school and the NTC

Not like that sort of thing doesn’t happen all the time, though.

Darryl, ain’t there another KM association besides the one the NTC belongs to? I dunno, maybe some of the stuff I’ve read ain’t too factual.

[jarcher]

Hi All, I hope you folks don’t mind a follow-up question… What are the requirements to be listed on this site? I just noticed that Rhode Island has added an additional listing for a KM school and it is literally a 5 minute walk from my home.

I can’t say I know for sure if this is a brand new school, a school the has just added KM or a school that has been doing KM for some time and is now listed. I’ll give them a call, but I figured I would ask at least what the minimum requirements to be listed here are.

Thanks again…

Jim

[jaeroo]

Things to Consider

-legit instructor w/ a good reputation and personality (not all good fighters are good teachers)
-school credentials (certs./awards)
-your main goal (self-defense/sport or hobby/exercise/spirituality/mental concentration)
-long/short-term goals (advance in rank, certification/learn new skills/become more disciplined)
-distance (near/far from home)
-reasonable cost (not reasonable if it’s too costly and just teaches one style)
-if for self-defense, is it practical and realistic than fancy?
-cleanliness and organization of facility
-incentives (discounts/free trial classes)
-curriculum (if you are practicing with another student of higher level instead of the same level, not good)
-liability insurance
-private classes, if costumer desires
-some seminars, if you either decide not to take the class for the long term or just want to further your skills
-course variety/innovative teaching
-for those striclty into self-defense or eclectic courses, not too much emphasis on formality;more concentrated on drills and scenarios w/ contact, not katas
-locker rooms/showers availability
-attitude of instructor and students
-gender/racial equality
-course suitability (is the course for you, it’s you to decide)
-attire (street clothes/pt gear more practical than a gi for self-defense training)

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