is this place a mcdojo http://www.kims-taekwondo.com/?

Question

i was wondering if this pllace is a mcdojo http://www.kims-taekwondo.com/ because i wana take tae kwon do but i dont want to be taught all this crap i want the real deal plz tell me

Answer 1

Lildrummer2,

Great question, because many others have the same question, but have not asked it yet

"..A McDojo is a school that teaches a watered-down and impractical form of martial arts in the name of making money. They place the importance of profit well ahead of teaching anything realistic or credible in terms of self-defense, and are dangerous is the aspect that they send unprepared & often over confident students into a world thinking they can fight "

A few red flags listed indicate a "McDojo"include:

-Any school that promises you a Black Belt in under 3 years or routinely produces Black Belts in 2 years.

-Any school which seems to have overly young or inexperienced experts (usually "Black Belts" or "Dan ranks") No contact during sparring, or no sparring at all

The very asian sounding name is a mix of CHINESE, JAPANESE, KOREN words that do not mean what the creator ( see first example) says it does

Self defense moves are not practiced at full or even half speed.

-Honest respectful Questioning about techninques relation to reality is met with stern remarks from instructor

Other things to watch for:

-Watch the instructor. What's the instructor's teaching style?

-Does he/she berate students or coach them along with encouragement?

-Do the students appear to fear the instructor or are they comfortable with him/her?

-Does the instructor have a huge ego, or does he/she seem more humble than the students?

I would go to the school and take the free session and watch the classes and ask questions based on the above points, remember you are the consumer and have to check to make sure this place is the right fit.

I wish you the best on your path

Devin Willis

Answer 2

There are some good answers here and I have to agree them. Watch some classes, look at the quality of his students, especially the black-belts. If they are not knowledgeable, skilled, and able to perform things like kicks, forms, self-defense and fight much better than the intermediate or beginner students then you have your answer. At a good school you can see a noticeable difference between a beginner like a white, gold, or orange belt and an intermediate student like a green, purple, or blue belt. The difference between them and a black belt should also be very evident in how well they do these things and also with the speed and power that they can do them at.

While TKD in particular has had a huge growth spurt over the last twenty years it has come by many schools and instructors lowering their standards, time and experience required for promotion, and promoting people before they are ready to be promoted to keep them motivated and renewing their contracts. I might also add not all TKD has gone this route and there are still instructors and schools out there hold their students and programs to a higher standard and turn out a good student. So look at the program, take his trial program and also look at the quality of the students and I think you will have a good answer.

Answer 3

possibly, but I highly doubt it.... the website looked fishy... I would ask these questions...
How long has your school been open?
What organization are you with?
How long have you been with that organization?
What style of TKD do you teach, Chung Do Kwon, Muk do Kwon

Obviously the guy is Korean and will know the history, Ask him who his instructor was and where he studied... in the 60's it was probably with th Kukkiwon institute... There is another guy on here that could give you a better answer than I

TKD hit a big boom right around 2000, and as it grew rapidly, the level of instruction declined even faster... So it is possible for a Korean guy with little training to try to cash in, but I highly doubt it....

But then again... some of the best basketball players couldnt coach... and some of the mediocer players make the best coaches... if you get the analogy

His T-stance in one of his pictures was wayy wrong, but maybe he was tryin to fit the trophies in there (it is a silly pic)
I'd suggest go there watch a class... ask as many ?'s as you can... If you feel uncomfortable about some of the answer's... I dont claim to be a 9th degree BB but you can email me and I wil let you know if I think it is off-base... go check it out.. Good luck

EDIT... the poster above me it the one that is much more experienced than I am.... The one I referred to during my original answer

Answer 4

If the G/M has kept his credentials current (which it sounds like he has) then it is not a McDojo. A McDojo is there to only give you belts in return for exhorbitant fees without any substantive training.

Here is one way you can check out how much influence the G/M has on the school:
1- How often is he there?
2- How often do the instructors train with him?

If he's never there, then they are name dropping and I would be suspicious. If they only train once in awhile, then, again, they're name dropping. It would be like me saying Grandmaster Edward B. Sell teaches at my school in Virginia from his home in Florida. I learn from him whenever I can, but I would be a moron to say that he teaches at my school.

Answer 5

Well I read under his 'special deals' that he is offering a 2 week course and free uniform for no cost, might as well check it out since you will not lose anything. And I guarantee you will get a better answer to your question by checking it out rather than asking people over the internet, not saying there is anything wrong with the people on here but there is no way to know for sure if its a real gym unless you check it out...

Answer 6

Tough to say though, that Grand Master has some pretty good credentials. He definitely has the ability to be an awesome teacher but you really need to go and take an actual lesson there before you conclude anything.

Answer 7

It does have a very McDojo look and feel to the website.

Answer 8

Looks like it
1. They do all point sparring
2, It's about moral development where a martial art school should be about learning how to fight
3. They want to get you fit not teach you how to fight

Answer 9

That entirely depends on the women in charge. Some women can screw things up just as easily as men, or make things better just as easy. If you got good, head-strong women then, yes, things would improve in many situations... but if I man was considerate enough about women (& cared about people & the world, etc.), then he probably would do an equal job... women's rights would definitely improve, & probably gay-rights, as well.

Answer 10

yep a McDojang over a million blackbelts served. I had a friend take them classes and one word Boring!!!