Chain store martial arts?

Question

What do you think about these chain school martial arts schools? They had out belts sorry sell belts to people no matter what.

Answer 1

I think that the owner/sensei needs to be drug out of the school and ran out of town. Having s***** schools in any style is bad for MA in general. Wait til all the MMA people realize it's happening to them as we speak, which is wrong. Why do you think TKD and karate have such bad reps now. Because people don't understand it's the school that is at fault, not the style.

Answer 2

I think it is sad, although there are franchises that maintain quality control of students by having all exams filmed.  The US Krav Maga body maintains good quality control, although the CKM body is better.

The martial arts have become a business and unfortunately people expect a reward for paying for a service, even if that service is to teach them a martial art well.  Americans like rewards and belts impress them.

I learned Krav Maga as part of my (IDF) Army training, 90 days, 16 hours a day, no belts, we either passed or failed and failure was painful as was success.  We learned how to survive.  I still teach Krav Maga at community centers and schools.

I study Combat SAMBO with a former KGB instructor, he too understands survival, but he gives belts based upon achievement, most of the student population is Russian, so we all respect this amazing man's judgment, he will only ask you to test when he has seen enough of you to think you are ready, and he spends all class walking around, watching and helping.

I think that in the TKD and Karate ranks there is becoming a "Chain Store" mentality, guys who have a black belt makes them think they have an art to pass on, some of these places go out of business, some survive on those willing to believe they are working towards something..

In my area I am lucky, we have the oldest Judo club in the country, and they are very good, not motivated by profit but by love of the art, not testing fees.  They use a city owned building for free.  

I don't offer belts in  my teaching, I give level tests, for free as I pay no rent teaching where I do.  Our Combat SAMBO instructor is very good, having emigrated from Russian in 1989.  We both understand that the ultimate reward is the survivability of the student.

Our Tai Chi and Kung Fu people are very good, the quality of the Sifu's and the depths of their knowledge are very good, but I am in a major city although I have seen strip mall karate and TKD and it makes me sad.  The dilution of arts is a shame.

I know my students are getting what they need to survive a street/battlefield encounter, about customers of the chain stores skill, well, that is their business.  After all it is their consumer choice.

Answer 3

I don't go to McDonald's for gourmet food, and I wouldn't go to "Martial Arts R Us" for good martial arts training.

The proliferation of these money-making factories gives good schools a bad name and damages the reputation of excellent martial art styles and their faithful practitioners. I can't wait for when the MMA craze starts to level off and all the armchair and other wannabe cage fighters on here asking people to help them pick a MMA nickname finally realize that they're in the same boat as all the martial arts they have been bashing over the years as posers, useless, impractical, and bullshido. Maybe they will learn to understand that it is the school and the practitioner that make the art work, not it being any particular style, that traditional martial arts are what MMA is made of, that karate, kung fu, aikido, and everything else are indeed relevant and useful in real life because they were developed and used there by people with decades of training and experience fighting for their lives and more than a passing knowledge of fighting, not months of hobby training and a couple of playground or bar fights, that you can't really learn martial arts for free in a month off the internet, and that there is no "best" martial art.

Answer 4

We have a chain of 5 or more schools in the area. they go by the name Tiger Martial Arts. I don''t think they would know real self-defense if it bit them.  All of them are packed with students. It looks like at least 10% of the students that show up for class are wearing black belts. Nothing but a business.  They are big on birthday parties for 5 year olds to get more students. Makes me want to hurl every time I need to go to the grocery store next to them.  

Edit: I went there one time and invited a few of the so called masters (18 to 20 years old) to come visit my class as my guest. I figured they would quickly see that what they are doing is only a sport. They are polite but never show up.

Answer 5

Well you see it entirely depends on the schools.  Not all chain martial arts schools sell belts and some do.  A chain of schools does not necessarily imply that the quality is bad.  For example the Tracy's chain of schools are very good and would never sell a belt.  It takes many years to get a black belt from them.  More than most schools.  So it really depends.

Answer 6

Hi.

I think that there is nothing inherently wrong with a chain of martial arts schools.  Some of them really are just in it for the money and are McDojos / belt factories, however just because this is true in some cases doesn't mean it's a rule.

Standardizing a curriculum across dozens if not hundreds of schools so that thousands and not just hundreds may benefit from quality instruction I see as a good thing in many ways.  Chain businesses of any type are started because they offer a quality product or service and people recognize this by buying from these businesses.  As demand increases capacity to accommodate this demand must also, businesses do this by expanding their current location or opening a new one.  Then this process is repeated.  (Starbucks for example.)

Karate studios are like any other business; if they are popular and demand exceeds capacity then they will either expand or start a new studio close by to take up some of the business.  Or perhaps they simply want to turn a better profit and are unable to do so at their current location so they either move or start a new school.

So the problem isn't with the idea of chains of martial arts schools.  The problem is that most people are unable to recognize a sub standard martial arts school and will continue to train at a McDojo because they don't know any better.  If this happens the process of business expansion starts but for the wrong reasons.

On the other hand, a good chain of martial arts schools is able to standardize their curriculum and to some degree control the quality of instruction.  Many sub average schools are privately owned and run with little to no association with their system or an organization.  In other words no one is looking over their shoulder making sure their not ripping people off, or are simply poor at teaching martial arts.  

What you can do with a chain of martial arts schools that has a good reputation is know what you are getting is quality instruction.  If you move you may be able to find the same school on the other side of the country to continue your training rather than having to start over.  For example, I know that I can go to a Starbucks in any city in America and get the same quality product at all of them.

It really depends on the chain you are talking about, some are not so good even to the point of being little more than scams.  Others are great for martial arts instruction and can even be better than some non-chain schools.

That's my opinion anyway :)