Good Karate School?

Question

Hey, I'm 15, male, I want to learn karate for self-defense. Can someone check out the site below for a karate school, and tell me if you think it is good.

http://www.okinawakenpokarate.com/

If not, how can I decide whether a karate school is good or not?

Answer 1

Hard to tell from a website, but at least they are saying the right things.

Answer 2

It is hard to tell by looking at a web site if a school is any good.  One thing I noticed is that they do some breaking and also while they stress a lot of self-defense and teach knife and gun techniques they teach them early on for gold/yellow belt promotion as well as in their 5 week Woman's Self-Defense program.  The issue that comes to mind with respect to that is most white belts don't develop basic techniques and skills to the level to do such things with the precision, speed, and power necessary against a weapon or for breaking but rather after some time in the study of their art.  So this gives me some concern as to just how well they learn and develop their skills before moving on to the next promotion or next set of requirements for it.  The price does not seem overly expensive and you have the chance for one-on-one as well as group classes and there is a requirement for attending one of the group sparring sessions per month for all adults which is good.  I would continue shopping around and see what else is out there and measure those others against this one before making a final decision.

Answer 3

Just a quick look and I like what I see there.  Best way to decide if it is the right place is to go watch a few classes.  What you want to watch is the instructor. Look at what he is doing. Does he execute his techniques with power, yet looks like he is using hardly any effort to do them?  For someone new to the martial arts everyone that is better than you looks good.  After 41 years(41 years today), it is a little easier to tell the good form the not so good.

If you watch the instructor for a while you should be able to get a feeling as to if he is really good or just another of the many that think that they have it.