Most people usually just go to the club that is closest to their home or work, and don't give anything else much consideration.
Choosing a martial arts class should be approached with some thought. Some questions and facts you might consider:
- Is it the kind of martial art you want? Does the instructor inspire you? Take a couple of trial classes to find out.
- Can you get there on time?
- Can you commit to the schedule to make a serious go of it?
- It's a long term commitment. For children, it's not something you can do for a school term or two and then move on. You've barely started. It's like learning the half the alphabet, but not actually learning to read any words, or for that matter write them.
Here are a few more things you should take into consideration when making your choice.
- Do you want to be part of a black belt factory the gives out black belts for profit? There are quite a few in Sydney's Inner West and they give black belts to 9 year olds after a couple of years of training. We're not one of those.
- We don't give black belts to anyone who is under the age of 14. A kyokushin black belt requires a lot of personal commitment in time and sweat, and a mental maturity that isn't attained in most people under that age.
- As an adult It takes at least 4-5 years to get a black belt, usually longer, and each dan grade takes several years of additional training after that. Our instructors have been training for many years to get where they are to be able to teach you.
- If you start as a child, it can take 10 years or more because they train fewer hours weekly.
- We are part of a large international organisation with over 55 member countries. See our parent website for more information about that.
- We hold tournaments on a regular basis to practice what we learn. We also participate in external tournaments, and international events. You'd be expected to participate in them.
- We hold seminars and camps for group training and bring in special guest instructors, some from overseas, some locally.
There are many more questions you might have, some of which may be answered in the FAQ page. If they're not answered there, please feel free to contact us using any of the means available.
Schedule
We have classes for adults twice weekly (Mon and Thu), and children can train on three different days (Mon, Tue, Thu) and once they've attained a certain grade - usually after about a year, there is also a Friday option.
See the Timetable page for full information.