Does this place seem legit?

[rutherford]

Your instructor has been teaching for 9 years, but is relatively low ranked in 3 arts and one questionable art. Either he's hopscotching around, or he hasn't continued his own training as he teaches.

This is important.

Who is he training with now. Anybody?

 

[evenflow1121]

I am not a big fan of this multiple martial art style schools, I think if an instructor has reached a descent rank in two martial arts it is quite impressive, but 4 sounds more to me like a bb gatherer. The fact that an instructor has a bb in multiple styles, or a humble nidan like myself, is not so much impressive as it is to find an instructor in one art who has dedicated his life to it. And aside from whether it may be a mcdojo or not, to which I will not comment on because I simply do not know and cant tell from a website, I will telll you that I do not like schools that teach more than two styles by the same instructor. Its hard enough to dedicate your life to just one.

 

[HorseShido]

On 12-17-2008, the Seattle Post Intelligencer published an article at the following link: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/392668_bogushero18.html

The article includes the following:

"A Sumner man who falsely claimed to be a Vietnam-era war hero pleaded guilty Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Seattle to making false claims of military service, awards and decorations.

Steve Bennest, 57, in making an application to the Veterans Affairs' Seattle office in support of a compensation claim for alleged post-traumatic stress disorder, falsely asserted that he had been awarded a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star. Bennest served in the Army between 1969 and 1972, but did not earn either of the medals, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Bennest faces a maximum penalty of one year in prison and a $100,000 fine."

Unfortunately for Steve, he's his own worst enemy, but his personal problems don't take away from the fact that he is very talented with Martial Arts. Still, I wouldn't want my child in Steve's school.

 

[zeeberex]

"Our sensei has been teaching martial arts for over 9 years and is a Nidan (2nd degree black belt) in Shotokan Karate and Koga Ryu Ninjutsu,"

Stay away.

yep, thats a pretty red flag

 

[zeeberex]

That was about my opinion, too.

Your instructor has been teaching for 9 years, but is relatively low ranked in 3 arts and one questionable art. Either he's hopscotching around, or he hasn't continued his own training as he teaches. Black belt ranking alone isn't necessarily an indication of teaching credentials; in many traditional Japanese arts, a teaching license is separate from a black belt. But I simply have to wonder based on his credentials as they're stated.

I'm not suggesting he's not a good teacher, or doesn't work well with kids, or even that he's not the victim of a fraudulent teacher on the Koga ninjutsu. But he's not winning me over, either...

And the idea of simultaneously conducting two different classes is a little unrealistic to me, as well...

I'd be one of the last to suggest that simply because an art isn't well known, or an instructor or lineage isn't well known, that there's something wrong. My own style is little-known, and my instructor is almost unknown today outside of our own style. But it can be verified (with hunting and with the understanding that there's some controversy), there's an entire association with a verifiable history, and he's never presented it as something other than what it is. Nor am I trying to say that only high-ranks matter; I'm "only" a second-level myself despite training for more than 20 years. I simply haven't chosen to take part in the testing process for something like 7 or 8 years, for my own reasons. People it's pertinent to know why -- and I still maintain my membership in the association and actively participate in it's training activities. Can you say the same about your instructor?

There's simply a lot of cautionary notes based on what little we know from you and that website.

9 years is not long enough to run your own school, in three styles in that time, laughable.

 

[zeeberex]

so, he was instructed and certified by a 10th degree blackbelt named something bennest. steven bennest possibly, not sure.

any info on him?

EDIT: oh laawwwdd...

Did some digging on soke Steve Bennest...

everyone says he is a very good martial artist, a very good teacher, but a horrible horrible person.

he turned his school/association into somehing cult like, where if you disagree with him, you get publicly punished.

apperently, my current sensai is one of those people.

he disagreed with the way bennest was running things, he did not like the cult-ishness of the organizitaion, and he felt that steeve was a horrible person in general, so he and one other black belt left the school. Bennest got pissy and posted terrible things about them on his site (he has taken those things down now), etc etc.

he went far enough to say that my sensai, and all who learn from him are traitors, and if it were feudal japan, we would all be executed.

drama FTL.

(but i guess that makes me an executable subordinate of a moral but executable sensai)

my current sensai also has sifted through the BS techniques that bennest tought, and apperntly replaced them with things that are more common sense.

example: when defending against a knife, bennest teaches you to cram your hand down on the knife, your muscles will spasam, rendering the attackers hand useless.

my sensai (did this today): first things first: when being attacked with a knife, run away or comply. if you absolutly have to defend, heres what you do: (none of the things involve impaling yourself ><)

Bennest is karate or koga?

 

[jks9199]

Just an observation...

You're responding to a thread that had been dormant for over a year. (Almost 2!)

 

[zeeberex]

Just an observation...

You're responding to a thread that had been dormant for over a year. (Almost 2!)

No I did not, I responded to a post that responded to an old thread.

 

[Tez3]

We should have a section for 'resurrected' threads lol! We've had a few recently, though must admit this one had been ressurrected with new information.