So, the end justifies the means? Interesting...
Haze
Blue Belt
I'm still wondering about GKR's "acrobatics of GoJu". I've trained for 20yrs on and off in this style and must have missed the class on acrobatics.
The goju I study is a close quarters fighting art. Some kicks, basicly low, strikes, joint locks, softer circular blocks and circular movement versus linear movement as in Shotokan. Acrobatics? One jumping front kick in the 12 traditional goju kata.
The goju I study is a close quarters fighting art. Some kicks, basicly low, strikes, joint locks, softer circular blocks and circular movement versus linear movement as in Shotokan. Acrobatics? One jumping front kick in the 12 traditional goju kata.
No the means aren't necessarily justified but if you are getting fit and enjoying it what harm is it doing? If you want martial arts steeped in tradition and they tell you they are so you keep training there then there are issues.
Cheers
Sam:asian:
The Go Kan ryu stuff makes pretensions to being traditional. It isn't. So, don't play games with "we are a mix of Shotokan and Goju." That is just nonsense. Sure, fine for folks who don't give a hoot about traditional karate, but some newbies who do not know how to make those judgements may be mislead by something pretending to be a traditional ryu that isn't. Plus, it is an insult to those who do practice traditional arts for wannabees to act like they are doing the same thing. Not to mention the fact that somebody mixing Shotokan and Goju is just a side-splitting, knee slapping hoot to anyone who knows the tiniest little thing about traditional karate. But, as someone said, "just as long as you are having fun...."
mrs karate
White Belt
hi
you forgot to mention if a person does not have the money to join they should borrow it from the childs money box or the neighbours or any passing stranger.
its terrible that a person cant watch before they desided after all you wouldnt buy a car with out looking first.
ou also forgot instructorsdont get paid but get a loyalty payment once a year which if you are lucky likje me you will be stiched up and loose your £300+ tho you have paid for babysitters and petrol etc.
you also forgot even if you dont get any members you still have to pay £35 a week for card purchase even tho you havnt used any cards.
what about when you knock on the door and the people start saying your script because gkr have been there every week for a year.
why keep doing it you ask..............because you are promised you will become a manager and earn lots of dosh..........wrong what about the others who are promised the same not enough areas for everyone
and never never never upset the top idiot or you will go nowhere backwards
take my advice if you feel you have to train with them beware you are just the way for them to make money..........train more often to get there quicker you will be more skint cos you still have to do the right amount of months
but remember NEVER NEVER NEVER work for them
you forgot to mention if a person does not have the money to join they should borrow it from the childs money box or the neighbours or any passing stranger.
its terrible that a person cant watch before they desided after all you wouldnt buy a car with out looking first.
ou also forgot instructorsdont get paid but get a loyalty payment once a year which if you are lucky likje me you will be stiched up and loose your £300+ tho you have paid for babysitters and petrol etc.
you also forgot even if you dont get any members you still have to pay £35 a week for card purchase even tho you havnt used any cards.
what about when you knock on the door and the people start saying your script because gkr have been there every week for a year.
why keep doing it you ask..............because you are promised you will become a manager and earn lots of dosh..........wrong what about the others who are promised the same not enough areas for everyone
and never never never upset the top idiot or you will go nowhere backwards
take my advice if you feel you have to train with them beware you are just the way for them to make money..........train more often to get there quicker you will be more skint cos you still have to do the right amount of months
but remember NEVER NEVER NEVER work for them
well i have not many good things to say about GKR, i have a small is club in the uk, and been doing martial arts for 21years, and my club has been running for about 8 or 9 years, gkr opened a class in the same venue i was using, its a long story but top and bottom the canversing guys were outside my class everyweek with flyers etc? eventualy i got booted out the venue as a rumor had been started (i found out it was the so called senior instructor) that my insurance documents were fake. that was that the people i hired the hall off told me to stop the class!. it only started when a group of people turned up at my class saying somone had knocked at there door from my club? well i let them train as i would any other new student, and thats when all the slagging off started, i ended up moving about 4 miles out from my old venue. no time for them at all.
kindred21101982
White Belt
I do Go Kan Ryu and its like all other martial arts you get you good practioners and your bad ones. I can say this that in South Australia the standard of GKR student and teacher is much much higher than anywhere else it is taught.
I have done many types of fighting
Tae Kwon Do - Jido Kwan
Hap Ki Do - Moo Hak Kwan
Thai Boxing - random thai boxing gym i found in the city
Boxing - some old legend that i met though a security guard at work he got sick and i have never heard from it again
MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) - Golden Knights <I currently do>
Karate - Go Kan Ryu <I currently do>
I have done many types of fighting
Tae Kwon Do - Jido Kwan
Hap Ki Do - Moo Hak Kwan
Thai Boxing - random thai boxing gym i found in the city
Boxing - some old legend that i met though a security guard at work he got sick and i have never heard from it again
MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) - Golden Knights <I currently do>
Karate - Go Kan Ryu <I currently do>
I'm in Australia by the way so this relates to East coast Australian GKR
Dont want to criticise too much, GKR seems like it varies in areas or from person to person, but it has become the butt of most inter school jokes in my city. No one i have spoken too about them who has had a door knocker come to their house can take them seriously. It didnt help their case when back in high school was talking to a friend who was looking to do some told me and about how he had been offered, like so many in my neighborhood 'gold life time membership' which i laughed at with him replying "what? they cant be serious! what are they a buisness?" when a guy in another class turns around and nearly threw a fit "shut up shut up you dont any about it" (and continued something like this) then huffered away. Then slowly over the years that followed i have heard about people who have left it or people who used to other sports/marital arts and joined it after. They were all very similar, stories of people being able to buy their way up the ranks (not without training but fast tracking), particuly in one case i heard where they asked a girl who had not been with them long, would not have been any longer then a year, offered a black belt (for a small fee) and in exchange she would become a teacher, they were apparently running low.
My schools only run in with GKR was at the "all styles" tournament one year, the judges were all GKR and so were about 80% of the competitors, then there was us and a few other stragler clubs. It seemed like a publicity event more then a chance to interact with other schools. Their forms looked VERY similar to Tang Soo forms, so before i knew much about them thought they might be an offshoot. Needless to say all my instructers were horrified at their technique and discipline. But the judges didnt seem to notice, giving them most awards in forms (we got a couple at most), even we thought that the 'dragon style folk were awsome" Of course we blitzed the free fighting, as they didnt seem to have the confidense.
But the point of that was not a person in our school who saw them perfom that day has much respect from them. They were a big school but i think they needed to look at spending more time on each student then on increasing their numbers and profit.
Dont want to criticise too much, GKR seems like it varies in areas or from person to person, but it has become the butt of most inter school jokes in my city. No one i have spoken too about them who has had a door knocker come to their house can take them seriously. It didnt help their case when back in high school was talking to a friend who was looking to do some told me and about how he had been offered, like so many in my neighborhood 'gold life time membership' which i laughed at with him replying "what? they cant be serious! what are they a buisness?" when a guy in another class turns around and nearly threw a fit "shut up shut up you dont any about it" (and continued something like this) then huffered away. Then slowly over the years that followed i have heard about people who have left it or people who used to other sports/marital arts and joined it after. They were all very similar, stories of people being able to buy their way up the ranks (not without training but fast tracking), particuly in one case i heard where they asked a girl who had not been with them long, would not have been any longer then a year, offered a black belt (for a small fee) and in exchange she would become a teacher, they were apparently running low.
My schools only run in with GKR was at the "all styles" tournament one year, the judges were all GKR and so were about 80% of the competitors, then there was us and a few other stragler clubs. It seemed like a publicity event more then a chance to interact with other schools. Their forms looked VERY similar to Tang Soo forms, so before i knew much about them thought they might be an offshoot. Needless to say all my instructers were horrified at their technique and discipline. But the judges didnt seem to notice, giving them most awards in forms (we got a couple at most), even we thought that the 'dragon style folk were awsome" Of course we blitzed the free fighting, as they didnt seem to have the confidense.
But the point of that was not a person in our school who saw them perfom that day has much respect from them. They were a big school but i think they needed to look at spending more time on each student then on increasing their numbers and profit.
i have also worked for GKR and willsay they are the biggest con merchants going. for the follwing reasons:
1) they teach a non contact style of karate, which is only because it is cheaper for them in terms of insurance. this is no use in a real world situation.
2) not one of the instructors in the 20 dojos in my area had reached shodan
3) my sensei who was a 3rd dan, had never took a kick to the kidneys, how he wears that belt defies beleif.
4) as an employee you are expected to knock at houses in the dark wearing black tracksuit bottoms, and ask for 25 pound in cash for a club they have never heard of. the average wage between my team was around 10 pound per week!!!!!!!!!!!
further to this, i left GKR and went to work for a local mma gym. when i started the manager of my new gym said he had met area manager of GKR at a petrol station, and the GKR manager had said to him that they only pay employees in training, (4.5 hours a week in total by the way) and they can make bits and bobs from selling memberships.
I have actually met Robert Sullivan, and he is a complete slimeball. The man is only interested in money, he spent the whole time talking about his new multi million house he has had built in australia, which to be fair sounds impressive, but has been built on money made from conning people into training in what i would call a kick fit class, as it isnt a martial art.
AVOID GKR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
1) they teach a non contact style of karate, which is only because it is cheaper for them in terms of insurance. this is no use in a real world situation.
2) not one of the instructors in the 20 dojos in my area had reached shodan
3) my sensei who was a 3rd dan, had never took a kick to the kidneys, how he wears that belt defies beleif.
4) as an employee you are expected to knock at houses in the dark wearing black tracksuit bottoms, and ask for 25 pound in cash for a club they have never heard of. the average wage between my team was around 10 pound per week!!!!!!!!!!!
further to this, i left GKR and went to work for a local mma gym. when i started the manager of my new gym said he had met area manager of GKR at a petrol station, and the GKR manager had said to him that they only pay employees in training, (4.5 hours a week in total by the way) and they can make bits and bobs from selling memberships.
I have actually met Robert Sullivan, and he is a complete slimeball. The man is only interested in money, he spent the whole time talking about his new multi million house he has had built in australia, which to be fair sounds impressive, but has been built on money made from conning people into training in what i would call a kick fit class, as it isnt a martial art.
AVOID GKR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Kyokushin_Tim
White Belt
I am ashamed to say that I am a former instructor of GKR. As you can read by my name though Ive moved on to Kyokushin.
GKR is an AMWAY based system designed to pull in as much money as they can as quickly as they can. Most of the negative stuff written about them in here is true. Let me reveal a few more things though....
1. Expansion is the key to wealth!
Each region has a regional manager (RM). One of the first things they are told about is how expansion will help them get rich. GKR plans for 1000 students in each region (at least) and has plans to expand to have 1000 regions worldwide. With each lesson the student/customer pays a fee (roughly $9 Australian) per lesson. The RM gets about 40% of the total profits that their region makes each week from what Ive been told. (Sullivan gets his cut, then the senior instructors and Zone directors, then the RM gets their percentage.)
So this is what they think their system deserves each week if they achieve their goal.
$9000 x 1000 = $9m. thats the plan....scary and selfish.
In late 2008 Robert Sullivan (Founder and chairman however I wont refer to him by his self given title of Kancho, grading himself from Nidan to Godan and calling himself a Shihan before being graded further by his peers is quite enough ego for one person.) Had an accident while four-wheel-driving on his very large multi million dollar property and injured his back. So sore and injured he couldn't drive; the poor dear decided to fly his damn helicopter and land it in the park next to the venue of a GKR blackbelt grading!! How do I know this you ask? I saw it first hand as I was there. I knew several people that were grading and decided to go watch and provide moral support. To add the icing on my cake of disgust, he wore a rolex watch (I got close after the grading and saw it for myself) while wearing his Gi during the grading. Big No No in traditional karate.
2. A style based on simplicity is EXTREMELY effective!
This is one of their favorite sayings...lets expand on this....
The style does not have many techniques in its basics (they generally dont know the correct term for basics in Japanese is kihon because they are too busy on the business side of things). This is because if people can learn it quick they can start teaching quick. People who have had not even a years worth of training ie 6th kyu (green belt in their system) or even lower can run a class. In return they get free training...on the condition that they help with running gradings and tournaments and such as well.
Here is how simple it is. A lot of the movements in their higher grade katas have techniques not used in their kihon. This is a rough transcription when I was still training with them. My Sandan (3rd Dan) RM was running the class. We were doing a Kata called Empi and about the 4th move in you perform a hooking punch at body level in Kiba dachi. (I now know this is called Kagi/kage tsuki through Kyokushin)
Me: "Sensei, what is this technique called?" (As I preformed the technique)
3rd Dan RM: "pffft...I dunno.....body rip? What the point, does it really matter?"
Ah simplicity.
3. GKR is awesome because they win at NAS.
First of all, NAS (National All Styles) is a non-contact tournament circus open to all styles.
-Most of the judges in the Australian circuit are GKR.
-Most of the competitors are GKR
-Shihan Stacy Karetsian (GKR)is the Vice President of the WASO (World All Styles Orginisation - the step up worldwide version of NAS)
-Only selected specially trained GKR students with tournament specific training are allowed to enter NAS. (The state teams) This is to prevent them from having regular students entering causing embarrassment when they enter their dismal performances under the "quality" tuition from their 7th kyu instructors.
When the GKR decided (whether out of curiosity or arrogance) to put their finest "fighters" in full contact tournaments (Kyokushin and several mixed style contact tournaments ) and they got nasty surprises. Broken jaws, fractures around the eye sockets and several trips to hospitals soon taught them better. ( I know who they are but I wont name them in case they are reading this and feel offended by what Im saying....but they know who they are...) In late 2008 selected members of to to Japan to train and compete. 3 times GKR world champion Sensei Anthony Ryan was KO'd and sent to hospital by a Japanese fighter.
GKR does not allow cross training. They don't like its practitioners training in other arts in case they leave. However, several of the tournament team members especially they higher ranked and more influencing members now have permission to train with other styles to give them and edge in these kinds of things. Subsequently they have improved and do well in Koshiki and other tournaments.
Now I know I have said many things here that will probably offend GKR members, however that is not my intent. What I want to make very clear is this. I do not have a problem with the people who train in GKR. Most of its practitioners are polite respectable people who generally know most of the negative things about their system, however still train because they enjoy the injury free training and the social interaction with other members. There are members of my immediate family who train in GKR (however they dont like the money spins and political pressure they face from the system). However, I have a major problem with the con-man style system that values money over the development of its loyal students and taking advantage of the uneducated, unaware people who are interested in learning a traditional martial art!! My disgust is aimed at the system and those who promote that system out of their own arrogance and greed!!
There is more A LOT MORE. But most of it has been covered in this forum already...None of what I have said here is a lie. It is all from my own experience - not horror stories told to me by some ex-member. I am an ex member and very glad that I am.
Do not hate the people of GKR. They are only enjoying a hobby while trying to stay fit, even if they they know (and they do) that there are many other ways to do so. The system and its owners/promoters have a ot of things to answer for. Any questions about they myths of GKR I can probably answer as a spent a few years there and learned how it operated.
Enjoy many years of hard and disciplined training to those who value the meanings of traditional arts.
OSU!!
GKR is an AMWAY based system designed to pull in as much money as they can as quickly as they can. Most of the negative stuff written about them in here is true. Let me reveal a few more things though....
1. Expansion is the key to wealth!
Each region has a regional manager (RM). One of the first things they are told about is how expansion will help them get rich. GKR plans for 1000 students in each region (at least) and has plans to expand to have 1000 regions worldwide. With each lesson the student/customer pays a fee (roughly $9 Australian) per lesson. The RM gets about 40% of the total profits that their region makes each week from what Ive been told. (Sullivan gets his cut, then the senior instructors and Zone directors, then the RM gets their percentage.)
So this is what they think their system deserves each week if they achieve their goal.
$9000 x 1000 = $9m. thats the plan....scary and selfish.
In late 2008 Robert Sullivan (Founder and chairman however I wont refer to him by his self given title of Kancho, grading himself from Nidan to Godan and calling himself a Shihan before being graded further by his peers is quite enough ego for one person.) Had an accident while four-wheel-driving on his very large multi million dollar property and injured his back. So sore and injured he couldn't drive; the poor dear decided to fly his damn helicopter and land it in the park next to the venue of a GKR blackbelt grading!! How do I know this you ask? I saw it first hand as I was there. I knew several people that were grading and decided to go watch and provide moral support. To add the icing on my cake of disgust, he wore a rolex watch (I got close after the grading and saw it for myself) while wearing his Gi during the grading. Big No No in traditional karate.
2. A style based on simplicity is EXTREMELY effective!
This is one of their favorite sayings...lets expand on this....
The style does not have many techniques in its basics (they generally dont know the correct term for basics in Japanese is kihon because they are too busy on the business side of things). This is because if people can learn it quick they can start teaching quick. People who have had not even a years worth of training ie 6th kyu (green belt in their system) or even lower can run a class. In return they get free training...on the condition that they help with running gradings and tournaments and such as well.
Here is how simple it is. A lot of the movements in their higher grade katas have techniques not used in their kihon. This is a rough transcription when I was still training with them. My Sandan (3rd Dan) RM was running the class. We were doing a Kata called Empi and about the 4th move in you perform a hooking punch at body level in Kiba dachi. (I now know this is called Kagi/kage tsuki through Kyokushin)
Me: "Sensei, what is this technique called?" (As I preformed the technique)
3rd Dan RM: "pffft...I dunno.....body rip? What the point, does it really matter?"
Ah simplicity.
3. GKR is awesome because they win at NAS.
First of all, NAS (National All Styles) is a non-contact tournament circus open to all styles.
-Most of the judges in the Australian circuit are GKR.
-Most of the competitors are GKR
-Shihan Stacy Karetsian (GKR)is the Vice President of the WASO (World All Styles Orginisation - the step up worldwide version of NAS)
-Only selected specially trained GKR students with tournament specific training are allowed to enter NAS. (The state teams) This is to prevent them from having regular students entering causing embarrassment when they enter their dismal performances under the "quality" tuition from their 7th kyu instructors.
When the GKR decided (whether out of curiosity or arrogance) to put their finest "fighters" in full contact tournaments (Kyokushin and several mixed style contact tournaments ) and they got nasty surprises. Broken jaws, fractures around the eye sockets and several trips to hospitals soon taught them better. ( I know who they are but I wont name them in case they are reading this and feel offended by what Im saying....but they know who they are...) In late 2008 selected members of to to Japan to train and compete. 3 times GKR world champion Sensei Anthony Ryan was KO'd and sent to hospital by a Japanese fighter.
GKR does not allow cross training. They don't like its practitioners training in other arts in case they leave. However, several of the tournament team members especially they higher ranked and more influencing members now have permission to train with other styles to give them and edge in these kinds of things. Subsequently they have improved and do well in Koshiki and other tournaments.
Now I know I have said many things here that will probably offend GKR members, however that is not my intent. What I want to make very clear is this. I do not have a problem with the people who train in GKR. Most of its practitioners are polite respectable people who generally know most of the negative things about their system, however still train because they enjoy the injury free training and the social interaction with other members. There are members of my immediate family who train in GKR (however they dont like the money spins and political pressure they face from the system). However, I have a major problem with the con-man style system that values money over the development of its loyal students and taking advantage of the uneducated, unaware people who are interested in learning a traditional martial art!! My disgust is aimed at the system and those who promote that system out of their own arrogance and greed!!
There is more A LOT MORE. But most of it has been covered in this forum already...None of what I have said here is a lie. It is all from my own experience - not horror stories told to me by some ex-member. I am an ex member and very glad that I am.
Do not hate the people of GKR. They are only enjoying a hobby while trying to stay fit, even if they they know (and they do) that there are many other ways to do so. The system and its owners/promoters have a ot of things to answer for. Any questions about they myths of GKR I can probably answer as a spent a few years there and learned how it operated.
Enjoy many years of hard and disciplined training to those who value the meanings of traditional arts.
OSU!!
Cirdan
Senior Master
Pricelessly funny!
dancingalone
Grandmaster
I can't imagine training at a school where they solicited students by knocking on doors. Just seems a little too nontraditional to me.
I've had the same experience myself when I was accosted whilst gardening - even after finding out she was selling for GKR, I was still polite, if bemused by door-to-door sales tactics for a martial art.
But on persistence past the third refusal, I got a little blunter. I won my 'freedom' by explaining that I was graded both in kung fu and MJER iaido, had experience in the arts reaching back to my 'teens and was not interested in an art that carried such a reputation. They left me alone after that.
-------------------
However, even given that personal experience, as a Moderator I have to remind everyone reading this thread that we do not condone or permit 'style bashing' here at MartialTalk. There is plenty of anecdotal 'evidence' out in WebLand about GKR's nature - we don't need to add to it.
Anyone who is interested in it will study it - it's not up to 'us' to make their decisions for them.
But on persistence past the third refusal, I got a little blunter. I won my 'freedom' by explaining that I was graded both in kung fu and MJER iaido, had experience in the arts reaching back to my 'teens and was not interested in an art that carried such a reputation. They left me alone after that.
-------------------
However, even given that personal experience, as a Moderator I have to remind everyone reading this thread that we do not condone or permit 'style bashing' here at MartialTalk. There is plenty of anecdotal 'evidence' out in WebLand about GKR's nature - we don't need to add to it.
Anyone who is interested in it will study it - it's not up to 'us' to make their decisions for them.
Sorry for dragging up an old thread here guys, but I felt I should briefly mention GKR in New Zealand.
A few years back I trained in genuine siorinji kempo for a few years, achieving 3rd kyu brown belt. (Our Kancho had moved to Kyoto city during ww2 and adopted the Japanese names for things). I also hold a degree in sport sciences.
I recently started training again , now in GKR as the dojo is walking distance from my house. Keep in mind I've had a 15 year beak from any MA.
One of the most picked on issues in GKR by other styles is the use of sub- Shodan instructors wearing a black and white belt. One of the instructors I regularly train with is (or was last time I saw her wearing her grade belt) actually 6th Kyu green belt. She has also done the Sensei training program, along with weekly instructor classes.
A few weeks back she corrected a few faults I was making, and I was pleasantly surprised that she REALLY knew her stuff. These weren't glaring in-your-face type mistakes either, but really subtle little things. I didn't even realise I was making them until she pointed them out in the mirror.
That confirmed for me that, at least in my local Dojo, the standards are decently high, and the instructors and students can be proud to train there.
I also recently attended a GKR tournament, just as a parent and spectator this time, and liked what I saw. The standards seemed pretty close to the WKF tournies I used to compete in too, although the scoring system for the latter has changed since then.
Can't wait to compete in the next one, with age and grade divisions, I might have a chance!
Arigato.
A few years back I trained in genuine siorinji kempo for a few years, achieving 3rd kyu brown belt. (Our Kancho had moved to Kyoto city during ww2 and adopted the Japanese names for things). I also hold a degree in sport sciences.
I recently started training again , now in GKR as the dojo is walking distance from my house. Keep in mind I've had a 15 year beak from any MA.
One of the most picked on issues in GKR by other styles is the use of sub- Shodan instructors wearing a black and white belt. One of the instructors I regularly train with is (or was last time I saw her wearing her grade belt) actually 6th Kyu green belt. She has also done the Sensei training program, along with weekly instructor classes.
A few weeks back she corrected a few faults I was making, and I was pleasantly surprised that she REALLY knew her stuff. These weren't glaring in-your-face type mistakes either, but really subtle little things. I didn't even realise I was making them until she pointed them out in the mirror.
That confirmed for me that, at least in my local Dojo, the standards are decently high, and the instructors and students can be proud to train there.
I also recently attended a GKR tournament, just as a parent and spectator this time, and liked what I saw. The standards seemed pretty close to the WKF tournies I used to compete in too, although the scoring system for the latter has changed since then.
Can't wait to compete in the next one, with age and grade divisions, I might have a chance!
Arigato.
Years ago, with pressures of work, I quit my Goju Kai training to concentrate on family and business. I always thought I would go back but weeks turned into months and months turned into years. Then came that knock on the door from this clean cut young guy and it immediately reignited my interest. So I signed up.
The young guy was running the classes and in fairness they weren't too bad as far as basic classes go, except or the bits that were obviously very wrong. Now this young guy was running round with his black belt doing his teaching and me in my new white belt was asking him about various things to which he had no answers. He delighted in telling everyone that I used to be a black belt. (GKR is all about the money so outside ranks have no place even though Robert Sullivan Han come from Goju Kai, but I digress.)
I remember one night sparing with this woman (a greenbelt from memory) and I touched her gi with a strike, not in an inappropriate spot or anything like that. Well she went ballistic. No one had told me that you couldn't make contact! Well I continued on and young mate turned up one night, all excited. He had just been awarded his black belt. Hang about, didn't I say that he was a young black belt when I started? Seems that it looks better if the guy teaching is wearing a black belt even if he hasn't earned it. He was actually a junior brown belt.
I trained long enough to make two gradings then I went in a tournament. First round my opponent danced about out of reach, kiaied and was awarded a point. When I asked why, I hadn't attempted to block. Mmm! I couldn't have blocked even had I wanted to because he was way out of range. Never mind, I moved in and tapped him lightly on the ribs. I was immediately warned that doing that again would be immediate disqualification and he was given another point. I can't remember how I lost the last point but you get the idea.
A few days later I came across some of the guys I used to train with. I went over to them, had my rank restored and trained happily for a number of years until politics ruined a good relationship.
There are obviously some good people in GKR but I found the quality of the teaching and knowledge and understanding lacking. In hindsight there is no way I would have joined but you do what you thing is right at the time, and in this case it did get me back into training.
:asian:
The young guy was running the classes and in fairness they weren't too bad as far as basic classes go, except or the bits that were obviously very wrong. Now this young guy was running round with his black belt doing his teaching and me in my new white belt was asking him about various things to which he had no answers. He delighted in telling everyone that I used to be a black belt. (GKR is all about the money so outside ranks have no place even though Robert Sullivan Han come from Goju Kai, but I digress.)
I remember one night sparing with this woman (a greenbelt from memory) and I touched her gi with a strike, not in an inappropriate spot or anything like that. Well she went ballistic. No one had told me that you couldn't make contact! Well I continued on and young mate turned up one night, all excited. He had just been awarded his black belt. Hang about, didn't I say that he was a young black belt when I started? Seems that it looks better if the guy teaching is wearing a black belt even if he hasn't earned it. He was actually a junior brown belt.
I trained long enough to make two gradings then I went in a tournament. First round my opponent danced about out of reach, kiaied and was awarded a point. When I asked why, I hadn't attempted to block. Mmm! I couldn't have blocked even had I wanted to because he was way out of range. Never mind, I moved in and tapped him lightly on the ribs. I was immediately warned that doing that again would be immediate disqualification and he was given another point. I can't remember how I lost the last point but you get the idea.
A few days later I came across some of the guys I used to train with. I went over to them, had my rank restored and trained happily for a number of years until politics ruined a good relationship.
There are obviously some good people in GKR but I found the quality of the teaching and knowledge and understanding lacking. In hindsight there is no way I would have joined but you do what you thing is right at the time, and in this case it did get me back into training.
:asian:
Here is a site where they are defending claims about them, this particular page tries to defend poorly qualified instructors.
http://www.gkrkaratescam.com/instructors.html
http://www.gkrkaratescam.com/instructors.html
