general Curriculum and cost of FMA schools?

Federico

Federico

Joined
Sep 5, 2000
Messages
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Hi I was wondering about how other FMA schools generally function. I had enrolled for one month at a local school but due to costs and disatisfaction with the curriculum I didnt renew my membership (though I may if I can find a better paying job). Generally how much FMA is tought in most FMA places. The place I went to focused mainly on Muay thai kickboxing with a smattering of stick work here or there (in the one month I was there we had 3 classes where we got to do some stick work for about the first 15 min). Also is it common to do mainly partner work? Every class was tought so that you worked with a partner doing drills, there was no individual work. Also the cost was $60 a month for two classes a week (at this time that is too much for me). Is this common curriculum and cost?
 
i cant say if $60 is to much, but it sound pretty good. i charge $100 a month. i say if the school is a good one, price is not important. you can go to a tae kwon do club to pay $50 for the lesson, but every 2 months you pay testing which is another 35-45 dollars. then the black belt exam is 300! for price, your martial art is like job training or college not just a pastime like football or something. how much will you pay for college? or if your teacher will give you some knowledge that can save your family member life or your on life, how much is his knowledge worth to you?

i dont like partner exercise except holding a target for you or sparring, but most schools do it, so your place is probably okay. but if you want weapons and you only get 15 minutes three or four times in one month, maybe its time to find another place. maybe you can ask your teacher if he gives more weapon later on or something. in my class weapon is only 25-35% of one session until 3 months later. but this is because we swing hard always, never slow, and they get lots of blister. but face to face hitting you will probabaly be able to do more. before you leave, see if your teacher can offer you more weapon or explain when you will get it. but from what i seen most schools do a lot of partner skills.
 
One thing that threw me off was that we started with trapping and open hands work before the stick stuff. Is this normal? I had thought that trapping and open hands was more advanced and not good for beginners like myself. Is there any explanation of form as a norm, or is it more normal to start by telling students to do a series of moves and then later on teach how those moves are done? Thank you for the help.
 
Federico,

Sounds like you are training JKDConcepts with the Muay Thai etc...
Nothing wrong with that.... but maybe not what you are looking for.
You might be happier at a school which offers a strictly FMA class... or a school that only teaches the FMA.

Regarding the partner drills and the cost... seems reasonable. The Kali class I attend costs $10 ea class and the majority of the training is done with a partner.

Hope that helps.... more questions?
~Kev
 
Yes the focus was on JKD and Muay thai. Unfortunately they seem to be the only school in my area with any FMA albeit slight curriculum. Also unfortunately theyve cut down on their FMA classes down to one on a day I could never attend in order to focus more on Muay thai.
 
Have you looked into...

Instructor George Larson
Style(s) Kali
Teacher(s) Dan Inosanto, Rick Fay
Location 3307 17th Ave S.
Minneapolis, MN 55407
Telephone (601) 724-7280

========================
Instructor Greg Nelson
Style(s) Thai Boxing, Grappling & Groundfighting, Jun Fan/J.K.D. Concepts, Filipino Martial Arts,
Maphilindo Silat, Savate, Krabri-Krabong.
Teacher(s) Guro Dan Inosanto, Ajarn Chai Sirisute, Ajarn Samai
Massmarn, Sifu Larry Hartsell, Sifu Rick Faye, Etc.
Address 1916 57th Ave N. Brooklyn Center,Mn 55430
E-mail mmaa@bitstream .net
URL http://www.umn.edu/nlhome/m096/grah0065/mmaahome.htm
Telephone (612) 560-5696

========================
Instructor Michael O'Melia Style(s) Kali
Location Albertville Martial Arts Center
11106 61st City Albertville State/Province Minnesota Country United States
Postal Code Mail Address PO 213
Albertville, MN 55301
Telephone (612) 497-4911

=========================
Instructor Rick Faye
Style(s) Kali, Jun Fan, Muay Thai, Wing Chun, Maphilindo Silat, etc
Teacher(s) Dan Inosanto, Ajarn Chai Sirisute, Larry Hartsell,
Paul Vunak, Bob Larsen, Erik Paulson, John Machado
Location 328 East Hennepin Avenue Suite 200
Minneapolis, Mn 55414
E-mail diana@skypoint.com
URL www.mnkali.com
Telephone (612) 331-6440
Fax (612) 331-6438
 
The Minnesota Kali group is the place I went. I'll probably go back if I can get a better job, but well I was trying to guage the quality of the classes in comparisson to other FMA schools. I just felt very lost most of the time as Rick would tell us to do various combinations. Poor memory cant remember things that quickly.
 
It's always good to compare.
You should contact the other instructors and see if they are a better fit for you.

Good luck!
~Kev
 
Problem with most of the other instructors is that most are under Rick Faye and teach the same curriculum.
 
That is often true, but not always...
Personally I teach very different from what I was taught.
My curriculum is very different.
I have boiled down what I have learned from my JKDC and my Kali instructors and teach what I bill as Mixed Martial Arts.
Have you checked the other instructor classes out?

~Kev
 
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