What is the best way to evaluate an FMA instructor/club?

K

Krefcenz

Joined
May 24, 2002
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I'm lucky enough to have several experienced FMA instructors in the Washington DC area (though unfortunately for me Gatdula is no longer taking new members in DC). My question is how would you screen an instructor or new club for its value? What questions would ask? What would you look for if the objective is to develop yourself personally and become competent (I know profeciency takes a lot longer) at FMA? Are there any clear signs to stay away from a school or instructor? Thanks in advance for your input. It's appreciated.

Kref
 
Based on what? Do you want to be a fighter, forms specialist, for health and exercise, be socializing or sense of belonging, do lots of sparring, a network to collect weapons, cultural learning, ad nauseum? You have to ask yourself if what you want to get into is worth your time and money as well as enriching you. If you don't click with the instructor, school, or students then you might not want to consider it. If it is too expensive for you, you might not consider it. If the schedule or getting to class is inconvenient, you might not consider it. All kinds of criteria can affect your decision and only you can be the judge of what is right for you. Good luck.
 
But primarily, I am interested in protecting myself on the street. DC is not a low crime area. Nor is home invasion unheard of in the suburbs. So, let's say self-defense #1, personal growth & self-improvement a close # 2. Hopefully, these aren't mutually exclusive.

Kref.
 
Your goals are not mutually exclusive. You can find what you want but you will have to do your homework. Research differnet opinions on the Internet. There are some great resources and people to talk to. Find someone in your area that has been doing a variety of martial arts for a number of years and ask them what they think and like. Go visit as many schools/instructors as you can before you make a decision. Ask if you can try a class or two. Take a look at the students. What are they like? What is the attitude of the class? Is it in line with your goals? Also, remember that the reason that you start a martial art will not necessarily be the reason you stay. Your goals will change and you will develop new ideas as you develop yorself. Take your time in deciding, some of the best instructions will come from places that are least advertised or accessible. Some of my best instruction came from people that taught out of their houses/garages.

Unfortunately the best way to evaluate an instructor is from your own experiance. When starting out you don't have the experiance to draw upon to evaluate how good a school is. You just have to make your best guess with as much information as you can gather. Only after you've been doing this for a while will you have an appreciation of what you consider to be worthwhile. Even if (which I doubt) you end up at a school or with a teacher that doesn't suit you, the experiance will not be a total waste. Even from that, you will learn what you don't want and you will grow as a person and as a martial artist. The important thing is to start the process and keep on learning.

Good luck in your search, we are all on the same road.

S.
 
I know nothing. I am nothing. That is why I am constantly looking for training in order to grow. Complacency is death. ;)

Anyways, I agree with Sidewinder. Hook up with people and see if what they do is something you like. Pool some opines instead of having it fed to you by somebody who feels what is RIGHT FOR YOU.

You are the final judge of what is RIGHT FOR YOU. :D

Originally posted by Sidewinder
Yeah, what Shmoop said...But what the heck does he know anyway? ;)

S.
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really you will not be able to give a good judgement of a philippine martial arts school as a student. this is like if you ask a child to say if his parents or his school teacher is good. martial arts teachers are so different in there philosophys and teaching styles, and fighting styles, that you really cant say what is good, or what is bad. how arrogant can you be to think that you know more about the art than somebody who been doing this art for 20 or more years.

teachers have a reason why they teach their classes the way they do, and the student might not understand it. for example, one of my friends here in sacramento, does not make his students spar until 6 months or more. they are pretty good too, but his first 6 months they are doing physical fitness and training basic skills. a visitor to his place might say, well these people dont fight, because he doesnt see them doing it, or the visitor doesnt think waiting 6 months is a good idea. does this mean my friend cant teach you to defend yourself? who does the visitor, who is not a teacher of the art, or even an expert, who does he think he is to judge the teaching philosophy of a more knowledgeable man?

someone who comes to my place will not be impressed because we dont do sinawali, and all those drills like they do in the videos. i wont let a visitor see very much technique, maybe only some punching and kicking and our first 6 strikes. because of that, i dont get many prior FMA students, and it already came back to me that i dont know much "FMA".:)

my advice to you is see what kind of class do you like, and if you like the teachers. then you can sign up there. but about how can you tell if the style or the teaching is good, you cant.
 
I am really fortunate to have so many FMA instructors in the Washington DC area: Patrick Tray, Mike Krivka, Bruce Chiu just to name a few. Then David Wink out in Frederick Maryland and the instructor of Babakan, Baltimore Chapter (forget his name). There is also a Sayoc Kali training group in Woodbridge, VA just south of where I live. I may attend a number of classes and just see what feels right. Thanks again.

Kref
 
No matter what art you're thinking of, it is very difficult to assess the depth of skill of a teacher. It becomes exponentailly more difficult if you are not well versed in that art, or at least well versed in other arts because you do have not point of reference.

My best suggestion is to go and meet, talk to and (if possible) work out with any teacher in the area that you think is within a distance that you would find reasonable for regular travel. When you talk to the teacher you should be trying to determine whether the personalities and goals of the teacher (and students) fit your own. You can discuss their teaching credentials, but this is a tough area because teaching credentials are a pretty recent issue so some very good teachers don't have any (or any that would be well known to the average person) and some have fabricated credentials ... sometimes far beyond their skill level.

Here are a few of the questions that you should ask yourself:

1.) Do you think that you'd enjoy being around them on a regular basis?

2.) Do their goals fit your own?

3.) Do they take training seriously but still enjoy themselves?

4.) Are they respectful of each other and of other people in the MA community, i.e. do they bad mouth other teachers?

Basically, it's not much different from trying to decide whether or not you want to work for a particular company. Talk, look, listen, use common sense and if something just doesn't feel right, then leave.

You mentioned Dave Wink in Frederick. He's my teacher, so if you're interested in coming by, please just let me know.

Best of luck,

Dave Fulton
 
Originally posted by Dave Fulton
No matter what art you're thinking of, it is very difficult to assess the depth of skill of a teacher. It becomes exponentailly more difficult if you are not well versed in that art, or at least well versed in other arts because you do have not point of reference.

My best suggestion is to go and meet, talk to and (if possible) work out with any teacher in the area that you think is within a distance that you would find reasonable for regular travel. When you talk to the teacher you should be trying to determine whether the personalities and goals of the teacher (and students) fit your own. You can discuss their teaching credentials, but this is a tough area because teaching credentials are a pretty recent issue so some very good teachers don't have any (or any that would be well known to the average person) and some have fabricated credentials ... sometimes far beyond their skill level.

Here are a few of the questions that you should ask yourself:

1.) Do you think that you'd enjoy being around them on a regular basis?

2.) Do their goals fit your own?

3.) Do they take training seriously but still enjoy themselves?

4.) Are they respectful of each other and of other people in the MA community, i.e. do they bad mouth other teachers?

Basically, it's not much different from trying to decide whether or not you want to work for a particular company. Talk, look, listen, use common sense and if something just doesn't feel right, then leave.

You mentioned Dave Wink in Frederick. He's my teacher, so if you're interested in coming by, please just let me know.

Best of luck,

Dave Fulton
Click to expand...

What happened, btw, to the FCMAA website?
 
The FCMAA web site is down for now, but we hope to have it up again soon once it has been revamped.

Thanks,

Dave Fulton
 
Originally posted by Krefcenz
I am really fortunate to have so many FMA instructors in the Washington DC area: Then David Wink out in Frederick Maryland

Kref
Click to expand...

Hey, Kref,

You mentioned some good names, I'm sure. Could I ask if you know about what David Wink is doing now? What does he teach, is it Pekiti Tirsia? Alot of people speak highly of the Sayoc Knife system, though, I've personally never worked with them. Amok does offer some good training as well. Emphasis on the training. Good luck int the search. Try http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stickfighting/ , it also has an international training contact board, so you might be able to hook up with some good guys there. Good Luck.

Small bit of advice: Before you even find someone, you can start by swinging 1s and 2s with power. Just an opinion though.

Keep Swinging,

Chad W. Getz
Stickfighting Hawaii
 
Originally posted by stick77
Hey, Kref,

You mentioned some good names, I'm sure. Could I ask if you know about what David Wink is doing now? What does he teach, is it Pekiti Tirsia? Alot of people speak highly of the Sayoc Knife system, though, I've personally never worked with them. Amok does offer some good training as well. Emphasis on the training. Good luck int the search. Try http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stickfighting/ , it also has an international training contact board, so you might be able to hook up with some good guys there. Good Luck.

Small bit of advice: Before you even find someone, you can start by swinging 1s and 2s with power. Just an opinion though.

Keep Swinging,

Chad W. Getz
Stickfighting Hawaii
Click to expand...

Chad,

I'm sorry to say I'm not sure of the exact names. I know that he offers Filipino/Indonesian martial arts instruction that includes stick & empty hand training. They go full contact twice a week. Actually, Dave Fulton who responded on this thread is a student of Dr. Wink's and may be able to give you a better answer (in fact I'm sure he can). Frederick, Maryland is a haul for me from here in Northern VA. But for quality instruction sometimes, it's worth it. My problem is I have so many quality FMA instructors, I can't decide. What a problem, heh. In Lansing Michigan where I grew up, we had only TKD and Shorin Ryu when I was a kid. I feel spoiled now. To bad I'm so old (40s).

Kref
 
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