I don't know if anyone knows much about martial arts, but maybe someone can help me out.

I go to Castle Black Belt Academy in Sheffield. It seems VERY EXPENSIVE, and there seems to be FAR MORE belts to go through than anywhere else.
I've looked around on the internet at various clubs and centres and almost everywhere offers grading for about £5-£10 MAX including the belt.

Castle Black Belt Academy charges £20 per grading!! and the belt system is:

White
White & Red
Red
White & Yellow
Yellow
White & Orange
Orange
Green
Blue
Purple
Brown
White & Black
Black

and that lot will cost you a meer £4600!!! over 3 and a half years
that's for 2 hours per week

does anyone else think it seems odd???

Cheers
Ninja25

You only have to run a few searches on here to see that their contracts have been under discussion before!! :o

I have found it easier to escape from a double glazing salesman than I have these guys.

.

how some one can become a black belt in three n a half years by going once a week is beyond me!

Seems a bit unfair to knock this business to me.

The fact that its got many members must prove its a good club.

No one is forced to sign up.

Loads of threads on this already:rolleyes:

I don't know if anyone knows much about martial arts, but maybe someone can help me out.

I go to Castle Black Belt Academy in Sheffield. It seems VERY EXPENSIVE, and there seems to be FAR MORE belts to go through than anywhere else.
I've looked around on the internet at various clubs and centres and almost everywhere offers grading for about £5-£10 MAX including the belt.

Castle Black Belt Academy charges £20 per grading!! and the belt system is:

White
White & Red
Red
White & Yellow
Yellow
White & Orange
Orange
Green
Blue
Purple
Brown
White & Black
Black

and that lot will cost you a meer £4600!!! over 3 and a half years
that's for 2 hours per week

does anyone else think it seems odd???

Cheers
Ninja25

My kids go to G K R karate international and there grading is £20 also.Plus they have to pay an extra £3 i think for the belt.Not too sure on the belt system though

The place is a BUSINESS , figure it out . There are few and far between decent martial arts clubs around at the moment . However there is a club in Dronfield called Hunter Martial Arts , one of a few left that actually put the martial arts before ripping people off.

My kids go to G K R karate international and there grading is £20 also.Plus they have to pay an extra £3 i think for the belt.Not too sure on the belt system though

The belt system should be thesame as any other place . You have to EARN the belt not buy it . There are hundreds of so called black belts walking the streets at the moment that can't even throw a decent punch .

I used to go to a Wado-Ryu karate place on London road quite a few years back now. It was such a rip off! I can't remember how much the lessons cost but each grading was 25 quid and they made you buy 60 quids worth of protective sparring gear that I used twice in the year that I was there!

The belt system should be thesame as any other place . You have to EARN the belt not buy it . There are hundreds of so called black belts walking the streets at the moment that can't even throw a decent punch .

I know they have to earn the belt first, but what i was saying was, when they have done there grading, to go onto the next belt, they also have to pay for that belt aswell as paying for the grading.

I don't know if anyone knows much about martial arts, but maybe someone can help me out.

I go to Castle Black Belt Academy in Sheffield. It seems VERY EXPENSIVE, and there seems to be FAR MORE belts to go through than anywhere else.
I've looked around on the internet at various clubs and centres and almost everywhere offers grading for about £5-£10 MAX including the belt.

Castle Black Belt Academy charges £20 per grading!! and the belt system is:

White
White & Red
Red
White & Yellow
Yellow
White & Orange
Orange
Green
Blue
Purple
Brown
White & Black
Black

and that lot will cost you a meer £4600!!! over 3 and a half years
that's for 2 hours per week

does anyone else think it seems odd???

Cheers
Ninja25

As said earlier castle bba have beend mentioed once or twice before. I'll summarise the threads on castle bba for you… They are a rubbish, money grabbing business, instill faulse confidence in people and teach, on the whole, teach poor standards of martial arts. Pretty much the same as GKR really, although not as wide spread thankfully.

The place is a BUSINESS , figure it out . There are few and far between decent martial arts clubs around at the moment . However there is a club in Dronfield called Hunter Martial Arts , one of a few left that actually put the martial arts before ripping people off.

have you got any contact info, what styles do they teach?

if you google hunter martial arts , it should be near the top , they're in Dronfield

As said earlier castle bba have beend mentioed once or twice before. I'll summarise the threads on castle bba for you… They are a rubbish, money grabbing business, instill faulse confidence in people and teach, on the whole, teach poor standards of martial arts. Pretty much the same as GKR really, although not as wide spread thankfully.




Teach poor standards? the main instructor is a black belt in 3 different martial arts, also one of their instructors has competed successfully MMA fights. How many other martial artists in Sheffield have done that?


Money grabbing business? unfortunatly the days of an instructor simply passing on his knowledge to the local community have gone, probably thanks to the compensation culture.
*With all the insurances
*courses to go on and pass before you buy the insurances
the list can go on, so sadly unless a club is in it to make money, it simply wont survive. Sadly the glory (and seemingly) innocent days of the 1980's are long gone.

After all, if you can make so much money by being rubbish, do the same you self, think about it. £300 per annum * muliply by 250 members ===== £75k per annum..... all for being rubbish.

SO instead of knocking Black belt academy, get from behind your computers and set up a club yourself.

BTW I have no connection to this club, just think it gets bashed unfairly

Nobody is doubting Robs ability , more the way he runs his BUSINESS .You seem to know all the details to say you have no connection . There are still people that run small clubs part time that aren't a BUSINESS , well not to make a living out of .

They also visited a group I run, free of charge fairly, but then spent the last five minutes hassling parents of the girls for contact details so they could phone them to see if they would like to go regularly - they didn't ask, they were really pushy and I, as the leader, felt uncomfortable with this. I also got a phone call a couple of days after from them asking if we'd like another session, despite I'd told them it was only a one off session. I've no problem with them giving leaflets to my group to take home and browse at their leisure, but I really felt they were hassled to give details - which is unfair.

Train at wicker camp muay thai boxing club.You learn real techniques it is not a rip off and you are taught by the best instructors in the city....in the country I think. Mick Mullaney has trained many champions and has had a great fighting career himelf. Wicker camp is probably the most successful muay thai club in this country. The sport definitely comes before profit here. Black beltsmean nothing!

Teach poor standards? the main instructor is a black belt in 3 different martial arts, also one of their instructors has competed successfully MMA fights. How many other martial artists in Sheffield have done that?


Money grabbing business? unfortunatly the days of an instructor simply passing on his knowledge to the local community have gone, probably thanks to the compensation culture.
*With all the insurances
*courses to go on and pass before you buy the insurances
the list can go on, so sadly unless a club is in it to make money, it simply wont survive. Sadly the glory (and seemingly) innocent days of the 1980's are long gone.

After all, if you can make so much money by being rubbish, do the same you self, think about it. £300 per annum * muliply by 250 members ===== £75k per annum..... all for being rubbish.

SO instead of knocking Black belt academy, get from behind your computers and set up a club yourself.

BTW I have no connection to this club, just think it gets bashed unfairly

Very touchy, quite strange considering you have nothing to do with them.. and said in another thread you have nothing to do with martial arts…

Money grabbing business yes. Hard sales, long tied in contracts, high fees..

Around 30 – 40 people crammed onto the mated area “kickboxing” to aerobics music. Have you seen the how much the instructor walks round to see how people are getting on? Not at all, stands at the front ignoring people with very poor standards at the back just waiting for their next quarterly (or whatever) grading were they can bie their next belt.

Me personally, I’m no were near good enough to teach, but like many martial artists around, you may not consider yourself good enough to teach, but when you have trained for quite a number of years you can easily see if a class is of good standards or not. Before you ask I have been and looked at their class, and when you go guess what they do… not involve you in a class, no that would give you way too much of an idea about what you are getting into before you sign up.. you sit in the office and they get you to punch / kick a pad for five minutes (trying to avoid tripping over the table with the contracts on) then show you a useless way to get out of a headlock! A great way to see what the clubs all about.. then comes the hard sales pitch.

The clubs gets all they deserve from what I have seen, but we are al entitled to our own views. I guess it comes down to what you want out of a club.

The main problem with martial arts is the lack of central governing body to regulate, so there are no defined standards. Only Judo is an olympic sport to be knowledge.

.....There are still people that run small clubs part time that aren't a BUSINESS , well not to make a living out of .

Have a look this site and read it www.nortondojo.co.uk:thumbsup:
You're right there are good clubs in the city.

Train at wicker camp muay thai boxing club.You learn real techniques it is not a rip off and you are taught by the best instructors in the city....in the country I think. Mick Mullaney has trained many champions and has had a great fighting career himelf. Wicker camp is probably the most successful muay thai club in this country. The sport definitely comes before profit here. Black beltsmean nothing!

Well said. Wicker Camp is a non-profit organisation, they keep the prices as low as they can. The only equipment you have to buy is a gumsheild (you can get for £3 from sports world on the moor) and if you're male, a groin guard - a plastic cricket box type will do (about £7) although really you want a proper metal one (about £18 I think). This safety gear has to be worn so the gym can be insured, and they don't insist you buy stuff from the gym, you can pick it up from most sports shops or online.
Classes are about a fiver if you're working, a bit cheaper if you're unemployed or on a low wage (I pay for the whole year at once so I'm not sure of individual class price)
Instructors include current and former British, European, Commonwealth, and World champions, and the emphasis is on quality tuition, not money.
www.wickercamp.co.uk