How/what is GKR karate?

Jammie · 29-01-2006, 13:55

We had some people coming door to door enquiring if anyone wanted to learn karate in Go-Kan-Ru style in our area. They were charging 5.50 per hour session and also there was a registration fee. What put me off was that according to them the registration fee is normally £80 and it would cost me £22 only if i signed up straight away. Had not yet seen any hard sell for any sports activity till this and makes me wonder if they are really genuine....or is it worth it.

Freddylee · 29-01-2006, 16:21

I know exactly how GKR work
they advertise for instructors
using the cathphrase " no experience needed as full trainign will be given"

This is how they do it
they get joe bloggs to sign up as an instructor, send him on a few seminars
give him a black belt , assign him a "buddy" tell him then to market it door to door and then open a club up.
As joe bloggs progresses he will have to learn more techniques on seminars so as his students learn , joe bloggs learns too.

their actual standard of their instructors is (from what i have seen) **** poor
id give it a wide berth and only a total fool would entertain it

wasenshi · 29-01-2006, 18:20

Well put Freddy! Did the **** word begin with a P or an S?

Freddylee · 29-01-2006, 18:36

yes it did LOL
i didnt realise it was censored

garryn · 29-01-2006, 21:10

Have a look at e-budo.com

Look in the area marked 'bad budo'

lots about GKR

I think one comment said they thought it wasn't apparantly well thought out to begin with as 'Gokan' means rape or rapist in japanese

price · 29-01-2006, 21:11

Hi Jammie,
It's exactly as freddylee says.I have personally seen the ads in the Jobcentre.

garryn · 29-01-2006, 21:15

what area are they looking at opening Dojos?

The ebudo link shows some kids grading sessions. They're in a large sports hall doing Kata, packed in V.Tight at £15 each.

garryn · 29-01-2006, 21:20

Heres the link

http://www.e-budo.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6554

wasenshi · 30-01-2006, 08:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by garryn

Heres the link

http://www.e-budo.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6554

That's shocking!

garryn · 30-01-2006, 09:24

Shockings one word!

Thats why I asked:
"what area are they looking at opening Dojos?"

If they came door knocking round here I'd like to be prepared with questions and a print out of some of the points on bad budo!

Jammie · 30-01-2006, 19:44

Wow, that link(http://www.e-budo.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6554) is definately shocking! Wouldnt want to get invovled in a system which esentially is a scam from the looks of it.

They were doing door to door rounds in Brincliffe-Netheredge area. But they had a brochure which suggested they had a lot of local centres.

Glad i didnt get roped in! Thanks everyone!

garryn · 30-01-2006, 21:00

If you are thinking of starting a martial art, theres loads of help on here. People should be able to point you in the direction of a selection of clubs that do what you'd be looking for, for you (or your kid?) With instructors who count their experience in years

Adam S · 31-01-2006, 11:09

They have a few clubs that I know of. There's one in Stocksbridge and another in Hillsborough. I imagine, with their aggressive marketing and sales technique, that there's other clubs springing up around the place.

I met a couple of their assistant instructors once when they were doing their sales rounds - basically door to door sales. The instructor jobs are advertised and the lads I spoke to were promised salaries of £20k when they started their own clubs.

I don't really see how it's sustainable but the guys seemed to be happy enough. And, while I have no idea of the standards of teaching, it would be a shame if this kind of practice pulls down the name of other martial arts as a whole.

There's plenty of info on these two sites if you're interested.

http://www.gkrkarate.com/
http://www.gkrkarate.org/index.html

garryn · 31-01-2006, 11:19

Rise of the McDojo!

Here's your mawashigeri, would you like fries with it?

inosanto · 02-02-2006, 14:33

makes a mockery of those of us that train hard for our art/MA and gives those instructors that try and build a club based on real skill very hard. No wonder some parents expect gradings and passes considering the money they have to part with.

sufc_babe · 08-02-2006, 09:01

around a year ago they came to my house i registered for the lifetime membership option and 3 month later decided to quit, it wasn't at all what i had expected but i suppose its good for the little ones.

ShotoKarate · 08-02-2006, 11:56

Yep .... Go Kan Ryu is just a money making franchise run by people with little or no experience .....

Experienced karate or MA people aren't usually allowed to even watch never mind train in GKR dojos as it might make the instructor look like the crap that they are ......

garryn · 08-02-2006, 12:13

Whats involved with the "lifetime membership"?

Adam S · 08-02-2006, 12:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by garryn

Whats involved with the "lifetime membership"?

If you quit... they kill you

Freddylee · 08-02-2006, 14:54

Ive heard that they even threaten to beat up parents if they dont pay up,..etc
and they have a system where they fine kids' parents if the kids misbehave in class???

I say we "Tek Kwoon" like in the bruce lee films

we once had a GKR instructor come to one of our classes, she had come just for some "extra sparring practise" turns out she didnt even have no basics and that class was made difficult for us lot because the instructor had to slow down for her riht down to teaching her a basic jab, cross and fighting stance

GKR is terrible and shudnt be touched with a barge pole