Private Classes

Wolf07

hey I'm from swords, Co. Dublin and i'm 17 going on 18 this year, was wondering if anyone knows of any private martial arts instructors.

I have tried in the past karate, tae kwan do, and just recently kung fu. I have loved them all but have found that the classes would have on average 40 students and one teacher. I felt in the backround in most martial arts because the instructor would be too busy to give his attention on me and so i never really felt i could progress through my training.

I don't know if i am just the only one or has anyone else ever felt the same.

I really want to earn black belt in a martial art (preferably Kung Fu)

If anyone knows of any instructors or if you are an instructor please post back replys to this thread.

Thanks Everyone!

RedRaven

Wheres that popcorn...I want a good seat for this.

Wolf07

harsh mate

RedRaven

Wolf07 wrote: »

harsh mate

Sorry dude, Ive seen this one before, Im suprised youve not been eaten alive as to why you really feel the need to obtain a black belt.

SorGan

as to private classes, i dont think there is a lot of them floating around.
best to jump into a few clubs and see what suits ya class size/instructor wise.
also the more popular m.a.s such as tkd/karate/gungfu tend towards larger classes.
ignore belts and find a club that will train you in functional skills that speak for themselves.....then armlock your mates for a laugh

Wolf07

Ahh i see, look what i ment to say is that my goal is to earn a blackbelt i dont mean im here because i wanna black belt, to be honest i couldnt care what belt i get i just love martial arts. i thought that if i got a private teacher i could learn more than just fall into the backround with these classes that would hold up to about 40 people

so relax im not a keyboard warrior. im here because im sure you are all just as passionate about martial arts as i am and you would all have good advice to give.

bilbo79

Wolf07 wrote: »

i dont mean im here because i wanna black belt, to be honest i couldnt care what belt i get i just love martial arts. i thought that if i got a private teacher i could learn more.

Belts are for holding your trousers up!
Do a martial art like Boxing, Muay thai, MMA, or even Judo/BJJ, all functional and there is plenty of clubs around..There is very few private teachers as most prefer larger crowds as they can make more money through 30 people paying 10 euro a class than 1 person paying 50 for a session..

Colm_OReilly

In martial arts - certainly combative ones like Judo, TKD (sparring emphasis), BJJ, MMA, Boxing, Wrestling you'll progress quicker in a class with a large number of students, as you're exposed to more styles of fighter and range of opponents.

Also, you learn far more from your peers than you do from a coach, as they'll be the people sparring with you day in, day out. They'll either tell you how they got you or you'll learn to stop getting caught.

Secondly, ask more questions - of your coach and fellow athletes. It's a lot easier to coach an athlete who's asking questions than one who just plods along quietly in the backround.

Colm

Roper

Group is the way to go. Swords has clubs I'd reccomend in the following:

Judo- http://www.swordsjudo.com/
Boxing- In the Carnegie Library most nights
Taekwondo- Stephen Cooley runs one of the most successful clubs in Ireland in River Valley
BJJ- www.defendu.ie

If you're willing to travel a bit there's TKD in ALSAA as well www.airport-tkd.com

And if you have transport we're here www.ko-martialarts.com I have a few lads who travel from the North County, including me as it happens. I live in Swords, about 20 minutes drive.

FiannaGym.com

Okay,

Sifu Sam Li used to do privates in Purusia Street on Thursday evening, before he tought a class. His "Black Sash" grades used to be almost impossible to attain, but those glory days are long gone so I have no doubt you could get a black sash from him pretty quick.

And thats what most people on this board have been talking about with regards the use of belts etc. Basically, they are pretty much worthless, in that they can be acheived very easily in some places and not at all in others.

Look at John Kavanagh who posts here regularly. He got is Kenpo Black belt when he was 15 (I think) but it took him nearly a decade to get his BJJ black belt.

So generally, the consensus on here would be, forget about earning a belt and worry about becoming a fantastic fighter, a great athlete and make some real acheivements.

SO most people would say do boxing, Mauy Thai, Brazilian Ju Jitsu, Judo, or/and wrestling. All of these sports are enjoyable and have a very deep talent pool. You wont be sparring middle aged women who are useless but also black belts.. you'll be sparring proper fighters, young men (and maybe women) who are real competition.

So its totally up to you what you choose to do, and good luck regardless. I will say this... Ask any of the guys who have recently taken up MMA (a combination of the sports mentioned in the paragraph above) who also have black belts/expereince in other martial arts and almost with out exception they'll tell you they would have loved to have invested their time spent in kenpo/TKD/Kung Fu/etc in MMA.

So try out different styles. I find the black belt tends to be for those who are happy being a big fish in a small pool (with the exception of a BJJ black belt because of its method of grading).

Anyway, welcome to the board and welcome to martial arts!!!

Peace

Judomad

Roper wrote: »

Group is the way to go. Swords has clubs I'd reccomend in the following:

Judo- http://www.swordsjudo.com/
QUOTE]

free promo for my judo club hehe, thanks Roper, yas should come up tonight, 8pm in the Looreto colloege rivervalley, we have myself and 3 other first dans taking part in the class and also some brown belts, blue belts and then some lower grades too, usually a great class. so i might see somebody new tonight with some luck, think cowzerp is coming up tonight too...

Dragan

OP,

I'm not going to suggest any particular style to go for......unlike most here i would simply say follow your heart. A lot of us spent a lot of time in other arts before we found the one we truly love but i think we all have fond memories of those classes, the training we did, the excitment we felt as we went to them and the friends we made along the way.

And that is largely my point....half of the joy of doing any MA IS the social aspect of the class for me. The shared excitment and training, watching others work and helping them and having them help you.

It can be a fantastic experience for developing socially and i think you would be robbing yourself if you missed that.

I was like you, started a few classes and didn't like the vibe but eventually you find a class you do like and honestly the feeling doesn't compare to any thing else.

( except sex )

Clive

FiannaGym.com wrote: »

Ask any of the guys who have recently taken up MMA (a combination of the sports mentioned in the paragraph above) who also have black belts/expereince in other martial arts and almost with out exception they'll tell you they would have loved to have invested their time spent in kenpo/TKD/Kung Fu/etc in MMA.

Count me as the exception!

Judomad

FiannaGym.com wrote: »

Ask any of the guys who have recently taken up MMA (a combination of the sports mentioned in the paragraph above) who also have black belts/expereince in other martial arts and almost with out exception they'll tell you they would have loved to have invested their time spent in kenpo/TKD/Kung Fu/etc in MMA.

are you trying to say people who do MMA and have experience in kenpo/tkd/kung Fu and other striking martial arts have a better start than other people??? because if it is its a load of my b0**ox, i have a judo background and find a combo of judo(with extra groundwork) and boxing to be the most effective sports for people starting MMA, reasons why!!!

well with judo your comfortable on the ground and standing up and youd have "at least" a decent base to start off from, with boxing they have the most effective stand-up game there is, a good boxer in MMA will be using alot more effective and thought about striking than the likes of tkd "tappy" kicks..plus most boxers are quick on there feet so it is easy for them to learn to sprawl..but now we are goin off the original post..but as i said i dont believe the others are more effective...i dont know if i can say its a fact but its certainly my very very strong opinion.

im sure there are people that will dispute this, but im pretty sure most people would agree!!!!

Roper

Judomad wrote: »

a good boxer in MMA will be using alot more effective and thought about striking than the likes of tkd "tappy" kicks.

:eek:
You ought to go to some decent TKD clubs and take a few "tappy" kicks mate. Don't feather all TKD with the same labelling brush.

arybvtcw0eolkf

OP, if I was 17 and living in Swords I'd have my ass down with the lads at Swords Judo.

You'll find a fantastic bunch of people your own age (plus younger & older), and a hugely enthusiastic group of instructors.

The poster here 'Judomad' is an instructor down there, and I've said it here before. One of the soundest lads I've ever met in any style - get your ass down there OP.

Oh, and wishing to earn a black belt!. Well don't mind what the lads say here, its been the starting goal for most of us. Because however your view's might change when you start martial arts, we all know that a black belt is an achivement which is respected by 100% of those people NOT involved in Martial arts, and a huge percentage of those who still are.

RedRaven

Mairt wrote: »

Oh, and wishing to earn a black belt!. Well don't mind what the lads say here, its been the starting goal for most of us.

Yeah dont mind us at all OP we dont know SH*T!!!:rolleyes::rolleyes:

Mairt wrote: »

we all know that a black belt is an achivement which is respected by 100% of those people NOT involved in Martial arts, and a huge percentage of those who still are.

Yeah I agree its an achievment I bought one there two weeks ago and it works a treat keeping my combats up especially with my expanding waist size!!:p:p

Althought Kannie did comment that I looked like I lost a bit of weight on Tuesday..cheers lad...oh and that doesnt mean I gonna go easy on you when I get you on pads!!!:pac::);)

Anyway OP I hope you find what your looking for mate and dont get bogged down with association and certs and belts etc. test the water with styles and clubs enjoy your search!!;)

arybvtcw0eolkf

RedRaven wrote: »

Yeah dont mind us at all OP we dont know SH*T!!!:rolleyes::rolleyes:



Yeah I agree its an achievment I bought one there two weeks ago and it works a treat keeping my combats up especially with my expanding waist size!!:p:p

Althought Kannie did comment that I looked like I lost a bit of weight on Tuesday..cheers lad...oh and that doesnt mean I gonna go easy on you when I get you on pads!!!:pac::);)

Anyway OP I hope you find what your looking for mate and dont get bogged down with association and certs and belts etc. test the water with styles and clubs enjoy your search!!;)

Ah stop getting your knickers in a twist for crying out load and remember its a 17yr old lad we're replying to.

And remember, not everyone wants to go down the MMA route. Compared to TMA's in this country its/we're still in the minority.

ffs - back off to the lolocaust forum for some fun for me

RedRaven

Mairt wrote: »

Ah stop getting your knickers in a twist for crying out load and remember its a 17yr old lad we're replying to.

And remember, not everyone wants to go down the MMA route. Compared to TMA's in this country its/we're still in the minority.

ffs - back off to the lolocaust forum for some fun for me

Im having the craic to be fair Mairt!!

And Ive never done MMA in my life mate, what I do is a TMA although many MMA guys use it.

arybvtcw0eolkf

RedRaven wrote: »

Im having the craic to be fair Mairt!!

And Ive never done MMA in my life mate, what I do is a TMA although many MMA guys use it.

Ah grand, lets have the craic (join the lolcaust team )

I thought for a second that the old TMA -V- MMA debate was starting to surfice (and I say this at the risk of it surficing now).

I just think that a lot of people get into martial arts for the belts, certs, learning to move/fight like Bruce Lee and only after a while they start to find their footing.

Personally I think if someone wants to learn to fight then join an MMA club, where belts/grades don't mean a thing (except to keep your pants up).

But equally I think if someone is drawn to the whole black belt thing, then go the TMA route, try a few styles and after awhile you'll find something which suits your needs.

But getting back to the OP for a moment.

OP, as Colm said. You'll learn far more in a friendly, enthusiastic & open group training session.

Nothingcompares

I started judo when I was 16 and did it on and off for a good few years. However, over those years I had a couple of exposures to MMA/BJJ that I wish I would have paid more attention to. Firstly my school was running Judo classes and I jsut happened to start the year before Andy Ryan started taking the classes, if I would have started with Andy Ryan rather than another coach I probably would have stuck with him and followed his conversion into BJJ and MMA. Next I met Philip Scollard a couple of times, socially and in Judo and he was telling me he was doing MMA and I just thought he was mental and only a very special type of person (Tank Abbot look alikes for example) could do MMA. I dismissed the UFC as violence and never watched it on sKy Sports.

So I did Judo for a few years and then my friend forced me to watch some of the UFC and I saw people doing arm bars and reak naked chokes and I was shouting at the TV - that's JUDO! Some time later I was looking at this forum and heard that COlm OReilly was a MMA/BJJ guy and I kinda thought to myself, Colm OReilly certainly isn't a Tank Abbot type guy, so I started training a few sessions with people like COlm OKeefe and Mick Leonard.

Very early I realised my judo ground skills were muck compared to the bJJ skills of the lads training half as long as I was so I started training bjj as often as possible and a little bit of MMA now and again.

Judo lay the foundations for the ground and clinch and it's very rare that I get owned in the clinch by non-judo guys, it also exposed me to a lot of competition and competitive training so I don't think I'd trade it in completely for other arts.

Sorry off topic.

FiannaGym.com

Nothingcompares wrote: »

Sorry off topic.

Dude dont say sorry, these sorts of posts are animal. I love hearing people bios to MMA. Its deadly, its like when your down the local church of blood and fire and people tell you how they saw jesus in a burger bun and thats when the knew they had to change.

Its such a community celebration when someone has become initiated... like passing the agoge or something.

Peace

RedRaven

FiannaGym.com wrote: »

and people tell you how they saw jesus in a burger bun and thats when the knew they had to change.


Peace

Love it!!!!:D

jiffy

I have 1-1 "Master Classes" with a Kenpo Grand Master - George Maughan who's a 10th Degree Black belt. www.ugek.net. He's a great instructor and has his own Dojo, also runs classes for kids and adults in a local school.

Highly recommended. Oh - it's Kenpo !

dlofnep

You can't learn on your own totally. You need a class with a good range of different people with different skillsets to spar with to improve.

I'd recommend MMA, BJJ or Judo. You will improve in all of these with a large class. Did you ever consider that the reason you didn't improve with a large class might be a reflection of the art itself, rather than the private time you were given?

Wolf07

Thanks everyone for your response its good to know that people felt like this when they where my age. i might drop into a few classes around my area and see what interest me,i don't think im gonna let grades and blackbelts get in the way i think ill just look for a good class and teacher

Chris Peak

There are loads of good Judo clubs around, and it’s well worth trying them out. Even to carry on training along side a punch & kicking style, would be a good idea as it gives you great confidence on the ground (should you ever find yourself there), and also teaches you break falls, so you don’t get hurt if you do go down.
I’ve come off the bike a few times, and if it wasn’t for the Judo break falls, I would have been f#cked!

There’s also a great sense of camaraderie, which I haven’t come across in the punch/ kick styles I’ve since trained in. Right from the first night, you’re an accepted member of the club.
You also get super fit and strong in no time at all.


If you want to learn how to ‘handle’ yourself, I know both of these people personally and highly recommend them.

Sharon Hutchinson (self defence)
http://www.shieldselfdefence.com/about.htm

If you want to do Kung Fu, give this guy a ring. He’s excellent.
Sam Sun
http://www.taichikongfu.net/shownews.asp?id=111

I’m not sure how much Sharon charges for private lessons, but Sam charges about €40, which is brilliant value when you see how much you learn with him.

I’ve trained with another Chinese teacher who did his very best NOT to teach you too much of the technique, because he thinks you won’t need him after you learn it all, and he’ll be out of a job!

David Jones

Next I met Philip Scollard a couple of times, socially and in Judo and he was telling me he was doing MMA and I just thought he was mental

Dont worry we all thought he was mental too. Philip was 3-0 in Pro MMA before he had done his Leaving Certificate. Against Greg Loughran, and Aidan Marron twice. One of the best raw talents I have ever coached.

As a bit of advice from someone who spent years doing various martial arts. Take Judo, Boxing, Muay Thai or BJJ if one or more of them is on offer. They are worth travelling to. I wish I could go back and invest the time all the above instead of the time I put into Wado Ryu, (18 years) Kenpo,(7 years) Wing Chun,(3 years) and Aikido (1year).

Most of all do what you enjoy but if you like the competitive atmosphere which can only aid progression, instead of the "no we cant teach you that till you have more experience because its too dangerous" stuff then pick one of the first group of arts is my advice.

Judomad

Chris Peak wrote: »

I’ve come off the bike a few times, and if it wasn’t for the Judo break falls, I would have been f#cked]

so what ur saying is...."do judo if you own a motorbike, because ull no how to fall off" yeah???

Chris Peak

Judomad wrote: »

so what ur saying is...."do judo if you own a motorbike, because ull no how to fall off" yeah???

It was a push bike.
I know a few people who came off theirs in similar situations and broke collar bones or wrists.

If you learn how to break fall properly, this shouldn't happen.

cowzerp

Chris Peak wrote: »

It was a push bike.
I know a few people who came off theirs in similar situations and broke collar bones or wrists.

If you learn how to break fall properly, this shouldn't happen.

Gary is a black belt so understands that! but your hardly thinking of break falling when your cycling-
i could think of better reasons for doing judo..

Chris Peak

cowzerp wrote: »

Gary is a black belt so understands that! but your hardly thinking of break falling when your cycling-
i could think of better reasons for doing judo..

They cross your mind when you come off!

The great thing with Judo is that you practice your falls so much in class that if you do slip on a wet floor or trip over something, the break fall is a reflex action.

You also get so used to falling, that you relax on the way down (if you've got time e.g. coming off a bike), and you're much less likely to break something.

A teacher in the club would, now and again (usually when there were a few new members), bring in a piece of wood and a tea towel to illustrate the difference between something hard hitting a hard surface as opposed to something soft hitting the same hard surface. The wood would break but the tea towel just absorbs the force.

I've already stated in an earlier post other great reasons why someone should consider taking up Judo.

Judomad

Chris Peak wrote: »

It was a push bike.
I know a few people who came off theirs in similar situations and broke collar bones or wrists.

If you learn how to break fall properly, this shouldn't happen.

with all due respect chris, im 15years in judo and have fought internationally for years but when i was pulled off my push bike bout 4 years ago(very good and funny, but long story behind that haha) but i still didnt do a jackie chan and somersault off the bike and breakfall, i went flat on my head and scrapped my head all of the ground(dunno how i still have a half decent face after that haha) but anyway the point im making is that no matter how long ur doing breakfalling if your pulled head first off a bike your gonna go SPLAT like i did haha

cowzerp

Chris Peak wrote: »

A teacher in the club would, now and again (usually when there were a few new members), bring in a piece of wood and a tea towel to illustrate the difference between something hard hitting a hard surface as opposed to something soft hitting the same hard surface. The wood would break but the tea towel just absorbs the force.

Did anyone actually think the tea towel was going to break? that was a terrible example! and your bones are hard anyway, not like a tea towel i hope!

Chris Peak

cowzerp wrote: »

Did anyone actually think the tea towel was going to break? that was a terrible example! and your bones are hard anyway, not like a tea towel i hope!

He would do that for the kids / juniors class, so your guess is as good as mine.
The point he was trying to make was that if you're flexable and relaxed, you shouldn't be injured.
If you tighten up, you probably will.



I guess I must have been very lucky with my rolling break falls, as I've crashed the bike a few times and only ever got scratched hands. (Touch wood)

cowzerp

Chris Peak wrote: »

I guess I must have been very lucky with my rolling break falls, as I've crashed the bike a few times and only ever got scratched hands. (Touch wood)

I came off my motorbike a few times at speed, once into a car! and got up with minor bruises, sometimes just been fit helps but luck plays the biggest part in these things..

Chris Peak

cowzerp wrote: »

I came off my motorbike a few times at speed, once into a car! and got up with minor bruises, sometimes just been fit helps but luck plays the biggest part in these things..

You're absolutly right there.
On one of those 999 programs recently, a tri-athlete got hit square on while riding to work.
Came away with a cut on his elbow.
The Doc said his muscles acted like shock absorbers.

And, also because of where he came in contact with the car probably saved his life. He landed exactly on the windscreen. And, luckly missed the upright bar (Window frame).