About a school.....

Posted by: KDHPP

About a school..... - 07/30/06 03:58 AM

I'm relatively new to the world of martial arts(I did a bit of Karate when I was younger) and I'm really interested in Kung Fu. I was wondering if anyone here is familiar with the Bei Shaolin Kung Fu Institute(Memphis and Chicago). If you do, is it worth checking the place out. I know the school creed, but their site doesn't say much about the school....

???
Posted by: Derik

Re: About a school..... - 07/30/06 04:09 AM

go in there and watch a few classes, watch about 6 classes and take notes on what you see and how his class is ran and you should be able to tell if its for you, i sure wish I did that
Posted by: KDHPP

Re: About a school..... - 07/30/06 04:16 AM

Well, they are giving one week of classes for free coming up.....that sounds better than watching, but I wish I knew more about the instructors(only says a name on the site)
Posted by: IExcalibui2

Re: About a school..... - 07/30/06 04:20 AM

sure take the weekw worth of classes and see what you think of it and such and such. If you like it then continue on. If you dont try to see if there are other kungfu schools out there if kungfu is what you want.
Posted by: Fisherman

Re: About a school..... - 07/30/06 09:18 AM

What is the site?
Posted by: KDHPP

Re: About a school..... - 07/31/06 07:53 AM

www.memphiskungfu.com

edited to fix link
Posted by: ShikataGaNai

Re: About a school..... - 07/31/06 10:28 AM

I don't know. I thought the "student creed" was a little too dogmatic. You might want to treat this one with caution if you're not into the religion.
Posted by: Fisherman

Re: About a school..... - 07/31/06 11:24 AM

Well said ShikataGaNai
Posted by: ButterflyPalm

Re: About a school..... - 08/01/06 07:34 AM

One week of free sweat wouldn't hurt.

Bei Shaolin simply means North (Bei, as in Beijing) Shaolin. It is such a wide term it can mean almost anything. You need to start somewhere I suppose.

Good Luck; sad that you need luck to learn MA these days.
Posted by: KDHPP

Re: About a school..... - 08/01/06 08:45 AM

I'll do the free week of this, but I may not go for it.

My friend told me about a Memphis Martial Arts Center that teaches Kenpo, Wushu, Jujitsu, Wing Chun, JKD/Kali, Savate, Muay Thai, Boxing, and Silat. Apparently the instructor started teaching at 14 and opened his own school at 18. He looks legit.
Posted by: Fisherman

Re: About a school..... - 08/01/06 09:06 AM

Wow. That sure is quite a few styles to be teaching.
Posted by: ShikataGaNai

Re: About a school..... - 08/01/06 11:10 AM

Waitaminutehere....
He started at 14 and opened his own school at 18? I don't know. I don't want to be a naysayer here, but it takes a number of years to get proficient in ONE style, let alone a bajillion. Also, I'd be wary of any instructor who just so happens to teach every style I could possibly be interested in. I guess it's kind of like the Dregerberg academy maybe? Two floors, hundreds of students, dozens of instructors, 30 some-odd styles... not for me. I don't know anything about MA in memphis though. Just throwin it out there.
Posted by: IExcalibui2

Re: About a school..... - 08/01/06 06:59 PM

I do agree that creed business is kinda wierd so caution would be needed. But I would say go for it after your week of free classes.

That other place with the guy who opened his own school after 4 years is very fishy. Hmm 4 years training in over 12301478234 arts and he seems legit?? I dont know...I would probably tend to stay away from that place.

goodluck
Posted by: KDHPP

Re: About a school..... - 08/01/06 11:26 PM

^He didn't start training at 14, he started teaching at 14.

Well, it isn't him alone teaching all those styles. And although he did open a school at 18, he 's now got about 27 years of experience.

Let me tell you why I think he's legit.

Recognized as youngest individual in the U.S. to reach 5th Degree Black Belt status (Master Level), 1998

2006 inducted into WHSC Hall of fame for Master Instructor of the year

Martial Arts Hall of Fame- Inductee, 2001

Instructor of the Year- (International Martial Arts Association), 1996

Undefeated full-contact fighter- 1990-1999 (129 fights)

But I really shouldn't judge the school on the head instrutors acheivements....more like the students.
Posted by: IExcalibui2

Re: About a school..... - 08/02/06 06:46 PM

yea the titles and junk on his belt arent the most important thing to a teacher. And are those titles true, try looking him up on the web to see if hes actually listed as the things that he claims to be.

But aside from the titles and such you should really just go try a class out. His teaching style. The people inthe class. How the class is ran. etc etc
Posted by: KDHPP

Re: About a school..... - 08/03/06 08:39 AM

That brings me to another question...

Does anyone here know about a Joe Wilson???

If in fact he was the youngest person in the US to get a 5th degree black belt, someone here should know him.....maybe.
Posted by: MattJ

Re: About a school..... - 08/04/06 01:40 PM

Quote:

Undefeated full-contact fighter- 1990-1999 (129 fights)




Going to have to call BS here. A quick search of Google and Sherdog show nothing matching a Joe Wilson. Quite odd considering his amazing 129-0 fight record.
Posted by: MattJ

Re: About a school..... - 08/04/06 01:44 PM

Quote:

That brings me to another question...

Does anyone here know about a Joe Wilson???

If in fact he was the youngest person in the US to get a 5th degree black belt, someone here should know him.....maybe.




This Joe Wilson?

http://www.rmaxinternational.com/home/in...&Itemid=134
Posted by: ShikataGaNai

Re: About a school..... - 08/04/06 03:36 PM

Interesting this bio only says he "does martial arts".
Yeah? Like what?
Posted by: KDHPP

Re: About a school..... - 08/04/06 10:24 PM

Yeah. That'd be him.
Posted by: Fisherman

Re: About a school..... - 08/05/06 08:48 AM

I wonder why he doesn't list any of the particular styles that their system teaches?
I watched some of the videos that they have on the website under the gallery tab.
There is a vid on there that is one guy vs another 3. The man being attacked is rolling around evading and trapping legs, which is a great skill to have, but I wouldn't make it my primary means of defense. Perhaps they are just demonstrating the usefulness of the rolling exercise (shown in another vid).
The best vid I saw was the 'gold medal' sanshou vid. Looked to me as if the guy he was fighting was not used to being thrown. Nice flow.
Posted by: IExcalibui2

Re: About a school..... - 08/05/06 12:30 PM

um his bio sounds like a 5 year old wrote it. Its like the same words being repeated over and over again with emphasis on Martial Arts without telling you what he actually trained in. Sounds pretty fishy...I personally wouldnt go to the school. You can also see if hes legit by just conversing with him. Ask him subtle question about what hes trained in and like his masters, where they're from, etc etc.