And now, Later

I promised I'd write something for beginners about kung fu and the business of kung fu and finding the best schools. That was about a month ago, and I've had plenty of time to get settled. So here it is, finally.

About once a week on every martial arts forum in the known universe, a new registrant will open a thread titled "Help me choose a school" or something to that effect. They'll ask for a list of, a rating, and personal opinions on, every martial arts school in their area. (Sometimes they will forget to say what area. This makes it so much more fun for people trying to help them.)

And on most forums, people will try to help and list the schools they know. Here's the problem: each forum member has his/her own focus in the martial arts realm. One does wing chun, or praying mantis, or kyokushin, or Olympic tae kwon do. And their experience revolves around that art. So their information will be limited, or biased at best. The other problem is, the level of experience and knowledge differs from member to member, so you may be getting information from a first-year judoka or a twenty-year ranked sensei, but you really don't know. Meaning, that information can be totally wrong.

So, if you're really interested in learning a martial art and don't know where to start, go ahead and join a forum and ask, but also pick up the Yellow Pages and use Google to find out all the fu that is really available in your area. Then, physically go and check out the schools that interest you! (You're gonna have to go to a school to work out, so now is a good time to practice going.) I know I sound a little sarcastic but I have seen some newbies pick people's brains on forums and never actually go to the recommended schools to check them out -- and then complain that they didn't find anything good in their area!

Once you go, here are things to watch for:

Attitude
- motivated, not mean, instructors
- motivated, happy, relaxed students
- confident but not pushy sales reps (instructors are usually the sales reps BTW)

Appearance
- a clean and neat school (no funky smells, things put away)
- clean and neat uniforms on students (or just clean)

Good Business Practices
- no "pushing" potential students to sign, sign, sign
- fair and reasonable contract options (including a no-contract option)
- delivery of services promised
- tuition rates at local market standard

Things to watch out for:
- bad attitude & appearance
- constant pushing or upselling of goods and services to students/potential students
- contracts longer than 1 year.
- "Black Belt Club" or other guaranteed black belt contracts (usually a higher fee)

This is a pretty abstract list, but those are the basic things that beginners should watch for. If you have never seen or experienced a martial art outside of a movie theater, you do not know what to look for to see if an art is "good" or not. So you have to pay attention to your gut, to your observation of the school, and to how the school does business with you. I can just about guarantee that a sifu who follows good business practices is also a sifu with good teaching skills.

What else to watch for? Well, if you're determined to learn a "traditional" martial art, remember that true traditional arts are taught alone, not in conjunction with other arts. For example, a school that teaches both praying mantis and shotokan, particularly within one curriculum, is not traditional. Its teachers may have come from traditional backgrounds but the combination is all-new.

Learning just one art can take 10+ years, so beware any school that claims to teach several martial arts "as one."

What if you have your heart set on learning a particular martial art, but it isn't taught in your area? Unless you're willing to move to a new city or travel to the Shaolin Temple or Thailand or whatever, you may just have to settle for what's available. This is not a bad thing. Pick the school you like best and study hard, develop discipline and skill -- these two attributes will translate easily to any martial art you study.

When I was in college, I became fascinated with tai chi, but it was not widely taught outside major U.S. cities at the time. Instead, I took judo, which was offered by the college -- and I met a crowd of martial artists from various disciplines who were having the same problem finding a place to study their arts. I spent my senior year learning basic judo throws and learning about arts I'd never heard of, who taught them and where.

When I began studying Yang tai chi and later, northern praying mantis, I brought those rudimentary judo skills with me. They complement what I'm learning now. So I don't regret settling for that judo class.

So:

1. Physically check out the schools you're interested in;
2. View them with a critical eye as described above;
3. If you can't get the art you want, choose the best school available.