What you should know

There are numerous karate clubs and equally as many styles. Many make unsupported claims such as ultimate fighting methods or guaranteed results in a matter of weeks. However, the reality is that whilst there are some very genuine clubs around, there are many that lack the qualifications, experience or dedication to ensure that you or your children are properly taught and supervised.

The information below has been produced by KSKC International, which is affiliated to Karate England. It aims to present important facts about karate clubs to you in an unbiased manner. It also gives information about clubs in your area, if you are interested in joining or if you feel that you are not getting the best deal for your money.

Qualifications

Although possession of endless qualifications is not paramount to a good instructor, they do at least show that they are acting responsibly. An instructor should openly disclose these credentials.

Police Checks - it is the law that people working with children are first checked by the police.

Insurance - Most karate clubs should operate under an affiliating body (e.g. Karate England) and members should have a licence, which acts as their personal insurance. Many instructors also have personal liability insurance.

Qualifications - Governing bodies such as Karate England, through senior members, are able to certify a person as competent to teach.

First Aid - Although not a requirement by law, there should be at least one qualified first-aider in lessons and an extensive first aid kit.

Child Protection - New laws coming into force state that people working with children must have attended a child protection course and be aware of important issues in child protection. A certificate is often supplied which should be accessible within the club.

Karate England has the power to close down clubs that have been negligent. Therefore affiliation to Karate England indicates that a club should be operating responsibly and be able to provide up to date documents. It is also the only Karate governing body recognized by Sport England.

Quality of teaching

It is unreasonable to expect guaranteed results and clubs making such claims should be regarded with discretion. However, it is reasonable to expect to see improvements over a period of several months. These improvements may include increased body tone, fitness and stamina, co-ordination and also mental attributes such as improved concentration and discipline (particularly in children).

Modern Karate is usually assessed in a grading / exam. Traditionally there may be up to ten grades before the highest rank of black belt. Although there are differences amongst styles, beware of clubs that have substantially more than 10 levels of belts. There are also ten levels of black belt which have minimum time periods between grades, which means that a 5th Dan should have at least 20 years of experience and maturity.

Lesson format

A typical lesson should consist of a warm up, stretching, a main part covering basic karate, kata (form of movement), kumite (semi contact fighting) and finish with light meditation or mental exercises. Instructors may vary greatly in their style of teaching; some will cover the grading syllabus and work towards the next grading. Others may be more creative, blending a syllabus with interesting and fun teaching.

Punching bricks until your hands bleed; hitting an opponent with full contact and doing countless press-ups on one finger merely develop the male ego rather than produce a well developed karateka. Instead, a lesson should demand from you both mental and physical effort in a varied format, which you actually enjoy.

Lesson and club fees

The cost of a lesson, along with associated costs such as membership and a licence will vary widely. However, the cost of a lesson is by no means indicative of the quality of a club. Instead this is a reflection of hall fees, provision of equipment and an instructor's personal fee.

A perfectly reasonable fee would be around £5 and less for children. Membership may vary, but can be around £10-20, but may be more at sports centres. An EKGB licence is around £9, but some other organizations charge substantially more. Finally, gradings are often the source of over pricing, with black belt exams costing up to £100 for a child! Fortunately there are many clubs that charge around £20 for a grading and around £50 for a black belt.