What is the #1 thing you look for when visiting an kung fu school for the first time?

[Wuxia007]

What is the #1 thing you look for when visiting a kung fu school for the first time?
This question is asked under the assumption that the school offers a style you want to study.
I understand that, ultimately, the decision comes down to a multitude of factors, but I am looking for just one thing. What's your top priority? The first major thing you look for when you open up the doors and visit a kung fu school for the first time that will have the most influence or impacting impression of the school.

- Is it the size of its class?
- The location? (i.e; stand alone school, in the back of a magic and costume shop, in a plaza strip, someone's garage, etc.)
- The price to join?
- Awards and trophies that are showcased or lack thereof?
- The appearance of the instructor?
- The ability of its students.
- It's lineage?
- Is it independent or part of a larger organization?
- etc.?

For me, it comes down to my first impression of the instructor, not in regards to his physical appearance, but his ability to communicate honestly with me. Are we able to immediately establish a trusting teacher/student relationship. Whether his school is filled with talented students or terrible students is irrelevant to my personal growth and study in a given school, I want to know if he can personally teach and communicate with me effectively.

[GeneChing]

...but I always do look to see if they are using Tiger Claw (https://www.tigerclaw.com/home.php) gear. ;)

[MasterKiller]

I count the MILFs

[mickey]

Greetings,

At one time, it was the weapons. It quickly evolved to looking for evidence of fighting and gloves.

mickey

[Wuxia007]

Greetings,

At one time, it was the weapons. It quickly evolved to looking for evidence of fighting and gloves.

mickey

Was there any specific weapon or weapons you would look for? Or were you simply looking for the quantity?

[Wuxia007]

One thing that I have gotten tired of when walking into a kung fu school and speaking to the Sifu for the first time is getting the overly used paraphrased quote/philosophy from Bruce Lee about "empty your cup". To me it's just become so expected and such a formulaic marketing technique of almost every sifu to try and capture the interests of potential new students. "Bruce Lee" and "empty your cup" have become such buzzwords in the kung fu school world.
And I get it, there are still large majority of potential new students who have never visited a martial arts school before and therefore have never, or at least very rarely, came across the quote/philosophy. But it's like, there are other MA philosophies and great martial artists out there to rip off, lol.

[xiao yao]

One thing that I like is when a teacher is confident enough to let his senior students spar with outsiders who visit the club. If the senior students cant handle themselves against a stranger in class.... then they don't have much chance protecting themselves outside of class. I have seen some teachers who wont let outsiders do any kind of partner work with their own students... to me that just shows lack of confidence.

Also, I cant stand a teacher who spends the whole class dissing other styles.... it just old and boring.

[David Jamieson]

I look at the people, what sort of shape they are in and what are they doing.
Posture and how they carry themselves says a lot to me.

[mickey]

Greetings,

Wuxia007,

I was looking at weapons as empowerment. Realizing that I could not walk too far with a spear or knife, I started looking for empty hand fighting. If the NRA had a strong presence in NYC, I would have joined them first and foremost.


mickey

[Wuxia007]

Also, I cant stand a teacher who spends the whole class dissing other styles.... it just old and boring.

Xiao Yao,

I am right there with you. I have seen plenty of that and to me it raises a red flag that the instructor is likely a bit delusional as he romanticizes the style. Every style has its pros and cons and every style is effective for somebody. Just let the style speak for itself.

[GeneChing]

One thing that I have gotten tired of when walking into a kung fu school and speaking to the Sifu for the first time is getting the overly used paraphrased quote/philosophy from Bruce Lee about "empty your cup". To me it's just become so expected and such a formulaic marketing technique of almost every sifu to try and capture the interests of potential new students. "Bruce Lee" and "empty your cup" have become such buzzwords in the kung fu school world.

Actually, the 'empty your cup' thing isn't Bruce Lee. It is a famous Zen Koan, attributed to the Japanese Master Nan-in of the Meiji era (1868-1912). Many of Lee's most famous words of wisdom were poached from Zen. I even wrote an article related to this. See An Iron Head Points to the Moon: Shaolin Wushuguan's Senior Master, Monk Shi Sugang (MAY+JUNE 2005 (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/magazine/article.php?article=590)). :cool:

[SPJ]

Safety factors and equipments

mattress, mitten, head gear and chest protector, knee covering

Posters for safety rules etc.

:cool:

[Jimbo]

One thing that I have gotten tired of when walking into a kung fu school and speaking to the Sifu for the first time is getting the overly used paraphrased quote/philosophy from Bruce Lee about "empty your cup". To me it's just become so expected and such a formulaic marketing technique of almost every sifu to try and capture the interests of potential new students. "Bruce Lee" and "empty your cup" have become such buzzwords in the kung fu school world.
And I get it, there are still large majority of potential new students who have never visited a martial arts school before and therefore have never, or at least very rarely, came across the quote/philosophy. But it's like, there are other MA philosophies and great martial artists out there to rip off, lol.

I've never had any teacher, Chinese style or otherwise, use the 'empty your cup' phrase with me. At most, they would ask if I had any previous training.

I'm also lucky that I've never had any teacher who constantly ragged on other styles. When I was very young, I did train for about 18 months under a Shi-to ryu karate sensei from Japan who on rare occasions made fun of other styles, mostly Chinese styles, and once I heard him criticize Korean vs. Japanese-style punching, but that's about it.

[curenado]

The students you should see first, whatever senior student appears and the master.

(But if I was honest, I would have to say the decor. If the wall hangings and rugs clash, I'm outta there!)

[Orion Paximus]

One thing that I like is when a teacher is confident enough to let his senior students spar with outsiders who visit the club. If the senior students cant handle themselves against a stranger in class.... then they don't have much chance protecting themselves outside of class. I have seen some teachers who wont let outsiders do any kind of partner work with their own students... to me that just shows lack of confidence.

Also, I cant stand a teacher who spends the whole class dissing other styles.... it just old and boring.

I take issue with this actually. This happened at our school about a month ago. A kid came in off the street (I mean an adult but a kid compared to me :( ) said he'd been doing MMA for a year and wanted to spar my best student. I feel as a teacher it is my responsibility to protect my students not only from their stupidity but the stupidity of others. Also if you're traveling around issuing challenges, then be a man (or woman I guess) and ask to fight the teacher. Which is ultimately what I told the kid, me or nobody. He decided to put gloves on... it didn't go so well for him.

Hopefully he will workshed some stuff before going around and trying to issue challenges again. I dunno.

I have no doubt that my students could have handled themselves against him (or anyone at that skill level), but I'm also not going to throw them to lions inside the school which is supposed to be the place they feel safe trying all the fake dance moves I'm teaching them.

[Brule]

Do the students and instructor respect each other, their art and the school. That, and of course what MK said.

[SPJ]

friendly exchange hands

1 set up rules of safety and end points for winning and losing.

2 a 3rd party to referee or mediate.

Safety first.

We want to learn from each other without injuries.

3 Insurance and all.

:rolleyes:

[SPJ]

I would examine school's safety rules/protocol first.

Injury incidents and policy and insurance.

:)

[Lucas]

If the teacher is a bad ass or not. I know most of you won't agree with me but I only like training under a bad ass. I don't particularly care how great of a teacher they are. It doesn't matter. It did in the first few years but not anymore. My very first long term gong fu teacher was not the greatest of teachers, he wasn't bad just not great, but he is a total bad ass and I'm glad the way things turned out in the long run. Everyone learns differently, personally I learn best from.getting my ass kicked. Martially, I respect power and the ability to use that power. Its my job to make what you teach me work. Show me, watch me, test me, beat me. That's the best formula for me to learn, so for me to learn my best, you need to beat me, and to do that you need to be a bad ass.

[crazymaddrunk]

If the teacher is a bad ass or not. I know most of you won't agree with me but I only like training under a bad ass. I don't particularly care how great of a teacher they are. It doesn't matter. It did in the first few years but not anymore. My very first long term gong fu teacher was not the greatest of teachers, he wasn't bad just not great, but he is a total bad ass and I'm glad the way things turned out in the long run. Everyone learns differently, personally I learn best from.getting my ass kicked. Martially, I respect power and the ability to use that power. Its my job to make what you teach me work. Show me, watch me, test me, beat me. That's the best formula for me to learn, so for me to learn my best, you need to beat me, and to do that you need to be a bad ass.

Lucas - I don't agree with a lot of folks here, but you I do 100%. If I feel I can kick their ass already, I won 't learn from them. One school I went to, they had a drill with us "lower" ranks vs. Black Belts. The lower ranks were to attack the black belts any way they wanted to with a rubber knife. It was pathetic, none of the lower ranks had any experience with knife skills so the black belts were taking it to them and patting each other on the back. When it was my turn I systematically "killed" every black belt (four of them in the drill), and they were all like ummmmmmm OK. I studied Kali and WW2 knife combat for a while lol.

[RenDaHai]

I like my fellow student to be a bad ass so we can push each other, but I don't look for that in the teacher.

You sharpen a knife with a whetstone, not with another knife. A whetstone is blunt but it generates sharpness. (old Chinese saying, lost the poetry in translation, but thats the gist of it)

[Lucas]

Age can be a factor of course. I wouldn't expect an elder to.be able to kick my ass. There would be some sort of achievements to look into and if they can all the better. However if the teacher is young and a puss.... no thanks. I mean if they have bad ass students, that's great and all but it only means something if 100% of their experience comes directly under that teachers instruction. If not I would assume its the students prior experience and natural ability/aptitude that developed those results.

[n4tive]

Well, I tend to avoid commercial schools, you know... the ones with "flashy" ads, facebook ads, flyers et. as if trying to sell me a product.

What I look for in a school is:

Lineage
Style
Knowledge
Honesty
Humility
Location
Price

Everything else is secondary or tertiary. I mention humility because it is very important to me, not too many are humble nowadays, specially in the MA community. Knowledge (also applies to skill) is also important (both theory and practice) and it is something I value very much.

Ironically, the closest WC school to my location is a commercial one. The sifu strikes me as a honest person, so thats a plus. Still thinking about joining.

[Yum Cha]

Does the teacher earn respect by sharing his knowledge and demonstrating his skill
or demand it with lots of narcissistic ceremony and martial bull shirts.

How is the practical application managed? What is the path to convert training into live combat? Does it create fighters?

Is this stable and durable as a going concern so I can put in enough time to learn something.

Are these the kind of people I want to hang out with.