Instructors and Owners

[BoulderDawg]

the practices are held in a local gymnasium, so i believe the space is donated to the club. they have been in the community since 1926 so probably have a pretty well developed network.

Have they been teaching MA since 1926? That would be far out! I would bet there are few (If any at all) schools in the US that are over 80 years old!

[Lucas]

pretty much.

from their site.

"Obukan is a non-profit organization founded in 1926 by Isei and Nisei of the Japanese-American community. Originally named "Portland Judo Club", it was renamed "Obukan" by none other than the founder of Judo, Professor Jigoro Kano when he visited Portland after the 1932 Olympics. The "O" in our name refers to Oregon; Oregon was called "O-shu" or O-state by Japanese immigrants. "Bu" means martial training; "Kan" means building or training hall. We have operated continuously since 1926, with the exception of the WW II years and a brief period thereafter (1942 - 1952)."

http://obukanjudo.com/

[naja]

the practices are held in a local gymnasium, so i believe the space is donated to the club. they have been in the community since 1926 so probably have a pretty well developed network.

Looking at your later post, I saw that this is a judo club. It's not really that uncommon to find a judo club that charges little or no fees. The club I go to charges nothing to train. You had to sign a waiver and they ask that once you get to a competition level that you join USJA or USJI for insurance and promotional purposes and they charge a small fee for testing/belts.

I do think that most people have a mentality that if the training doesn't cost them any money, then it must not be any good. That might be the reason these schools that charge so much are so packed.

[Lucas]

Looking at your later post, I saw that this is a judo club. It's not really that uncommon to find a judo club that charges little or no fees. The club I go to charges nothing to train. You had to sign a waiver and they ask that once you get to a competition level that you join USJA or USJI for insurance and promotional purposes and they charge a small fee for testing/belts.

I do think that most people have a mentality that if the training doesn't cost them any money, then it must not be any good. That might be the reason these schools that charge so much are so packed.

thats in interesting point to consider about the mentality of prices determining value.

i wonder why more martial arts do not try to operate in this fashion. do you suppose judo has a bit of an 'edge' as it is also an olympic sport?

[naja]

thats in interesting point to consider about the mentality of prices determining value.

i wonder why more martial arts do not try to operate in this fashion. do you suppose judo has a bit of an 'edge' as it is also an olympic sport?

I think as far as judo is concerned, it has more to do with :

a) Judo just isn't very popular in the US, and
b) You have to have a partner to train judo, unlike striking arts where a partner helps, but isn't required until you reach the sparring stage.

Just my $0.02

[YouKnowWho]

What is the reason for having a "registration fee" when a new student enrolls in your school? Thanks for your responses.

Just like the application fee when you want to rent an apartment. You use that money to do a credit check. If that person has criminal record, you may not want to accept him as your student.

[Oso]

Just like the application fee when you want to rent an apartment. You use that money to do a credit check. If that person has criminal record, you may not want to accept him as your student.

hmmm...are schools doing background checks? not a bad idea but i doubt many of them are using the money to do background or credit checks...i could be wrong though.

[YouKnowWho]

hmmm...are schools doing background checks? not a bad idea but i doubt many of them are using the money to do background or credit checks...i could be wrong though.

One day I had a group of people from the "Black Panther Party (they called themselves the Black Muslim)" came to my school and requested private lesson. I accepted them because it was good business (they were about 20 of them). Next day the FBI knocked on my door and asked me to either provided them the student's information or refused to teach them. I immediately inform the "Black Panther Party" members that it may be better not to come to my school after all.

[Oso]

One day I had a group of people from the "Black Panther Party (they called themselves the Black Muslim)" came to my school and requested private lesson. I accepted them because it was good business (they were about 20 of them). Next day the FBI knocked on my door and asked me to either provided them the student's information or refused to teach them. I immediately inform the "Black Panther Party" members that it may be better not to come to my school after all.

well, that's certainly a pretty extreme situation...but, I still wonder if background checks are standard...i'd have to guess not.

[YouKnowWho]

I was joking about the credit check. I don't believe any instructor care that much in US. It's ancient history that - The student visited the teacher for 3 years and the teacher checked on his student for 3 years before even starting the 1st lesson.

[BoulderDawg]

One day I had a group of people from the "Black Panther Party (they called themselves the Black Muslim)" came to my school and requested private lesson. I accepted them because it was good business (they were about 20 of them). Next day the FBI knocked on my door and asked me to either provided them the student's information or refused to teach them. I immediately inform the "Black Panther Party" members that it may be better not to come to my school after all.

There is really no such thing as the "Black Panther Party" today. You might find some small groups calling themselves that throughout the country but the group from the 60s is long gone.

Black Muslim was (and is) totally different. Black Muslim could be anything but most of the time it's associated with the Nation of Islam. They are very active today. Some of their activities borders on being radical but they also do a lot of good things for the community.

I take stories like this with a grain of salt. If this story is true my guess is that you would have very little info of the individual members of a group that you were paid to train. My personal opinion on that is if you fork over the cash you can call yourself John Smith if you so desire.

To be honest, they are very few groups that I would not teach. If I was harassed by federal law I would just tell them to come back with a warrent.

[YouKnowWho]

I think you are right. It disappeared in the 70th (I opened my school in 1973). I don't know if it had anything to do with the "Black Dragon Fighting Society" or not which was also very popular in the 70th.
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The Black Panther Party (originally the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense) was an African-American organization established to promote Black Power and self-defense through acts of social agitation. It was active in the United States from the mid-1960s into the 1970s.

Founded in Oakland, California, by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale on October 15, 1966, the organization initially set forth a doctrine calling for the protection of African American neighborhoods from police brutality, in the interest of African-American justice.[1] Its objectives and philosophy changed radically during the party's existence. While the organization's leaders passionately espoused socialist doctrine, the Party's black nationalist reputation attracted an ideologically diverse membership.[2] Ideological consensus within the party was difficult to achieve. Some members openly disagreed with the views of the leaders.

In 1967 the organization marched on the California State Capitol in Sacramento in protest of a ban on weapons. The official newspaper The Black Panther was also first circulated that year. By 1968, the party had expanded into many cities throughout the United States, including Chicago, Los Angeles, San Diego, Denver, Newark, New York City, Philadelphia, Seattle and Baltimore. That same year, membership reached 5,000, and their newspaper had grown to a circulation of 250,000.[3]

The group created a Ten-Point Program, a document that called for "Land, Bread, Housing, Education, Clothing, Justice and Peace", as well as exemption from military service for African-American men, among other demands.[4] While firmly grounded in black nationalism and begun as an organization that accepted only African Americans as members, the party changed as it grew to national prominence and became an icon of the counterculture of the 1960s.[5] The Black Panthers ultimately condemned black nationalism as "black racism". They became more focused on socialism without racial exclusivity.[6] They instituted a variety of community programs to alleviate poverty and improve health among communities deemed most needful of aid. While the party retained its all-black membership, it recognized that different minority communities (those it deemed oppressed by the American government) needed to organize around their own set of issues and encouraged alliances with such organizations.

The group's political goals were often overshadowed by their confrontational and militant tactics, and by their suspicions of law enforcement agents. The Black Panthers considered them as oppressors to be overcome by a willingness to take up armed self-defense.[7] After party membership started to decline during Huey Newton's 1968 manslaughter trial, the Black Panther Party collapsed in the early 1970s. Writers such as Black Panther and Socialist Angela Davis and American writer and political activist Ward Churchill have alleged that law enforcement officials went to great lengths to discredit and destroy the organization, including assassination.[8]