Hi. I am looking for some feedback from the community here, as hopefully someone has been in my position before, or they can relate and can lend some good advice. Please read the full post before you comment.
I have been attending my Tang Soo Do classes for 2 1/2 years now. I liked the art and the school, and I still like the art, but I would like to move on to something more "practical" and phycially demanding such as Muay Thai/Boxing/BJJ....ya know, MMA. I have taken some trial classes at different school and love the MMA stuff! I cannot believe how sore I am when I leave the places, and the actual fact that I have targets to hit helps a lot. Not to mention, fighting other students will help me in real life situations, should they arise.....that of course, is my opinion anyway.
I am leaving my school not only becuase the training has gotten stale and boring, but many other reasons as well. When I first came to the school, we had about 35 students in the children's classes and about 15 in the "adult" classes. Now I put the word adult in quotations because the adult class was made up by mostly all 14-16 year old kids. There was one 58 year old guy in there. I am 38, I was 36 when I joined. My younger brother, who is 6 years younger than me, joined with me at the same time.
And so we began our crusade. We trained and I made every single class. Not once did I miss one of the classes that they offered. We had a blast at first. I would take first place in forms all of the time in tournaments. I also became a teacher like student at the school, as when I acheived 3rd gup, I would teach the private children's classes.
But things started to change. The children's class shrunk to under 15 so they had to combine the two children's classes together. My brother had his 2nd child in April, so naturally, he did not attend class. Now, take into account that we both received our 3rd gup rank in December of 2011 and there is a 6 month minimum requirement before you can test for 2nd gup. He came back in early May, but when it was time for him to get a test paper, they did not give him one because he "didn't have enough classes". His technique and knowledge for the rank were just fine! He practiced at home while he was taking care of his new baby boy (he already had another 2 year old boy which is handful on its own) and helped around the house while his wife recovered. So my brother did not think that was fair, so he quit.
Now, there aren't any contracts at my school, but they throw in a loophole here. The regular charge per month is $99. But, if you elect to pay electronically and have the money taken out of your bank account automatically at the end of every month, they drop the price to $90. The catch? You can only quit if you come into the school and tell them you are going to quit. My brother did not do that.....he called and just told them to stop billing him. When the school "owner" stated that he should wait to talk to the head instructor, my brother told him that there was no reason to speak to him and to stop billing him and the call was ended.
We have two masters in my school. The main master is 59 years old and works 70 hours a week. He usually isn't there and when he is, it is very normal for him to get up and leave in the middle of class becuase he has to go to work. The other master is 27 years old and is the son of the owner. He is a great teacher, but a very cocky person. Many people have quit because of him. I have the type of personality that shakes that type of thing off though.
Now, to go back to the children's class and the decline in attendance, the "adult" class has suffered just as much. We had another student join over a year ago, and he has been the last student to join since. All of the students above me have since quit and our numbers in the adult class are down to 6. Usually, it is only me, the guy under me that just joined a little over a year ago, and one or two black belts. Because my master works so often, me and the guy under me offered to make a website. The head master was all for it! The other master and the owner however, were not. They fought us tooth and nail over it and did not want to advertise. Also, the light for the school never worked. We were told by the owner that it doesn't work and it doesn't need to work. This light is on a an EXTREMELY busy street and intersection. I mean, you are stuck at the red light for a few minutes. So me and the guy that is right below me found the landlord, who showed us how to switch the lights on. Even though we did that, they are still always turned off when we come in. The website is in limbo because my master needs to look over some things, but he has been saying that for nearly 5 months now.
I have completely lost intrest now. There is no one at the classes anymore, as last week it was just me and one other student. They only offer two classes during the week and Saturday, which can cause friction between my wife and I. It also causes isseus at my work as well. For example, on Monday the 1st, it was my brother in law's birthday. There was a tournament coming up on the 6th, so I knew I had to go and practice, so I missed the birthday dinner for him in place of class. I was then offered to stay and work overtime at my work that Thursday, the 4th, but I knew I couldn't do it because that would mean that I would have not practiced for the tournament since Monday.
(By the way, I won first place in forms and fighting in the tournament)
The lack of options for class, along with the decline of fellow students, along with the constant fighting to try to get some sort of advertising going along with the fact that I am in a class with no other adults over 15 (I cannot communicate with them. I have kids their age), has made me not want to go back. I really have no more intrest in fulfilling minimum requirement times. And yes, I know, it takes a long time to become a black belt, but I cannot do anymore Passai's....I can't stand there and kick in the air anymore and pretend someone is there. We have all sorts of bags and such to use as targets, but, even though I requested it, they refuse to use them.
Now, if you go back to the paragragh where I explain how my brother quit, I will tell you that some students, and the younger master, constantly make fun of him quitting. They state things like "he couldn't hack it because we wouldn't test him" and "he was too cowardly to even come in and tell us that he quit." I don't wanna be that person that is being made fun of for years and years to come for future students in that school.
So my question is, how should I quit? Should I do it the way my brother did it? Or should I go in and tell them that I quit. You know the only reason they make that "deal" is so they can try to talk you out of it. If my master is there, it is going to be really hard to look him in the eye when he asks me "why" and I don't want to be put in that position, because I really respect the guy and he was never anything but nice to me.
What do you all think?
Thanks!
EDIT: And by the way, the school is the best traditional Tang Soo Do school anywhere remotely close to my area, so I would highly recommend it to anyone that likes this sort of thing.
I have been attending my Tang Soo Do classes for 2 1/2 years now. I liked the art and the school, and I still like the art, but I would like to move on to something more "practical" and phycially demanding such as Muay Thai/Boxing/BJJ....ya know, MMA. I have taken some trial classes at different school and love the MMA stuff! I cannot believe how sore I am when I leave the places, and the actual fact that I have targets to hit helps a lot. Not to mention, fighting other students will help me in real life situations, should they arise.....that of course, is my opinion anyway.
I am leaving my school not only becuase the training has gotten stale and boring, but many other reasons as well. When I first came to the school, we had about 35 students in the children's classes and about 15 in the "adult" classes. Now I put the word adult in quotations because the adult class was made up by mostly all 14-16 year old kids. There was one 58 year old guy in there. I am 38, I was 36 when I joined. My younger brother, who is 6 years younger than me, joined with me at the same time.
And so we began our crusade. We trained and I made every single class. Not once did I miss one of the classes that they offered. We had a blast at first. I would take first place in forms all of the time in tournaments. I also became a teacher like student at the school, as when I acheived 3rd gup, I would teach the private children's classes.
But things started to change. The children's class shrunk to under 15 so they had to combine the two children's classes together. My brother had his 2nd child in April, so naturally, he did not attend class. Now, take into account that we both received our 3rd gup rank in December of 2011 and there is a 6 month minimum requirement before you can test for 2nd gup. He came back in early May, but when it was time for him to get a test paper, they did not give him one because he "didn't have enough classes". His technique and knowledge for the rank were just fine! He practiced at home while he was taking care of his new baby boy (he already had another 2 year old boy which is handful on its own) and helped around the house while his wife recovered. So my brother did not think that was fair, so he quit.
Now, there aren't any contracts at my school, but they throw in a loophole here. The regular charge per month is $99. But, if you elect to pay electronically and have the money taken out of your bank account automatically at the end of every month, they drop the price to $90. The catch? You can only quit if you come into the school and tell them you are going to quit. My brother did not do that.....he called and just told them to stop billing him. When the school "owner" stated that he should wait to talk to the head instructor, my brother told him that there was no reason to speak to him and to stop billing him and the call was ended.
We have two masters in my school. The main master is 59 years old and works 70 hours a week. He usually isn't there and when he is, it is very normal for him to get up and leave in the middle of class becuase he has to go to work. The other master is 27 years old and is the son of the owner. He is a great teacher, but a very cocky person. Many people have quit because of him. I have the type of personality that shakes that type of thing off though.
Now, to go back to the children's class and the decline in attendance, the "adult" class has suffered just as much. We had another student join over a year ago, and he has been the last student to join since. All of the students above me have since quit and our numbers in the adult class are down to 6. Usually, it is only me, the guy under me that just joined a little over a year ago, and one or two black belts. Because my master works so often, me and the guy under me offered to make a website. The head master was all for it! The other master and the owner however, were not. They fought us tooth and nail over it and did not want to advertise. Also, the light for the school never worked. We were told by the owner that it doesn't work and it doesn't need to work. This light is on a an EXTREMELY busy street and intersection. I mean, you are stuck at the red light for a few minutes. So me and the guy that is right below me found the landlord, who showed us how to switch the lights on. Even though we did that, they are still always turned off when we come in. The website is in limbo because my master needs to look over some things, but he has been saying that for nearly 5 months now.
I have completely lost intrest now. There is no one at the classes anymore, as last week it was just me and one other student. They only offer two classes during the week and Saturday, which can cause friction between my wife and I. It also causes isseus at my work as well. For example, on Monday the 1st, it was my brother in law's birthday. There was a tournament coming up on the 6th, so I knew I had to go and practice, so I missed the birthday dinner for him in place of class. I was then offered to stay and work overtime at my work that Thursday, the 4th, but I knew I couldn't do it because that would mean that I would have not practiced for the tournament since Monday.
(By the way, I won first place in forms and fighting in the tournament)
The lack of options for class, along with the decline of fellow students, along with the constant fighting to try to get some sort of advertising going along with the fact that I am in a class with no other adults over 15 (I cannot communicate with them. I have kids their age), has made me not want to go back. I really have no more intrest in fulfilling minimum requirement times. And yes, I know, it takes a long time to become a black belt, but I cannot do anymore Passai's....I can't stand there and kick in the air anymore and pretend someone is there. We have all sorts of bags and such to use as targets, but, even though I requested it, they refuse to use them.
Now, if you go back to the paragragh where I explain how my brother quit, I will tell you that some students, and the younger master, constantly make fun of him quitting. They state things like "he couldn't hack it because we wouldn't test him" and "he was too cowardly to even come in and tell us that he quit." I don't wanna be that person that is being made fun of for years and years to come for future students in that school.
So my question is, how should I quit? Should I do it the way my brother did it? Or should I go in and tell them that I quit. You know the only reason they make that "deal" is so they can try to talk you out of it. If my master is there, it is going to be really hard to look him in the eye when he asks me "why" and I don't want to be put in that position, because I really respect the guy and he was never anything but nice to me.
What do you all think?
Thanks!
EDIT: And by the way, the school is the best traditional Tang Soo Do school anywhere remotely close to my area, so I would highly recommend it to anyone that likes this sort of thing.
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