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Old 04-16-2008, 04:27 PM   #6 (permalink)
sikal
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Location: Louisville, KY
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Soundtrackzz View Post
Is $110 too much to pay for a month of eskrima classes. class meets 3 times a week for an hour and a half each time.

Thanks
I don't know where you're located but that's about what the school were I teach charges - for that price students can attend as many classes as they want / week in a variety of systems (Kali & Silat class I teach, BJJ, Karate, Wing Tzun, Tai Chi) that are taught at the school by different instructors. I haven't looked into the surrounding schools personally but I've heard from several people that other schools (mostly TKD is what's available here) in the area charge $75 - $100 / month for 2 - 3 classes / week.

And, the bottom line, is it worth it to you?

When I started training in Sikal, my instructor was charging $65 / month (this was nearly 13+ years ago). For most of the class (there were only 6 of us at the time) they could train in any/all of the classes on the schedule at that time (which was, if memory serves, 5 or 6).

I, however, didn't live in the area. In fact, I lived 2.5 hours away. Once I'd been exposed to the material, though, I knew it was what I wanted ... period. And it was worth just about anything to me.

Every weekend for a year, I would get off work at midnight (working 2nd shift) and drive 2 hours to my friend's house. I'd get in at 2 or 3 AM on Saturday morning and at 11 AM we'd be in class training. There were 2 Saturday classes. We'd train 11 - 12:30, break for lunch, then train 3 - 4:30 PM (again, if memory serves).

In order to keep up with the rest of the class (who were all training 3 - 6 times / week) I would take a private lesson on Sunday (1 private / month was all I could afford but it was also enough to keep up with the rest of the class). If I remember correctly, privates were ~$75 / hour (again, this was 13+ years ago) and I would do 2 hours once a month.

Consequently, I was paying somewhere in the neighborhood of $140 / month (+ gas so about $150 / month), driving ~25 hours / month to get to/from class and getting ~25 hours of in-class training / month. Then, also to keep up with the rest of the class, I did 10 - 15 hours of solo training each week at home because I didn't know anyone else within a couple hours drive that could act as a training partner for me.

I did that for a year and never missed a class. Then I quit my job, sold the trailer I was living in and moved so that I was only about 30 min. from my instructor's school.

Was it worth it? YES ... at twice the price/inconvenience it would still have been a bargain. In fact, given that the training I received has literally saved my life a couple of times the money/inconvenience were completely inconsequential.

So if you really want FMA and that's what it costs then it's totally worth it.

Mike
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