McDojo or not

[TKDguy]

my tkd school seems different from most others that seem to be talked about on this sight. we have several different teachers who each have their own strengths and weaknesses at different aspects of the style. for example the grand master at my school is a eigth degree blackbelt in combat tkd which he learned when he was in the korean military, and he also was one of the coaches for the 1988 us olympic tkd team. we have two other masters who are straight olympic style, which can definately work if used properly without all the flashy high kicks. thier is another instructor who competes nhb so from him we get a lot of boxing, muay thai kicking and, and grappling. i have been attending this school for 5 years, am very good freinds with everyone there and had never heard of a McDojo untill coming to this site. I have never had any trouble when getting into altercations on the street and have no intention of changing schools, sbut i just wanted your oppinion on whether my school is a McDojo or not.

[electrorok]

tkd guy, dont worry about the term "mcdojo" It doesnt mean anything. If u train hard and learn good strong techniques from your instructors then your onto a good thing.
your instructors sound like they have quite a bit of experience so thats good.
Ive never understood the term Mcdojo really, if a school is successful and open more gyms they get called a mcdojo, but if a school isnt successful and only has 1 or 2 gyms then they avoid the label? have i got it wrong?

[BadgerFu57]

mcDojos are gyms that hand out belts for money.

Those do exist.

They aren't hard to figure out which is which.
When you have a 7 year old black belt than loses his balance throwing a roundhouse kick, that's always a good sign of a mcDojo.

[bodhisattva]

I agree. But McDojos too have 7 year olds that can throw flashy round kicks.

What makes a school a McDojo is that when the 7 year old with the sweet round kick gets cornered by another kid at his school - the same weight as him, that kid with no training whips the snot out of him.

So, TKDGuy, if you guys box without the standard tae kwon do rules (no face hits, 1/3 contact level, high kicks prefered attack, only hit the torsofront and head, break after each "point" and resume fighting, etc.) and instead spend time kickboxing and wrestling with a fairly uncomfortable level of contact.. then no, you aren't at a mcdojo. Not by a long shot.

If you are doing lots of point sparring, memorizing kata, and not groundfighting not learning takedowns/clinch, then you are probably at a mcdojo - would you like a McKata with your McBlueBelt?

The BEST way to find out, if you are REALLY curious, is to find a competitive JUDO/BJJ school, and go take a free lesson. . Then go to a boxing/Thai boxing gym. Do the same thing. Be friendly. Many of them were tae kwon do students once too. If you do pretty well at both places (fighting - not drilling), by your own judgement, then dude - go back to your teacher and be content. YOU are the only authority about your own training. Feel free to experiment, and find what works.

That's the way to find out, in my opinion. .

Train with all kinds, take on what works, drop what doesn't : Evolution baby!

[TKDguy]

i have never had any trouble rolling with anyone on my hs wrestling team and both my friends who take mt have trouble fighting me when we kickbox. and at class we dont use any of the crappy big chest plates when we spar, just head hand and feet protectors because we already have 2 many kids with broken ribs from bare feet.

[Broadsword2004]

I remember sparring at my old karate school; we'd murder each other!! We'd be like in Rocky, almost at the point of collapse, fighting; we'd go pretty much full contact except to actually hitting the head.