Thursday, November 12, 2009

Is it possible to get a karate/taekwondo scholarship to college?Do they have karate/taekwondo at any colleges?

Is it possible to get a karate/taekwondo scholarship to college?Do they have karate/taekwondo at any colleges?|||There are none that I know about. However, I do know a person that was given a 4 year scholarship to take Judo in Colorado. The guy was from St Louis. We trained together in high school. Phil Porter, The president of the NJA(National Judo Association) awarded it to him. He wanted him to come and train with the Olympic team which trains in Colorado. Our school was invited to come and train with the Olympians because of our national standings. Many of our students were highly ranked nationally in a short period of time. Our school became the largest school in Missouri after 3 years.|||Schools themselves won%26#039;t give scholarships, at least not in the United States. However, many, if not most, major colleges have karate and/or tae kwon do as a club or intramural sport. There are even a number of regional tournaments that take place between local colleges and universities. Some schools even have programs to get a certificate or even a minor in the study of martial arts.|||Obviously in Japanese schools you can probably get a Judo scholarship because Judo is so huge over there, and same in Korea regarding TKD. TKD is as big in Korea as Judo is in Japan. As far as here in the U.S. I doubt it. Most Colleges and Universities generally categorize such actitivies as either %26quot;intramural sports%26quot; or %26quot;clubs,%26quot; but as to an actual scholarship for it I seriously doubt it, unless, you can find a rich dude or b*tch so into martial arts they actually fund that kind of scholarship. There%26#039;s all kinds of scholarships out there, from the understandable (%26quot;he must be a good boy scout, he must have 100 merit badges!%26quot;), to the ridiculous (%26quot;he%26#039;s got a good ant farm.%26quot;) Who the hell gives a scholarship for having an ant farm right? You never know though; I have seen some scholarships for like, the stupidest things.





Its POSSIBLE someone out there funds such a scholarship, a millionaire or retiree with too much money to burn but, it stands to reason that such a person would be incredibly difficult to find here in the U.S. so, don%26#039;t hold your breath. As to holding an actual DEGREE in it, from the JKA%26#039;s website, I know Japan offers those. Also from the TKD manuals I%26#039;ve looked at, I know Korea offers PhD%26#039;s in Tae Kwan Do. To get a belt rank higher than 5th Dan, actual academic study of Karate has become a requirement. Moreover, the ranking system in Japan is dominated by the Japan Karate Federation which is for all intents and purposes the %26quot;Vatican%26quot; of Karate, the same way the Vatican is, well, the Vatican as far as Catholicism is concerned.





The JKF is so huge, it doesn%26#039;t matter how good you get, or how many times you win the all Japan Karate championship; tick them off and they are fully capable of finding someone able to smack the crap out of you. Of course they don%26#039;t do that, but so many Karateka in Japan answer to that orgnization, if they truly wanted to, they could probably find a Karate guy so skilled, they could plow through all the PRIDE and UFC guys with but a single blow. Of course to get away with that you%26#039;d have to be pretty damn good but, believe me, the JKF is a large enough, and powerful and influential enough orgnization that with their resources they probably COULD find a beast like that.





I don%26#039;t know if Japan grants any %26quot;Karate%26quot; scholarships for college or if they even grant them to foreigners because generally, even though Chinese people tend to be polite with how sloppy a foreigners Tai Chi or Kung Fu form is, the Japanese on the other hand are not at all shy when it comes to speaking their mind about how bad Judo and Karate is here in the U.S. Even though they are too polite to say it, because they are more careful about making a good impression, most Chinese generally have an equal prejudice; if you are a foreign born person who did not study under a Chinese teacher, they will immediately asume your form is sloppy and bad, even though they won%26#039;t say it.





Japanese friends of mine from Washington State University, they never studied with the Karate club of the school; they trained on their own. That was their opinion of it; they were all black belts so they knew what they were doing, but still, even as a black belt as a general rule you have to seek instruction from someone higher ranked than you. Even though the American guy there claimed to have a 10th dan, and my friends were 1st and 2nd respectively, they studied on their own. They offered to teach me, but I decliend because at the time I was too much of a p*ssy; they were training demons who, all they did, was study, train, study, train, study, and then train some more. Sometimes if the day allowed they would log in a whopping 6 hours. Frankly I don%26#039;t know how they found time to waste with me playing video games and stuff.





No joke man, many east Asian martial artists are ultra hardcore; know what you are getting into if you decide to take that route.|||Not really. Colleges only really give out scholarships for varsity sports. Sorry.





There are almost certain to be karate and taekwando dojo/clubs at any given school, though. There are 2 or three karate clubs at mine, and a taekwando club, and my school only has 5000 people. When you apply, your school will have at least a partial listing of clubs, and a google search (such as %26quot;College Name Martial arts clubs%26quot;) should reveal any others|||Ask your instructor, some dojos give scholarships to students. And there are some colleges that have martial arts check with those colleges for scholarships too. |||No but there are some associations out there who give scholarships to students who are in martial arts but you must have good grades, be a dedicated martial artist and be of good moral character.|||I%26#039;ve never heard of anything like that. It%26#039;s possible that Japan or Korea would have such programs. If that%26#039;s your plan, you%26#039;d better start hitting the language classes.|||The University of Bridgeport offers a bachelor%26#039;s degree in Martial Arts studies. |||Wrestling. No one really cares about TKD...|||no

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