How do i go about finding the best karate school in my city?

Hello


I%26#039;m looking to start taking karate, but i don%26#039;t know where to start!


There%26#039;s so many schools out there and i can%26#039;t really choose. How do i find out which school is right for me? I really want to learn all of the styles





Thanks in advance|||Alright first let me say that the style you choose is not going to be nearly as importent as the instructor and the way the school trains. A style will not fight for you, it is nothing more then a tool to use.





The steps I would recomend are:





1) Do a google search or check the phone book for schools in your area. Wait here is a search:





http://www.google.com/search?hl=en%26amp;safe=...





2) Decide what you want from a style? Self defense? tournament participation? Weapons training? Research the school as much as possible from their website, and also as much about the style as you can. you may be able to weed the list down just from this.





Example: If you want weapons, and a school or style doesn%26#039;t teach them, you can pretty much rule it out.





3) Do a search on here about how to find a good school and what to avoid or go to bullshido.com. there are many good answers on here about this already.





http://www.bullshido.com/articles/findin...





4) Physicly go to each school on your list that you have not ruled out and watch more then one class. Many offer free trial classes.





5) Pick the school that has the best instruction, the best training, that has what you are looking for, fits your schedule, and that you can afford.





Start raining and have fun.|||Look in the yellow pages for the local schools. Most schools will have trial classes where you can go and try a class for free. Go to as many trial classes as needed until you find the school that is right for you.





I recommend picking the school based on the instructor versus the facility size. The instructor will make or break the experience for you.|||I travel to that area on a regular basis and have worked out with many schools down there. Here are the best ones by my 30+ years of training opinion.





http://www.kobayashidojo.com/


http://www.kurokawakarate.cmasdirect.com...





Either one of these are very good. I would avoid training at any of the TKD schools down there because most of them are belt factories from what I observed when visiting their schools.





The only exception would be http://www.gulfcoastmartialarts.com/ but they are mostly aimed at tournament competition.





There are few decent Kempo schools there as well but the instructors at all of them were very closed minded and ridiculed the other schools in that area.





Here are a couple of other ones that I worked out at and they were decent. Good luck.





Shorinkan Dojo


(239) 233-9369


3049 Cleveland Ave, #250j, Fort Myers, FL





Cape Coral Isshin-Ryu Karate


(239) 540-1150


3812 Skyline Blvd, Cape Coral, FL