hi. i teach shotokan in england and ive known about bullshido.net for a while but only just become a member. another karate club opened up a year ago one town over from where i teach. i teach trad. shotokan with the english karate federation. a new student startde at my club a few weeks ago who is a former member of the karate club im talking about. she said they wear different colour gis nearly every week.they claim to teach karate kickboxing and teakwando but i dont know any clubs in a 100 mile radius who teach that many styles. they have mostly kids and they graded a 10 year old girl to black belt in just two years. i dont know anything about freestyle karate kickboxing or tekwando so i cant comment on that. but i think it sounds a lot like a mcdojo. they get students to sign contracts and pay every month by direct debit. i think you call it a bank transfer in america. their is a grading every month and three stripes per belt before the next full colour. their website is www.aspiremartialarts.co.uk. take a look at their logo at the top of their website and then look at www.ataonline.com which is the website for the american takewnodo associatoin. i think they stole the design. i was told they left another association at red belt which is the equivalent to purple belt in shotokan. not sure what it is in other styles. about three or four gradings from black belt. but they graded themselves to black belt and teach mostly kids. does this sound like a mcdojo to you. any advise you could give me on this would be great. sorry for my spelling im new to computers. thansk.
I looked at their website and it appears they have based their logo on that of the ATA. Not just a little, but a hell of a lot! It looks like all they did was change the T to an M, and change the angle of the kicker slightly. Wonder what the ATA would say about this?
From what I’ve seen in the photographs on their website, they don’t seem to have much technical ability. Certainly looks like, and from what you’ve posted above, sounds like, a typical McDojo.
Who are they affiliated with, or what is their martial arts lineage?
so i did some diggiing around. i heard from a friend that the instructors who run that club never got to black belt. i emailde the organisationthey use dto be part of and this was the response i got…Hi Mr Padalecki, Thank you for your email. Martin and Michael Yankee where indeed instructors for the Matt Fiddes Organisation, they trained in our systems for around 1 year achieved red belt in our curriculum. They then created there own martial arts school called ‘aspiremartailarts’ and took all of our Matt Fiddes Members with them. They ripped off our complete system including newspaper artwork, for which they were sued for damaging the brand. The Yankee brothers have now been teaching their own Martial Arts system for a few years, even through they have never achieved a black belt and only have 1 year of martial arts experience. There are many high quality martial arts schools in and around Blackburn, and I wish you luck in finding the right one for you. with pride and respect Mr Stuart Youles3rd Degree Black BeltChief Instructor for Matt Fiddes Martial Arts School. Direct Line - 01271 379666Head Office - 0800 0354 660Email mryoules@mattfiddes.comwww.mattfiddes.co.ukwww.mftr.co.uki copy and pasted this direct from my inbox. i can forward this to anyone who wants a copy. these guys a frauds. check out their website. www.aspiremartialarts.co.uk. they claim to be highly qualified instructors. should we do a bullshido investigation?
I have never seen a british flag gi until today
http://www.aspiremartialarts.co.uk/pages/shorai.php
so i emailed the insturctors at aspire and asked them to confirm there teaching qualifications and who there teachers are. ill let you all know when they write back.