I've been a (adult) student at Denton Taekwondo Academy for almost half a year now, and I've made green belt rank.
The program here is VERY good at teaching excellent martial arts skills. The classes are small, individualized, and held 6 days a week. For ten bucks more, you can go to unlimited classes each week (which means you could train for about 10 hours if you made *all* the classes).
DTA isn't part of any international Taekwondo organizations, but teaches traditional Taekwondo. What does this mean?
* No kukkiwon or organizational fees keep costs to a minimum. Each belt testing is 40$, compared to several hundreds of dollars in other organizations.
* Tuition is also inexpensive - roughly a hundred dollars a month. There also are NO CONTRACTS, which is awesome.
* The curriculum teaches practical skills that aren't altered to meet organizational needs. Some olympic organizations are very conservative on the usage of hand techniques (punches / backfists / etc) and may not even teach them. Fighting without using your hands is stupid, and DTA doesn't do that. We keep our hands up and use them in conjunction with kicks.
* DTA is not a "sparring school." Kids and adults are not shoved into full contact sparring until they've demonstrated that they understand how to use good control and block well. There haven't been serious injuries in decades (and if I'm not mistaken, the only serious one we've had here is a broken nose).
* We don't have those silly camouflage belts that the ATA has.
The instruction that I've received in the adult classes is incredibly high quality, insightful, and helpful. There are many instances in which my instructor has been able to point out and help me fix flaws in my techniques immediately. On Thursdays, a guest instructor teaches the 7:00 class, which helps give more perspective on my training.
The environment here is great. The instructors are polite without being overbearingly social. The students here are REALLY nice, making it a pleasant place to train.
Some other pros and cons that I haven't mentioned:
Pros:
*Almost everything we've been taught is *practical.* People aren't taught to, say, block a strike with a baseball bat with our forearms.
*Adults with flexibility or fitness issues can train too! I've seen some people with both problems train well and make a lot of progress. Also, if you're a fitness guy - Taekwondo is MAD cardio.
*Not a McDojo. There aren't any contracts, silly fees, unreasonable prices, etc. The instructors are experienced, well qualified, and give instruction that is WELL worth the tuition.
Cons:
*It takes a while to get to green belt level and spar. It's made me a better martial artist, but I am an impatient guy, so...
*We practice "forms" (aka poomse / taegeuk / patterns ) and they can be boring sometimes. It's just a part of Taekwondo that people who have ADHD, like me, may dislike.
*Adult classes are held after children's classes. Children smell.
I've loved training here and I'd recommend DTA to anyone, including all of my friends. Anyone can train here - and it's a wonderful experience. read more