First I hope Kawika and whoever represents Roma will finally respond to this even thought they didn't give me the courtesy of responding to a deeply thought out and respectful message sent to them last year. THEY LOOKED AT MY MESSAGE AND DID NOT RESPOND. They reaffirmed the treatment that I felt at their place by not responding to me and ignoring me.
Disclaimer: First I am originally from Los Angeles and African American. I have a local partner and I have been here for 11 years and am at least familiar with the culture and expected a real ohana feel to this place. So I had high expectations. I rolled here on and off for maybe almost 2 years. I didn't come with an ego even though I have done martial arts on and off for several years. I wanted to start from scratch and was ready to get advice in anyway shape or form.
I am a PhD student at Subaru Telescope working on techniques to discover exoplanets, so one, I am no dumb bitch. I observe and analyze for a living, so my observations are well formulated and thought out, otherwise I would not give my opinion.
I gave these people the benefit of the doubt and went with the flow for a while. Flat out: I think they are cliquey and maybe even borden line racist. Yeh I said it. You guys treated me weird as fuck. No one ever asked me how I was doing, even though I came in with a smile on my face every time. No one EVER asked me what I did for a living. DID YOU KNOW I HELP DISCOVER EXOPLANETS?! NO! I am only saying this because they didn't care about me as a person. My partner also rolled there and you hated on him too. I also heard from another person that you guys give weird vibes. When I would submit people you guys didn't coach me through or tell me how to strengthen my technique, it looked like you didn't give a crap about helping me grow even if I exhibited a bit of potential. AGAIN, if you wanted me to patch up to be apart of your "crew" then you should have been transparent about that. I would have honored that and tried to commit as much as I could. The people in the class were more friendly and helpful than the instructors. Like I sent in the message awhile ago to Roma, Kawika's girlfriend was the only friendly person, and it might have been her job to do that. I felt invisible there and WEIRD. I have been in several martial arts places, even was trained by the late Bill Ryusaki in Hawaiian Kenpo for more than a year and really saw what it was like to be with a humble and cool instructor. This place was not the Bees knees. Would NEVER recommend. Try Nu Era, they aint about that dollar and they actually teach you and talk to you.
I waited like 4 plus years to say this. I held my tongue too long. I wish you guys would get back to what martial arts is about.
Please respond Roma I'd love to hear your take. :). I even asked was there something I did that was disrespectful in the message because I'd own up ( even though I for sure didn't). Maybe you didn't respond because I said I wasn't very fond of that Todd-guy? Does it matter? Should have respected my opinions and responded like all businesses do. It would actually be surprising if you step up and send me a message on facebook. Look at your message history, my message is there.
And please if anyone reads this that rolled with me years ago, hit me up I'd love to talk story and hear your opinions because I was calm cool and collected when I was there and didn't bother no one. So help me understand this non- inclusive Roma culture??? I am pretty fond of dojo's and gyms and egos and earning your right to be somewhere but this was different. read more