I am writing this review as I do feel it is important to give the best feedback possible and honest view of SKM. I received my "blackbelt" back in May of 2019.
The Pros,
His curriculum changes overtime as he finds better ways of doing things. The best thing about his curriculum is how broad it is but that is also its weakness. So, you see a lot of material over time but then it will be a while before you see certain things. So, the best way is to look at it as more tools at your disposal. Although, once at the "expert" level much of the curriculum is not needed. He has a first degree blackbelt in what I believe was called Fast Attack Krav Maga, I don't remember what his rank was in TeaKownDo, and I believe his current rank in BJJ is a brown belt. He has an extensive background in coaching and it truly shows as he can breakdown tasks and give proper feedback.
One highlight of mine at SKM was there was a seminar with a guy that taught Kali Escrima and Christian paid my way because I could not afford it at the time. I cannot say how much I appreciated this act of kindness and generosity. Furthermore, at the time, I believed in his curriculum and expertise enough to pay off my entire tuition along with all my belt tests and this was a lump sum of approximately $3,000.
The cons,
He is telling his current students that he can promote them to 2nd degree blackbelts and so on. The issue with this is he only has a first degree blackbelt. With that in mind, in my opinion, it is an integrity issue that he is stating that he can promote them to belts that he has not earned himself.
My other issue is the coaching at his establishments. Once you receive your first expert level rank you are given a cert to teach basic level. In order to get your blackbelt you need 50 hours of teaching or else you are made a probationary blackbelt until you have accumulated the necessary 50 hours. Yes, you can earn your hours in the way of your choosing such as private lessons or teaching his classes. That I am fine with. My issue is after your 50 hours he wants you to continue to teach his classes. I have a few issues with this. One issue with this is the fact that it conflicts with muscle memory. I and some other coaches noticed that we became stagnant and our training suffered because we were no longer focused on our training and were focused on aiding other students. I stopped coaching due to this and saw improvement thereafter. Furthermore, once you have obtained your 50 hours, he considers you an intern, even after you have earned your blackbelt, and states that the compensation you get is "knowledge and experience." This in my opinion is an integrity issue. He does pay other staff such as his BJJ instructor and Fitness instructor.
If he offered some sort of compensation such as bartering example; if you teach basic/advanced classes (or whatever combination you agree on) and you will not be charged for tuition or he could simply pay them for their time and effort. Having your clients pay a monthly membership fee and have them teach your curriculum, in my opinion, is simply wrong.
Lastly, while we were speaking in a text, he said "This is the same in many areas of the world not just martial arts." Going back to the comments previously about it being like an internship. So, I took this as a challenge and called a 6 different martial arts schools some Krav Maga schools, others more traditional marital arts and an MMA gym. 5 of the schools said that it sounded like an integrity issue and is something they would not practice. The one that sort of shared his opinion, said he would at least comp their monthly fee.
I give this review one star because with what I found, in my opinion, to be integrity issues I cannot give it a higher rating.
To Christian, nice personal attacks you threw in there. It is not surprising at all. There are other coaches at SKM that have noticed the same issues. As one of the stated they felt your coach's were more like your "worker bees." Take the advice and do better. Also if you want to promote people past their first black belt then you need to go earn it. Also I only changed the rating due to the fact you said my opinion was wrong. Who are you or anyone else to say what another individuals opinion is or is not? Also, this is expected of my behavior? Based on what exactly? Maybe for example when I bought a fan for the dojo because the other guy went out of business and took the one that was there? Or maybe when you got the new facility and I cut you a huge deal and cleaned it up for you? Or maybe when you were going to announce me at the last black belt test but I interrupted and took the spot light off myself in order to help a student that was blocked in? As expected you cannot provide any examples. You are a coward.
Attacking me based on my opinion is unprofessional. I'm going to move on now and I expect you to do the same.
I will wish you nothing but success and happiness. read more
