I want to preface this with saying that I wrote this review in September of 2020, and have not…read moreedited it. It is in present tense. Things may have changed since then- I do not know.
I've been with Thurston for a few years now, and I truly love the staff. The teachers are fantastic and I've learned so much from them. They push me in all the best ways and always make me want to do my best. The owners however, can be really concerning about money. They're great teachers, but they haven't treated me well in the past when I was in a position where I couldn't necessarily pay. The instance that immediately comes to mind is when the pandemic started in March.
This was something that put all business owners in a bad situation, and so I don't begrudge them for having a difficult time of it, but the way they went about it was all wrong. They begin having online videos and one on one zoom lessons, which was fine, but they charged everyone the same price they charged for the regular in person classes. They also gave no compensation for the time in which there were no classes at all, and no financial help. When we said that we may have to cancel my lessons and join back once covid got less severe, they threatened to demote me back to white belt. Since they opened up their gym, they are training us in a way that is completely against covid guidelines. There are no masks, and everyone is within six feet of each other. And it's very easy to spread illness in a sweaty environment.
The owners are greedy, and that definitely puts them in a different light to me than they used to be. That instance made me realize that they cared more about our money than my ability to defend myself, because if I'd been dropped back down to white, I'd be relearning techniques that I could do in my sleep, and nothing valuable would have come from the lessons. Not to mention, I payed a lot of money to be able to test up to where I am (yellow belt). I believe it was $75 dollars just to test, plus once I reached yellow I had to buy all the sparring equipment, which came up to around $200. Plus, the three years worth of training that I've paid for. So not only would they be taking away my rank, but they'd be taking away several thousands of dollars and considering them useless. I would also like to mention that when I told Joe, one of the owners, that I was leaving the dojo, he tried to intimidate and pressure me into staying, and interrogated me about my reasons for staying in a very demeaning and condescending way. When I went in today for my lesson, I was told that my membership cancellation was effective immediately, despite the fact that we had paid for the month of September and my membership renews in October. Following this, my father called him and told him he was going to write a bad review and tell his clients not to go to Thurston, and Joe responded with indirect threats, saying things like "you better not leave a bad review, I own a house near where you're moving." Which was not only incredibly unprofessional, was a terrifying thing to say, as now we don't even feel safe in our own town. Joe is cruel, and he treats people terribly. And from what I've seen of Alison, she has two sides. The sweet, kind teacher side, and the greedy, money hungry side.
Another very big issue with Thurston is that they are not at all organized with the testing. There are three adult martial arts taught at Thurston- Krav Maga, Karate, and Ju Jitsu. (Well actually four, but unless I am mistaken, I don't believe kickboxing tests) It is extremely obvious that the owners care much more for the other two, and much less for Krav Maga. Which left me and the other Krav students at the short end of the stick. I've been there three years, and only been able to test twice. The second time (for my orange belt) I was very sick, and could not attend. They promised me they'd have a make up test, they never did. Meanwhile, I have friends in the Thurston Karate program who went up at least three levels (possibly more) in six months. Us Krav students are just an afterthought for when they remember that they have to test us. The other marital arts go up to black belt, Krav Maga only goes up to purple. They do not care.
Basically, if you are considering going to Thurston, I wouldn't recommend it. I will say that the instructors are fantastic, and truly care about their students. I'm lucky to have gotten to train with both DeAndre and Adam. And they are also fantastic with kids, from what I've seen. But don't make the mistake of thinking that the owners will treat you like family. They may care about you, but in the end, it doesn't matter how they feel about you, because you are just a source of money to them.
