please read and may this serve as your guidance in your selection of the best tae kwon do teacher and school for your children.
because of the unforeseen change in my work schedule and its proximity to my residence, i transferred my 12-year old son to world tae kwon do center as a senior blue belt in sept 2014. i terminated my contract this may 2016.the instructor, who claimed to have been doing this job for more than thirty years, an 8-degree black belt and a 5-time world champion, promised my son a second degree black belt, after signing a 3-year contract. for months my son attended every class, a mixture of all belts, from white to black, doing the same basic white belt kicks, until he finally complained that he was not progressing at all, i.e. there were no special skills or techniques, other than poomsae, that were being taught commensurate to his current belt level (akin to what he was learning from his previous school). unfortunately, after verbalizing and making us, parents and the students as well, feel indebted to him because he will be teaching extra for free, the "special" technique lessons was addressed, although short-lived (discontinued after 2 months) in august 2015, eleven months after signing-up and two months short before becoming black belt. further, i realized that there was no means of measuring the skills learned by my son, if there was any, because until february of 2015, there was never any sparring session conducted at all. again, after raising the issue with the instructor and a series of follow-up, he finally agreed to incorporate it to the schedule. dismayingly, the sparring sessions (which were not regularly conducted, were controlled, i.e., limited contact, like no hitting to the head, etc.) did not actually test his ability and teach my son to defend himself from actual/real aggression or attack.
from inception in 2014 up to present, the school competed in only one tournament. initially declined, i painstakingly requested and made the instructor understand that he had to give the participating students, especially the novices, extra training or tournament tips, because even if they were competing individually, they were carrying the name of the school. it needed the follow-up of other parents for him to concede and give two training hours only on 2 separate dates before the tournament! in the tournament, i requested him to file a protest to a decision that i, together with other spectators, felt was unfair. to my surprise, he negated and replied that he was still familiarizing himself with the rules of california tae kwon do.
my son tested for his black belt in october 2015; rising from one belt to another every seven (7) weeks (less than 2 months). when he noticed his mispelled name on his official first degree black belt certificate and identification card, the instructor casually advised him to disregard the error and he'll have the matter rectified, in the future, when he gets his second degree black belt and id card. when i called his attention and underscored the importance of correcting the spelling, being that the documents are official and as such, they should be replaced, he lost his temper!
last month, april 2016, i informed him of my intention to terminate my contract. he instructed me to submit proof/s that my reason was a qualified basis to terminate. when i presented my proof/document enclosed with a cover letter requesting him to receive and sign on, he declined and instead directed me to call global membership services (the company that he hired to process the recurring automatic debit of my account), myself. at the onset, the contract was between me and the school, not with global. he contracted their services, thus, he should have accepted my documents and worked on the termination of my contract with him including his third party arrangement, but he did not.
these were just a few of my personal experiences with the instructor and the school. i have read and totally agree to the other negative reviews posted previously against the instructor. categorically, there are other families who are still actively enrolled in the school and have expressed discontent but cannot terminate their contracts because of the non-cancellable provision and the only possibility is limited to relocation, i.e., if the student moves more than 25 additional miles from the school. read more