Karate price for my son. Am I being ripped off?

Zara33

£3 per lesson, £10 per grading, £15 Insurance and £3 per belt after grading which is not needed every grading as we also stick black tape on our belts.

Julie don't shell out that amount of money total rip off imho

A_fiend_for_life

Payments for clubs I have attended included annual membership and a licence. No more than £15 to £20 each. Cost for lessons £3 to £5 and gradings around £15 each but may be slightly more now.

Clubs that are affiliated to a gym may be slightly more but even then it is monthly direct debit and 12 months membership to the gym.

I've also never heard of 'trials' to join a club either that sounds distinctly suspect. Clubs are generally open to all rather than some form of exclusive membership.

Licences and memberships are not refundable but you are free to leave when you want with no further commitment. If the club is part of a gym things might be slightly different eg monthly gym memberships. I have steered clear of those as I think the prices are extortionate.

I would check your local library / google / local press and see what else is available.

GunJack

Also, does it HAVE to be karate ?? Just wondering, as there are many martial arts out there which, IMHO, are better forms of fitness and self-defence than karate. Maybe worth a trawl round your local area and see what's available and if they pick up your son's interest ??

mymatebob

My son started when he was 6 and stopped just before his 10th birthday
Initially the classes were free, subsidised by the club we went to and he only paid for the gradings - £10
He only ever bought one belt as there was a tradition that belts were passed down when you got a new one.
His instructor would supply suits at cost price (at the time £10) but you could buy them from wherever you wanted to.

Ultimately the classes cost £3 when the instructor moved to another venue.

Like many children his attention wandered and he gave it up after he got his brown belt. Interesting now he is thinking of going back to it.

As others have said - do not pay this mob any money.
Walk away and find another club.

All the best

KellyWelly

My son does Karate and we pay £14 per month (weekly lessons). The gradings are £20 and this includes the cost of the new belt.

The uniform was either £18 or £28, I forget which but it's embroidered with the club logo as well with a coloured top and white trousers so you couldn't buy it elsewhere, though I imagine it wouldn't be much less at all to buy a generic one.

The club runs a closed competition in December and that's free to enter and they make sure all the kids get at least a medal (trophies for the more successful ones). Then there's an open competition twice a year and that's £12 to enter and that includes the cost of the medals and trophies.

I wouldn't dream of paying an amount like that and making any kind of grand commitment where kids are concerned because they can change their mind so much. What I liked most about this club and why we chose it over the others around here was that there was no pressure and the instructor isn't just after money all the time. He isn't fussed whether the kids wear the proper uniform for a few months and will actively discourage parents from buying it for a while, I think he finally ordered one for us after about 3 months.

The other consideration I think you have to make and is far more important that the money is the kind of man/woman the instructor(s) are - my son adores his karate teacher and looks up to him as a role model. It's really important to me that his instructor is a fair and firm man who genuinely cares about the kids in the class (although at £thousands the best instructor in the world wouldn't tempt me to open my purse tbh!)

Smashing

We're in the south east in Berks, so not much good to you! However, if it's £4-£5 Just outside of London, you can be sure as hell you could get the same, if not less where you are.

Their desire to tie you in for 3 years, as well as being a scam, makes me think they probably have retention issues to so need to cover their costs by insisting on a massive outlay. Get in contact with your local leisure centres - many clubs are based at council run ones or look for a non-profit club where fees are ploughed back into the club rather than into people's pockets.

MrsTinks

The belt gradings with "tape" on is actually a grade between belts (Well it was in Taek Won Do) so you'd go from white to White/Yellow, then on to Yellow and then Yellow with Green tag, then green. These belts are "Kups" meaning Degree and the highest is Red with Black (1st Kup). Once you have acchieved your 1st Kup you move on to Dan's - these mean Phase and there are usually 9 of them. 1st Dan is a plan Black belt. By the time you get to the 4th Dan it's known as a Master Grade.

Different diciplins no doubt have different variations of this but maximum number of belts you'd have to buy should be 6 in any case I also known plenty of pupils in my class dyed their white belt yellow when they got their 8th Kup instead of buying a new one

As my trainer was German Army on a US base the prices don't really compare and it was in a different country and many years ago lol

Why not ask around at your sons school for anyone whos children do Karate already and get some recommendations

devils_advocate

If you want to play golf in the UK, you'll find that it's all regulated by the Royal & ancient. However karate appears to be completely different, with many different types of karate with different associations, and with different requirements for each belt. You'll also find that the colour of belts at each grade in different associations can be completely different, so for example one kid with a red belt me have just started, and another kid with a red belt from a different association may be very close to getting his black belt.

And as a exup says, some associations seem to have "black belts lite" for kids which they lose when they are 18.

But coming back to your question. I have never heard of a club which will charge such a large fee for a package, and would certainly advise against signing up to something like this. At worst, I would suspect a club would perhaps insist on one months notice if you're son wished to give up.

To get a black belt in three years seems very quick, and suggests that it is either a "black belt lite" as above, or they are going to require some very heavy commitment such as at the least three lessons each week. as an example,my sons' club requires an average of 33 hours off lessons before the students are allowed to go for another belt grading exam, and it's certainly far more intense when they get to the higher belts. Where my elder son was going for black belt, in order to achieve a preferred testing date to fit in with his school exams we booked a series of one-to-one private lessons with his instructor get him to the necessary standard within the timeframe, which was in addition to his once or twice a week lessons.

For the uniforms, many clubs will insist that you buy your own through them as there is some standardisation of badges, embroidery of the club's logo, national flags etc butsome clubs will recognize the expense of all this, and resale uniforms at cost price. Before you are thinking of joining a club, it's worthwhile finding out if they are individual policy on this.

Have fun!

i_wanna_save_money!

Can I ask how much time a week he will be receiving for this amount? It is a massive amount to be paying and I certainly wouldn't but if he went daily it would work out at just under £3 per hour i think, but on the other hand that would require commitment not just from your son, but also from whoever had to take him to each session...

going2die_rich

Just offer your son a PS3 to give up karate and you will see his "WANT" disappear.

Obviously then find a much cheaper alternative than being ripped off as a hobby so he does have a more active hobby also.