Programs
TKRI is dedicated to making quality, affordable karate instruction available to the general public. Our instructors are available to partner with your organization to help you host a successful, safe, and educational karate program at your facility. Our instructors are highly trained and dedicated to helping students learn.
TKRI classes are designed to help the student develop both practical fighting ability and an appreciation of the historical, artistic, and cultural aspects of the Japanese and Okinawan fighting arts. Both aspects are given approximately equal weight. Our training is scientific and safe, but it is intense. Our instructors take very seriously their obligation to make sure students are as prepared as possible to deal with real threats. Students should not be encouraged to believe that they are prepared to face encounters "on the street" if they have not developed the necessary skills for managing physical violence. Creating a false sense of security by awarding inflated ranks is irresponsible.
In addition to rigorous physical training, students are given lists of recommended and assigned reading and cannot progress through the ranks without completing them. Our object is to make certain that a TKRI student understands the "what and why" of our practice.
Because of concerns over the age appropriateness of karate for children under the age of 13, we generally do not offer classes to young children. Karate is about fighting and a good program includes many elements which could be damaging psychologically or physically to a child's development. Children's bodies are different than adults in a number of important ways: they have a higher center of gravity, creating different requirements for movement than adults; their heads are larger in proportion to the neck and torso, making the neck especially vulnerable to damage; the growth plates in their long bones have not fully developed, making repeated impact on bags and other striking devices potentially hazardous for their future growth.
We do not teach a sport form of the art. Karate classes are ultimately about learning how to fight. Any good karate program is going to include elements designed to represent real threats and effective, potentially dangerous, responses. This can be very confusing, both morally and psychologically to a child. TKRI instructors may be available to teach classes designed to prepare the younger student for future training. Organizations interested in hosting such programs should contact their local TKRI affiliate in order to discuss the development of such a class.
Organizations interested in hosting a TKRI karate program should have:
- An open training space free of obstacles. Flooring of concrete or tile over concrete is not an acceptable training surface.
- Hard wood or athletic flooring is fine. The ideal situation includes mats that can be used for falling/throwing practice.
In order to maximize learning:
- The minimum number of classes per week is two. We recommend that classes run at least ninety minutes.
- The student to instructor ratio should not be more than 20 to 1 for classes.
Depending on the needs of your organization, TKRI instructors may be able to offer their services at an hourly rate, or accept a fee sharing arrangement with your organization. Unlike other karate organizations, we do not gouge students with inflated fees for uniforms, testing, contracts, and other hidden charges. Testing will not be offered unless the instructor(s) assesses a student to be sufficiently developed.
A sample introductory program might be as follows:
- 2 one and a half hour classes per week, for 8 weeks. One instructor with up to twenty students. $950.
With subsequent classes for students who have completed the introductory program:
- 2 one and a half hour classes per week for 12 weeks. One instructor with up to twenty students. $950.
If you are interested in information about hosting a karate program at your institution please contact us by e-mail at:
