Champions Martial Arts

This client did enroll their 4 year old child in our program on May 29th, 2015 on a six month Lil’ Champions program.  This child was placed in an age specific class with other four to six year olds.  There is a very specific curriculum with a variety of physical martial arts skills...

that are required to advance from one belt level to the next.  The client is correct in saying that her child never had any behavioral issues (in class).  In fact, her child was a great role model for other children.  We have for over twenty years practiced the Praise-Correct-Praise teaching model.  It has a very positive effect in the class room.  Often, we utilize proximity, praise-correct-praise to reward the child who is doing well and to help encourage someone close to that child that needs help.  Here is an example:  Challenge: A Student is not sitting up straight and listening to the instructor.Solution: Instructor see’s a student modeling the behavior we are looking for close to the student who is having the challenge. The instructor says: “wow Johnny I like how you are sitting so tall and your eyes are focused on me like a Black Belt”Result:   The modeling student has their confidence boosted and the student that needed more focus wants the same praise as the student next to them and conforms to the behavior.   The instructor then Rewards (praises) the new behavior and moves on.  If the student is still causing a distraction to the class the instructor will tell the student what he/she is  looking for.  An example would be Johnny let me see you sit up tall and focus your eyes on me.  As a last result when a child isn’t complying with the teacher we do in fact have  them do a few push ups to remind them that they need to work on self discipline.  We are in fact a martial arts school and many parents bring their children to us for self-discipline.  Our instructors are playful in class, especially in a Lil Champions four-six year old class.  There are times when our instructors playfully pick up the students and move them to their dot on the floor in class.  We certainly don’t manhandle kids and physically force kids to do push ups, that’s absurd. We also have a teaching philosophy of private reprimand and public praise.  We often have “office chats” with a child if there is something that needs to be addressed on a one-to-one basis. That being said we do not stand for children disrespecting their parents in public and if we see that we will call them out.  If praising this clients child as a role model in class and building his self confidence for the positive behavior that he was demonstrating to the class makes us wrong in her eyes then I guess we are wrong.  I was told by my instructor team about the glowing reviews this client was giving us 3 days prior to wanting to pull her child out.  We did in fact try several times to schedule a time for us to chat face to face and she insisted that she was a "results oriented person and that there was nothing to talk about".  Her child attended classes regularly starting May 29th, 2015 up until October 19th, 2015 based on our attendance records which are reflected by the client doing a “self check-in” at our attendance Kiosk.  All of which is documented.  The end result is the client was not willing to schedule a face to face meeting to resolve any challenges the client had.  We immediately relieved the client of their remaining contract which she was obligated to pay.  We thought it was the best course of action based on the tone of her emails and the several hang ups on our phone call attempts.It takes a village to raise a child and we believe our success record speaks for itself.  We have several hundred extremely satisfied clients that currently bring their children to our martial art school multiple times per week for the services we provide.   We are very sorry that our school is not the right fit for this client.  We wish you all the best and you can contact me personally any time on my personal cell at (920) 450-5425 if we can be of further assistance.

Review: My son was a student at this facility. We were promised classes for martial arts and leadership. In 6 months he repeated star block sets and side kicks never advancing his skills. My child has never had behavioral issues and was always compliant for instructions. The instructor would habitually stop class to yell at fellow students, all about 4 years old. They were scolded and forced to do push ups if they were thought to be misbehaving. If they would not do push ups the instructor would grab them by the uniforms, lift them up off their feet and place them in the push up position and literally force them to do push ups before allowing them to continue class. AT FOUR YEARS OLD THIS IS INAPPROPRIATE TREATMENT. Instructors would often reprimanded students in the lobby, I find that behavior toward a child dehumanizing and humiliating. The instructor would use my child as a decoy and compare poor behavior to the misbehaved kids, breaking his concentration and confusing him about why he was being pulled into a matter of reprimand when he did nothing wrong. He left there stressed out because the methods used are not proactive and do not build self esteem, the methods used are demeaning to children and do not build confidence. I asked the instructor to refrain from subjecting my child to these situations, but he continued. The testing methods are bias and the ranking system is bogus designed to milk money from parents. When I told them I was pulling my son from the class, they left a message begging me to stay. I found that the instructor has a drug charge and the owner committed financial fraud against unemployment. They misrepresented the school, did not deliver what they promised, and subjected my child to negativity. I ask for modification of the advertisement as they should not be teaching leadership. When I asked for credentials they did not provide them. I also seek a FULL refund of all money paid totally about 800 dollars. I also requested my file and they said call my bank for the information.Desired Settlement: I ask the advertisement be modified to exclude "leadership" from their program as their methods are counterproductive to leadership. I ask for a full refund of all money paid to the school based on misrepresentation as they did not deliver what they promised.

Business

Response:

This client did enroll their 4 year old child in our program on May 29th, 2015 on a six month Lil’ Champions program. This child was placed in an age specific class with other four to six year olds. There is a very specific curriculum with a variety of physical martial arts skills that are required to advance from one belt level to the next. The client is correct in saying that her child never had any behavioral issues (in class). In fact, her child was a great role model for other children.