Belen Goju Ryu Karate

All of the years this place has been in business and the wall of fame on their wall when you walk in the door make you believe that you have landed in the right place. Watching their green belts work out and the amount of discipline was amazing - so I had high hopes. However, their teaching method includes a lot of belittling of students and tearing them down. My son was told he was fat (he isn't), lazy (he is an average pre-teen), uncoordinated (he is, but he is also teachable as he is NOT a natural athlete) and that he lacked focus. Now I do not think any child should be told they are uncoordinated, this tears down their self-esteem, honestly it's part of the reason we chose a martial art, so he could learn balance and to control his rapidly growing body. Instead coaches should look for and highlight strengths, give tools to help with coordination and build confidence. Don't the uncoordinated also deserve the knowledge of self defense? Calling him lazy even if you are angry at his lack of effort is not - in my opinion - what a coach should do with young kids. Regarding the "lack of focus" statement, yes my son does lack focus. We told them he had a focus issue (slight Aspergers issue) when we signed him up. They assured us they could handle him and had in fact worked with kids like him in the past. He is a straight A honor roll student who has never had a single disciplinary issue in school (even with his lack of focus). He has taken previous martial arts classes, baseball, wrestling and soccer and never had an issue with a coach. By his 5th week in the dojo he was crying on the drive home (he is not a kid that cries). He was saying that he felt terrible about himself and that the coach (Richard) did nothing but make fun of him and tear him down. It got to the point where he dug his heels in and refused to go. So we sadly withdrew him from the classes about 10 weeks in. So here I am wondering if others had similar experiences, so I got online to read reviews. There is another review here on Yelp besides this one but you have to search for it, it is listed clear at the bottom when you scroll down under "1 Review that is not currently recommended". It is from a former student that basically said almost word for word the types of things my own son said. I do not know why YELP is hiding that review (although the review is a little crass) because as a parent I would want to know what a former student had to say, and it would have made me more aware in the beginning to key in to what my wonderful son was telling me, instead of letting him be tore down for 10 weeks. Yelp should not be hiding that review.So here is my summation. This dojo has 35+years of teaching. It has crowned 75+ black belts. Their students are very disciplined when you watch them in action. It's a nice dojo, good equipment, good student to teacher ratio and affordable. So Richard and Cindy at most levels are doing well at what they do. Obviously some kids can thrive in their classes under their teaching style and have. However, if you have a kid that needs a little extra understanding and will not thrive in an environment where he is being barked at by an alpha male then I urge you to stay there as your child trains and watch the classes and make sure he/she is getting what they need. I urge you to listen to what they are telling you if this militaristic style of teaching is breaking them as opposed to building them up. Give the place a chance, but be aware it is not for everyone.