Long's Shotokan Karate Academy

Oh where do I start? Hang in there with me, this is sure to be a long one. My family of 5 all attended classes at Long's Shotokan for nearly 5 years. I took every adult class available; my kids took every kid's class available. 3/5 of us obtained shodan black belts under Mark Long over the course of the 5 years. All of that said, we had never been at another dojo so we were just rolling with the blows, not knowing that dojo life could be any better. Now that I have left, I know it can be infinitely better.Firstly, before testing for my shodan black belt, we each had "interviews" with Mark Long where he asked us one thing we liked and didn't like about either the testing process or the dojo in general. I told him that my dislike would be the many inconsistencies; i used his schedule as an example because it changes, unannounced, at least twice a year. The last schedule change cut classes down to 30 minutes, half of which is spent listening to sermon-like lectures and not working out. I was well aware of the dojo's Christian stance from the day I joined, as there are crosses and bible quotes hanging in the lobby, so that is not the issue here. The issue is that I was paying nearly $300 a month to learn self defense, not go to church. And okay, his rants aren't always religious themed, sometimes they are so far off in left field that I truly can't follow.Onto more inconsistencies though, to obtain your shodan black belt there is a grocery list of requirements you must meet to be eligible for testing. Some of these include: must have a yellow belt in aikido, must have an orange belt in judo, must have attended 4 tournaments, must pass the physical endurance part of the test (50 pushups, 50 situps in 3 minutes, followed by 50 jumping jacks and 50 burpees). I have witnessed many tests where the testers did not have these requirements met and were still allowed to test and pass. Just this past summer, I watched a man test for his Nidan (2nd degree) and pass without knowing the nidan kata or his self defense. I started to realize that he is running a belt factory. When I came to this realization I feared that perhaps I had been a product of the belt factory too, but I put those fears to rest when I remembered that on my own Shodan test, I was pulled into the office by the black belt board and told that I was "out-performing the rest of the students" and to "share some of my enthusiasm with the other students." sorry/not sorry, I took my training and testing very seriously because my entire reason for training in martial arts was to learn self defense to protect myself and daughters. It is VERY serious. But onward, my family is a mixed (caucasian and mexican). Over the years, Mark Long made multiple underhand racist comments towards my daughter and my husband. Another former black belt of his went on to work on the Border Patrol. He came to visit family and came into the dojo to train. Mark Long put him and my husband to spar one another and thought it was hilarious to announce that the Border Patrol Agent could beat my Mexican husband & send him back home. Let me add here that my husband was born in the states, this is his home. This exact same sparring match happened the next time that black belt visited too. (I am good friends with that black belt and even he has expressed the distaste that left him with; he felt extremely uncomfortable with it and considered walking out each time.) He would often make "Mexican hat dance" jokes to my daughter's footwork. He once did the Hitler hand salute while talking about Trump, in the dojo, during business hours. One of his other black belts told him that was inappropriate and he laughed it off. At a different time, he was talking about rolling a magazine on an airplane with the intent to beat a Muslim man because he feared he was a terrorist... he made a joke about terrorists yelling "aloha snack bar" before committing terrorist acts. He also called my very dark skinned daughter "Brown Bug" for years, when she repeatedly told him that she didn't like that name. He played it off as a term of endearment, but now I truly question that. When I went into the office to cancel our payments and leave the dojo, he had the audacity to question my husband's citizenship and say that perhaps he was here on a work visa. Again, I add that he was born in the states and we have been a member of the dojo for 5 years... he knew my husband was American. In the same conversation he listed off HIS black belts, "I have Mexican black belt; black belt who is a black guy, I have black belts that are gay, trans, etc." Which really threw me back because who keeps track like that? And portrays them as HIS? It's extremely disturbing. He told me 6x in an hour, "if you don't agree with me, get out and never come back." this is proof that you are not welcome there if you do not share his ideologies. The list goes on but it appears I have met the max character amount for a review and I cannot continue.

I started taking my oldest son here 7 years ago. He just passed his jr black belt test. I hope to see him be a leader and help teach others. My younger son just passed his brown belt test. I am looking forward to him hopefully getting his black belt in a year. I am very happy with this school. Besides karate they do kick boxing, sparing, judo, aikido, and weapons. I would recommend coming in for a free class.

I have taken every adult class available at Longs Shotokan (aikido, karate, judo, kickboxing, team karate, sport karate sparring) and after 5 years of being a member of this dojo, I had to finally walk away from the drama. There are so many inconsistencies and double standards at play there that it is impossible to keep track of. The schedule changes at least twice a year and the most recent schedule change cut classes down to 30 minutes, half of which is spent listening to sermon-like lectures and not even working out. You will be told that you have to meet certain requirements to be eligible to test for the next belt rank. I have witnessed countless tests where the student didn't know their belt material or kata and were still handed their belt at the end of the test. I think the phrase I'm looking for is "belt factory." This was the only dojo I had ever trained at so I honestly was just rolling with the blows because I didn't know any better. I came across an article by a well known karateka entitled "93 signs that your dojo is a McDojo." Longs Shotokan checks at least 70/93 and really opened my eyes.For Mark being so anti-bullying, he sure does like to bully his paying customers (students) with threats of taking away their belts, not allowing them to "teach", yelling at them in his office, pushing kids to the limits and making them cry for petty things. But through all of that, the most sickening part of attending Longs Shotokan was submitting my family to years of underhand racism. I cannot count the number of times that Mark Long made racist comments. I kept brushing it off but you can only brush off so much before you have to call it quits. And when I decided to call it quits, he decided to question my citizenship- when he knew damn well that I am American (remind you I have been a member of his dojo for 5 years). What a shame. He even once told my wife that "if you don't agree with me, get out and never come back." That's proof that you are not welcome if you don't agree with his ideologies. You can go and make decisions for yourself, but this is my family's experience and we are done. And since leaving the dojo we have received multiple messages from his other black belts saying that they had similar experiences and had to distance themselves from it too.

We appreciate the discipline taught at this dojo. Our daughter has found a focus and worked hard for her black belt. It has required a commitment on her part to meet each goal. She has learned to respect her sensei.

Not only have our children been taught proper technique and how to fight to protect themselves, they've also been taught humility, kindness, and morality. They've also learned the significance of giving back and the importance of working hard to achieve their goals.

Our daughter has many memorable experiences learning how to focus, reach goals, interacting with others learning leadership, life skills,tourniment competition and makin good judgment.