Ata Karate & Skills Training Center

«I am very sad to hear he wants to stop training. I’d hate for him to regret it later in life. I can cancel the membership now, if you’d like. There is the cancelation fee. It’s half of your remaining balance. For you, that would be $ 1487.50.». If your experience is like mine, that is the response you will get from the school’s owner, when you decide to end your karate training in your second two-​year commitment for a child who started the program at age 5 and stayed with it until age 8 and after his mother and I have spent over $ 3000 at the school. If your experience is further like mine, upon asking for an exception based on the years of commitment your 5 to 8 year old has made towards his martial arts education at this school, you will be told, «I must hold to the integrity of the membership. This is not the first time a student has decided to move on and the same terms have resulted». It is an interesting position to find yourself in when enforcing a position of integrity creates a windfall of $ 1487 for yourself.
As a parent of a prospective student you must be sure that interest in this new hobby will last at least two full years and if there is a remote chance your child is not going to be a lifetime member of the school, you must be certain that his or her interest will wane at precisely the end of a two year increment. Stated differently, your child can lose interest in month 24, 48, 72, etc. Inability to precisely time this cancellation is heavily penalized in the interest of the «integrity of the membership».
In my experience, we accidentally renewed membership a few months ago. Definitely our mistake for not paying attention to what we were signing. I was not there and do not know how the mistake was made, but my wife was not aware it happened until we attempted to cancel. No excuses, and that is why we have made good on the contract, but I would have expected more leniency after nearly 3 years of active membership. In retrospect, I would never have chosen this school to develop my son’s martial arts interest.
Do know before you decide to make this commitment that not all karate schools insist on this sort of commitment policy. Use google to research what is considered normal for a high-​quality school that competes in this business based on quality of instruction and a student population that is satisfied with the services they are provided. Ask yourself of which type of school you would rather be a member. One that ensures their revenue based on quality instruction as the basis for retaining a healthy student population or one that must rely on contracts.
I would also like to emphasize one additional point. The penalty we incurred was not a consequence of breaking the first contractual term. It was the second two-​year term. So, there was no lack of commitment to the sport. The revenue generated by this cancellation will not be exchanged for any services. Students are responsible for uniforms, sparring gear and weapons in addition to the membership fees, so it is huge windfall for the school. In my opinion, that is a huge profit incentive for conducting business in this way and likely an unanticipated benefit of the policy (other than the altruistic objective to teach children the lessons of preserving the integrity inherent in memberships).
But what will you get if you agree to these terms? I wish I would have educated myself years ago when my son first showed interest in karate. There are three primary organizations that license their training methodology to franchisees. They are American Taekwondo Association (ATA), International Taekwondo Federation (ITF) and World Taekwondo Federation (WTF). Google the three names («ATA vs ITF vs WTF») and read the common opinions on the differences. From my research, they do not paint a good picture of ATA, which seems generally known for their more stringent contractual requirements, students being undertrained relative comparable belt students at the other two organizations and characterized by a philosophy that everyone, regardless of talent, can become a black belt.

Great place to learn self-​defense, earn a blackbelt, and meet a lot of great people. Top-​notch instruction for kids and adults.