Breakthrough Martial Arts

There are a lot of martial arts facilities in the area, and BMA does not seem to understand that. I experienced a number of rude behaviors from the main staff there — ignoring parents, shaming them for asking a question, and behaving as if they are the gods of Tae Kwon Do and you must be a moron on the subject matter (having earned a black belt myself, I disagree). What’s worse, if you do ask them anything, no matter how politely you try to bring it up, or even if you just want clarity on why they are doing A instead of B, they take it personally and have no qualms about getting nasty with you, then calling you out during a lengthy «I’m the supreme being» speech during class time. So, no courtesy at BMA.
The classes are huge and are 45 minutes — roughly 15 minutes for warm ups, 15 for belt forms, 10 for various martial arts exercises, and 5 minutes for a physical game to wrap up the class. That is, unless it’s a month before the next belt test, then you forfeit 10 – 15 minutes per class to have your kid sitting on their butt watching other kids pre-​test. It’s a huge time waster and should be done after class. You also have to sit down and not attempt higher belt forms with the rest of the class.
There are also way too many cooks in the kitchen now. Instead of having one standard instructor, you may have a different instructor every night, and sometimes more than one. I’ve seen as many as 6 instructors and assistants teaching one class. They will walk behind one another, contradict each other to the students, and then kids get yelled at because Instructor A said to stand here, Instructor B came up and told them to move, then Instructor A comes back and yells at the kid for moving and «not listening.» And, of course, the person who told the kid to move will not speak up and take accountability (no integrity).
But the part that grinds at me are the belts. There’s a memorial shadow box dedicated to the Chief Instructor. It shows 8 belts and his Black Belt certificate dated for 2001 (when the CI was still in high school himself). To the contrary, BMA makes you earn 13 belts (more belts = more test fees). A lot of people don’t know this, but the number of belts you have to earn is a made up by each facility. There are no laws or rules that govern this in the martial arts world — so, other than Black Belts, anything else you earn is just a bonus check to the dojang. If you do earn a black belt prior to the age of 18, BMA only allows you to have a «Junior Black Belt» (also a made-​up thing). If a student is capable and completes the requirements of a black belt, they should be given a real black belt. They apparently had no self-​control when it came to choosing belts.
I’ve lived everywhere, martial arts has always been in my life, and I’ve never seen a reputable place have a minimum attendance quota for belt testing. BMA does! It’s supposed to be about the ability of the student, not how many times a week they take classes and how many stamps they’ve gotten on a card. BMA doesn’t say this as a generalized requirement to give you an idea of when a child will test — Breakthrough makes attendance a firm requirement (and one that they made up to ensure maximum profits between belts), and if you are one class shy of meeting all of the belt testing requirements, you will not be considered to test and told to wait/​pay for two more months. If you have a black belt in another martial art and want to take Tae Kwon Do, even if you can master white belt in an hour and are well qualified, you still have to take 16 classes as a white belt! BMA flat out refuses to review a student without the attendance quota being met first. To me, if you pre-​test and fail, that’s fine, but how often you show up has nothing to do with your ability. Attendance IS a factor to growing as a martial artists, certainly, but attendance should not be a roadblock if you are otherwise ready to test. It does not encourage children to persevere if they’re being held back for the sake of more money.
Once you hit a certain belt level they also require you to enter tournaments as part of your belt testing requirements. I know many places make students fill out essays for higher belts, or you have to be a co-​instructor for free to meet a belt requirement, but I have never heard of tournaments being mandatory, and it seems like a way to force people to pay to join their competitive team to get a higher tuition rate out of you (private lessons, competition gear, competition uniforms, coaching fees, entry fees, etc). There are so many Tae Kwon Do schools here that you can find a much better facility for your money, one that is more about the students and less obvious about wanting the cash. After all, BMA tells you to have an indomitable spirit, but only when it concerns them getting more business — if you have an issue about their policies or practices, then you must fold like a umbrella or be treated shamefully.