Thousand Oaks Westlake Karate Studio

We are thrilled with our son’s experience here. He participated in their mighty mites program and has now moved on onto their regular program. He learns self defense, discipline, and focus, while having fun. The instructors are very positive, while maintaining a high degree of discipline and respect from the kids. Great lessons for little ones! They are great with young kids and have a lot of fun events throughout the year. They seem to have a great family atmosphere.

Dear parents,
I hope this review will help you make a very important decision about where you will take your child/​ren for karate classes.
TO Westlake Karate is the ultimate place! I have two kids attending the studio for over a year and I have experienced firsthand the improvement in their discipline, organizational skills, respect, perseverance, confidence and self-​esteem.
As a parent I did much research and multiple visitations to other studios (yes, I am one of those) before I trusted Grand Master Ichikawa with my children.
TO/​Westlake karate has operated for over 40 YEARS and many of the local karate clubs have branched from it because they are operated by students of Grand Master Ichikawa. When it comes to teaching, love for kids and progress in this physical and mental sport, I have not seen any other teacher than Grand Master who can come even close to his talent. I can confidently say the very same for his son — Grand Master Ichikawa Jr. who bring new energy and incredible positive radiance. The liveliness and camaraderie in this studio is unparalleled.
Tips for studio search:
Stay away from high-​fee places. That means high rent, not necessarily high quality. Same for cheep studios.
Stay away from one-​man band businesses. There are many of those types of studios. There is much catch up to do, and much re-​scheduling when the main person teaching goes away or is simply sick.
Stay away from new. This is a serious sport where there might be injuries and experience is crucial.
Visit a studio few times to feel, and really understand the atmosphere. It is not just about the sport, it’s about the relationships your kids will develop outside of school. Kids’ feelings can be strong and long lasing even though kids hardly ever express verbally what they feel.
Location is not the most important thing. Don’t rush into the first studio around the corner. There are people travelling from Westwood to Thousand Oaks to come to TO/​Westlake Karate because of the studio offers.
Make few visits and judge for yourself.