Getting Frustrated with School

Ok. My school offers 2 'different' classes that are each one hour long. One is a no gi grappling class that includes some padwork and a little bit of stand up. About half the class is spent on conditioning with the about 20 minutes drilling techinques and then about 10 minutes of sparring at the end of class (by whcih point im usually dead tired from the workout) This is the class i attend. Not much attention seems to be paid at bjj basics and techinque details. Nor is there much isolation sparring. (Though there is sometimes). The instructor is a new purple belt. There is a brown belt that owns the school but he doesn't teach our class much at all.

For this i pay $100 / month. There is also a traditional brazilian jiu jitsu class that's 90% gi, that focuses all of its time on sport jj. This is the class that alot of the better grapplers attend. If i want to attend both classes it would cost me $150 per month. What's frustrating is that all the advanced students that attend both have been going for years and are most likely NOT paying $150 per month. Im not sure about that. But im afraid to ask beause im not sure about the etiquette of asking people how much they pay. IN any case, they get the best of both worlds. They get a good workout from the class i attend and they also get drilled in bjj basics. its no suprise that the people that dominate in my class are people that also attend the sport jj class.

I really would like to attend the sport bjj class as well but i would really miss the stand up drills (even though there is not much stand up sparring in class at all). I cannot afford both, nor would i pay for both because i believe that its too overpriced.

A straight blast gym school that is about 30 minutes away offers 5 days a week of no gi grappling, stand up, and clinch. This school focuses on sparring and meets for 2 hours a day with a one hour judo class per week for $80 per month or $10 per class. Much better deal but a much further drive as well. After working out at this school it makes my no gi class look really lame. and it also makes me my school seem more overpriced than i previously thought. Furthermore, this sbg school's focus on sparring results in some pretty impressive students in a relatively short amount of time.

I really like the people / instructor at my current school and i was happy with it til i visited the better /cheaper school. Now i feel like I'm jsut getting ripped off. I'm paying $100 / month for a 1/2 conditioning and 1/2 dead techique class with a little sparring thrown in at the end.

Then I guess I shouldn't mention our Judo class... that costs $30 a month, and has an *average* of 3 black belts on the mat, and often up to 7.

Wow.

I remember fondly my university judo club, fees were $15 a term (athletic union fees, no direct club fee), and there were seldom less than 10 black belts on for the advanced class. The only catch was you had to be involved with the university...

That'd be worth just for the physical excercise, cheaper than any athletic club. Ours is $25 with no shortage of senseis and bbs eager to help fledglings. We sometimes get confused though, with multiple instructors and bbs correcting us in slightly different ways for the same technique, in a same session. It gets somewhat comical at times ('But sensei so-and-so just told us to do it this way!'.

Well, that IS a lot of money. Ever considered judo? Judo is 'budget' BJJ. Look around, judo is virtually everywhere. Although a Straightblast gym may be worth 30min drive.

Yes. i would be more than happy to train judo but the closest clubs around me according to judinfo.com is 45 mins.

That was our price up till a couple of months ago... we got new mats, and so we raised the price to pay for 'em.

Yeah, it's something that you learn in Judo quickly enough. And, I think, it's important not to pigeon-hole everyone into the same precise movement. We all tend to teach the way that works best for ourselves.

I try as much as possible to correct people on the larger mistakes, such as on a right-hand throw, leaving the right elbow up in the air, instead of in contact and being useful.

Do some legwork. Check the Yellow Pages, the local Universities, YMCA's, Rec Centers, and do a Google search ('yourhometown'+Judo'.

I can almost guarantee a hit.

Peace favor your sword (IH)

The time wasted is not the time driving to a good class, it's the time spent in the bad class. I would go with the SBG.

Hey Harvey, you make a good point. I would however, like to point out that my school is not a bad one per say. But just not suited to what i want at the moment. One thing i was considering was to drop the no gi class with strikes to go for sport bjj with no strikes. sport bjj seems to have more time spent on technique and sparring. Only drawback is that it deals not one ounce wiht self defense or stand up.