Karate in Pompano Beach is a fantastic way for you and your family to get into shape, at the same time achieve a very important piece of mind. You achieve the confidence that if, god forbid, someone were trying to hurt you or your loved ones you would be able to protect them. The study of Martial arts, or karate, in Pompano Beach can be a fun and exciting way to achieve this feeling of security. However, there are some factors that you should keep in mind to find the right self defense school.

Pompano Beach and Lighthouse point karate schools are many in number. All of these Martial Arts school typically advertise the same thing, but sell very different products. Lets take the South Florida karate school chains. These Martial Arts facilities typically do not compete in any public circuit. You would think that if someone was good at something, they would not be afraid to compete in it. What you will end up finding is that these franchised karate schools in Pompano Beach only compete within their own franchised chain, giving their karate students the illusion you are a State or National Champion...but of what? To truly be the STATE CHAMPION you need to compete in the FLORIDA TAEKWONDO STATE CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENTS hosted by AAU (armature athletic union) or USAT (United States of American Taekwondo).

AAU is a very fast growing organization that competes in every sport. After the USTU (United States Taekwondo Union) fell apart, it made room for other circuits to gain popularity. While competing in AAU will not qualify you for the Olympics, it is a nationally recognized and respected circuit in the sport taekwondo community. It has a National Team which travels to compete all over the world. Florida Taekwondo was split into two halves, the North and South. Northern Florida AAU STATE CHAMIONSHIPS are typically attended by Taekwondo athletes from Orlando all the way North. The Southern AAU STATE CHAMIONSHIPS will have all Taekwondo Athletes from Orlando and South. This is not to say that a karate school in Pompano Beach Florida could not compete in both. Velocity Martial Arts of South Florida did just that last year and won awards from the hosts of both of those tournaments, furthermore, left with 80% of the 22 athlete team leaving with 1st place wins. Later at the 2011 AAU US NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS in Austin Texas Velocity Martial Arts took 19 qualifying students and not only did the Lighthouse Point / Pompano Beach karate school receive a cup for 3 most gold medals of any other team in the Country, but 17 of 19 athletes left with a Gold Medal. The Second and First Place teams were both from Texas and had close to 50 athletes.

USAT is the National Governing Body (NGB) of the sport of Taekwondo in the United States. So, if you are a competitor of karate in Pompano Beach, or in this case Taekwondo, you must compete in the USAT to qualify for the Olympic Games. So going back to these other so called taekwondo schools in South Florida, what circuit do they compete in? It is this authors opinion that they do not compete publicly and only within themselves so to no expose their "karate students" from losing every taekwondo match in the ring:) 

So lets get back to self defense in South Florida, specifically the Lighthouse Point, Pompano Beach, Deerfield Beach Boca Raton areas...Let us just say Broward County and Palm Beach County. Typically in these big franchised schools, the teacher will learn his/her self defense moves from a DVD sent from their headquarters. This is great and all, however, why do I want to learn how to defend myself from someone has never been in a REAL fight. It is really tough for someone who does not know much about Martial Arts to intelligently chose the right karate school in Broward County. What I would say to these people who are interested joining a self defense school is....shop around:) Look for these things:

THE TEACHER

Walk into a Broward County Martial Arts school, take a look at the teacher. Is he out of shape? Does he have good hygiene? Can he teach children? adults? men? woman? Does he remind you of the guy that was thrown into the gym locker in high school? Does he compete in open tournaments, did he win? What does the technique of his students look like? These Broward County karate teachers that are lacking in any of these departments should be nothing more than Assistant Instructors at best. Unfortunately for you the business aspect is more important than the students improvement in the Martial Arts. I would look for the most winning team, in the most prestigious circuits for that art, for whatever martial arts you are interested in. They are doing it right. Velocity Martial Arts and American Top Team are the best is South Florida it seems.

THE FACILITY

Is it clean? Is it convenient? Does it have the proper gear necessary to train correctly? Does it have air conditioning and safe for children? When I was younger, we used to train in a warehouse with no AC, cement floors, and adults and children trained together. The teacher early spoke English well enough to teach the lesson, but i stayed:) Times have sure changed. Schools that offer karate in pompano beach should not have those some obstacles. All Broward County karate schools should have everything necessary to teach a great lesson, in a comfortable environment. Also the school should be with the times as far as their website as well. South Florida schools like Velocity Martial Arts has one of the most extensive websites out there. The have an online store that is the cheapest out there www.velocitymartialarts.com. 

THE PROGRAM

Is the Pompano Beach Karate school constantly improving its programs? Do the students really look like they know what they are doing? Typically a pompano beach karate student will only be as good as their teacher/program. 90% of the schools around are focused more on making money and less on actual curriculum. They have a very watered down version of whatever the martial art that they are advertising. Velocity Martial Arts - American Top Team have fantastic program that gets improved constantly. The teachers train almost every day to give the student a new material every class.

Stop by Velocity Martial Arts in Pompano Beach or Velocity Martial Arts of Boca Raton to try any of the classes for free. If you or someone you know would like to know more about Karate in Pompano Beach Deerfield Beach or Boca Raton please call directly 954 943-4011