5 Star Review By Preston Vaught
I have been here for about a year and a quarter, best experience of my life, I highly recommend this to anyone.
I have been here for about a year and a quarter, best experience of my life, I highly recommend this to anyone.
My daughter took the Monday/Wednesday class for about three months. I love that we rode public transit and walked to and from. I love the class size: in the warm months, there are maximum 11 kids. That's wonderfully small. I love that all the parents and instructors whom I met were friendly and accepting. Plus there's Gerald, a grandfather of a student who is a long-time expert in Salem-area martial arts: talkative, friendly, coached me how to tie the obi and what the names for everything are... In these three months, I've made friends among these parents, and I'll miss them. I also love the price: $50 per month is perfect. The class requires white uniforms, which you can buy from the dojo, if you wish. The class also requires that the students clean the mat with wet, soapy cloths, and dry cloths directly afterward. We participated in the yearly deep clean of the dojo, which made us feel like a tight-knit community. My ten-year-old daughter's opinions about the place are as follows: she enjoys interacting with all the students "except the two really tall boys, who were really rough." There is an instructor's assistant with an orange belt and a ponytail who is bossy, but I think the instructors are aware of that and never allow him to teach, but just allow him to help demonstrate and supervise. There are lots of lockers to use, free of charge, for anyone in the dojo. She likes that there's an area for parents to watch that the students can see through the mirrors; "It makes me feel comfortable." She's chosen to stop karate lessons for now, but I don't think it's the fault of this dojo. If she chose to return to lessons in the future, we will gladly return here.