Best karate school for kids?

Reccomendations?

i have heard Lee's Karate is a good place to send kids...good appropriate environment.

We have really liked Lee's. Son is almost a black belt.

Joey Perry's Martial Arts Academy is awesome & been in business for several years. He won an award for Top 100 Martial Arts Academy in the United States just about a month ago! Really family oriented!!!

Well if you send your kids to Lees or Perry's get ready for an empty wallet and NO martial arts training these are both set up as dance style classes. I myself am a martial artist (not in Jtown)and I know what to look for in a school and an instructor and I will tell you one of the best instructors in jonesboro is man by the name of Ashley Bowles, He teaches at Parker Park. now if you want to send your kid to an overpriced dance class pick one of those but if you want your kid to learn discipline and self defence then go to Ashley.

Ashley Bowles is good if you don't mind class at a community center, which there is absolutely nothing wrong with but for an actual school it is according to what you want your child to learn. You want him to learn a lot of gymnastics and travel around to compete in big time tournaments go to Joey Perry's. He also has a very nice weightlifting/exercise facility, you could also join and workout at while your child is training. If you want a well rounded more contemporary and ecclectic art that is involved in more local competitions go to Lee's. If you want more old school, structured and disciplined go to the Okinawan school on Matthews. Don't get me wrong, all three will be disciplined. The Okinawan school is just more old school traditional.

Thanks for the info. My child is a girl btw. I'm not so much worried about the tournament and competition thing. I just think the disipline would be good for her, and the confidence that comes from knowing she could defend herself if she had to.

Joey Perry's does not teach dance style anything. He does however teach discipline & martial arts. He is great with kids. Yes, it does cost some money, but he is not overpriced.

I wouldn't say Perry's isn't overpriced. It's actually pretty high, but I also think the kids get a good education there. As far as dance style, they do have an extreme martial arts class that incorporates alot of freestyle stuff, but no one's forced to take that class.

Me my mother and my younger brother all went to Lee's. We loved it. But couldn't afford to go anymore. There's several choices of classes you can take. We took kick boxing. You learn all the same stuff as the other classes except kick boxing is based on sparing(fake fighting) and using dummies. Some of this kids there are amazing. There was a little Asian kid that wasn't any older than 6 that was a black belt and could really hurt some of the teachers it was cute.

Any time you have a martial arts school that has kids under the age of 16 with black belts its a joke, It means they are running the kids through to fast and your basicly just buying belts every other month, and Yes the so called extreme style of Martial arts is nothing more than dance moves like what cheerleaders do. true martial arts self defence based schools would never teach this crap. and check Mr Lee's credentials I dont recall him ever taking a kickboxing class how can he teach it?

MacDojo probably opened one of those tiny schools that closed after a couple months and he's sore now.

The kids at Perry's test every 3 months for a new belt, and once they get to red, it's even less frequent than that because they understand there's so much more to learn from that point on. Some of these kids start at the age of 4, so 12 years IS NOT too short a period of time to earn a black belt.

My son has trained at both Bowle's and Perry's classes. They are both wonderful instructors and I would recommend either one!

self defence wrote:

Well if you send your kids to Lees or Perry's get ready for an empty wallet and NO martial arts training these are both set up as dance style classes. I myself am a martial artist (not in Jtown)and I know what to look for in a school and an instructor and I will tell you one of the best instructors in jonesboro is man by the name of Ashley Bowles, He teaches at Parker Park. now if you want to send your kid to an overpriced dance class pick one of those but if you want your kid to learn discipline and self defence then go to Ashley.

I have trained with Mr. Bowles, Mr. Lee and many other martial artists in the Joneboro area. I know and resepect them. I don't know you. Please tell me a little about yourself.

Mr. Bill Brown teaches a class at Central Baptist every Monday night at 6. It is a Christian environment with a good healthy atmosphere. He teaches the same style as the guys on Matthews and only charges $10 a month. Yes, it's that cheap because he does it as a ministry rather than a business so he isn't making money off you like the other dojos do. The $10 goes to pay for equipment that the class uses.

self defence wrote:

Well if you send your kids to Lees or Perry's get ready for an empty wallet and NO martial arts training these are both set up as dance style classes. I myself am a martial artist (not in Jtown)and I know what to look for in a school and an instructor and I will tell you one of the best instructors in jonesboro is man by the name of Ashley Bowles, He teaches at Parker Park. now if you want to send your kid to an overpriced dance class pick one of those but if you want your kid to learn discipline and self defence then go to Ashley.

100% Agree

The best instructor in town would definitly be Jim Smothers, He used to run blackbelt over on caraway

A truly honest instructor and a great teacher you would learn so much from him any and just about all styles

Mr. Smothers teaches at Perry's now.

polygraph wrote:

The best instructor in town would definitly be Jim Smothers, He used to run blackbelt over on caraway
A truly honest instructor and a great teacher you would learn so much from him any and just about all styles

Mr. Smothers was the striking coach for Bishop's fight team. I'm not sure if he still is though. He is a awesome instructor

polygraph wrote:

The best instructor in town would definitly be Jim Smothers, He used to run blackbelt over on caraway
A truly honest instructor and a great teacher you would learn so much from him any and just about all styles

yea, after his wife invited my handicapped child to their school everything went well until she got 'sick'.
then jim didnt have the patience to deal with my kid and very rudely, in front of other parents, didnt just ask us, but TOLD us not to come back.
by the way jim, i never forget.