Coincidence - I'm living in Southampton but originally from Swansea. It just so happens that I was the president of Southampton Uni Kickboxing club 2 years ago. I may be biased but it's an excellent club. Chief instructor is Humphrey Broomes - he runs lot of clubs in the area for top up lessons. I'm still in Southampton training with him (he trains some parts of Lau Gar KF too), and I'm still in touch with the uni club (especially on socials ). The people are really friendly and training can be what you make of it - there have been quite a few good fighters come out of the club since Humphrey took over (4- 5 yrs ago) and there are opportunities for competitions thru the year (inter uni & others) Check out http://www.soton.ac.uk/~kickbox for the uni's site, or http://www.imao.org.uk for Humphrey's site. Current president is Laxmi, and she's very approachable and a great laff. E-mail details are on the website. Or post any more questions here (or PM me) and I should know the answer.
thankyou, i haev already email laxmi to see if i can go to the club after my interview on teh first of march to see what it is like first hand. Its good to know the club is good, Is it more kung fu or more kickboxing, either way it will be different from korean kickboxing but i was just curious. Also is the club sport or self defencse based and can you fight full contact? or is it semi and light only Cheers dude
Should think you'd be alright going along after the interview - depends on the insurance etc. whether you could join in (I'm out of date on that). If you have the time I'd recommend tagging along to the bar after the session as well, as i think there's normally a few who go to unwind and chill, and can be a good way of getting answers (and the beer's cheap ) . Uni club is mainly kickboxing, but there can be a fair few techniques from the kung fu thrown in. You have the choice to persue KF or KB grading though everyone trains the same. The club is mainly beginners (new people every 3 years), but those who have been a while/progress quickly normally do extra lessons in instructor's other clubs, which is where you really decide KF or KB. I'd say sport based mainly, Humphrey does like his competition fighting. Fair amounts of sparring and bag/pad work (club owns a good assortment of equipment). Some self defence thrown in with KF technique, but not a great deal. Fighting is semi contact points or light continuous with a good chance of a few tournaments throughout the year. Let me know how you get on with the interview and what your thoughts of the club are. I'll have a word with Lax tomorrow and hurry her up on the e-mail reply (can't get the presidents these days! )
If I was in Southampton I wouldn't be doing Kickboxing (although I might if I tried it) There are some top class Goju guys down there!! Watch out for a Goju seminar in the near future. Sorry for highjacking your thread........back to the kick boxing!
thanx, if i can make it to the club then i would like to see it, unfortunately im more of a full and semi contact continuous and self defencse fighter so im not certain if thsi club is for me, but i will definately take a look.
As far as I'm aware you can get away without insurance if attending on a trial basis. In our club we normally let newbies attend 2 - 3 sessions before making them stump up the insurance. And if you don't like the club there are plenty of others at Southampton to choose from!!! (As evidenced by this being the second Soton MA club to try hijacking the thread )
It really does vary a great deal. Some practice full contact. Lots of conditioning and the focus is generally, although not always, on combat rather than sport. I love it anyway. If you would like to know more pm me, or I'll elaborate here if it's appropriate
Okay Alot depends on where you train. I would advise against following IOGKF type Goju as it is very basic and dare I say the Shotokan (sorry guys) of the Goju world. There are elements of grappling although karate is primarily a striking art so don't expect to be able to defeat a bjj fighter! It ain't gonna happen. That said it is a very complete system you will, given the right instructor, cover striking, grappling, chokes, locks holds, well everything really. Goju is a very close fighting system. Some liken it to the Octopus, once you're in you stick to you opponent and smother them. It really can be most effective. If you're going to be training in Southampton then I can suggest a few people, would it be a one of thing or are you moving there or something? And of course there's the course which is coming up on 3rd April. I'll put it on the events listing soon.
i hope to be going to southampton uni this year to study, so i will be livign there durign term times.
Great so you'll be there quite a bit! I'll pm you some Goju contacts in the Southampton area. There is a Goju club at the Uni, it's IOGKF and for that reason I have dismissed it, perhaps wrongly, it's worth checking out as you don't always know.
There is also a new Tae Kwon-Do club starting up near Southampton. Very sparring orientated (semi contact continuous) lots of heavy fitness and bag work. Also a lot of practical street self defense. The web site for it is http://www.tigontkd.co.uk
have you seen the prices?? 4 pound for one hour, i should hope the club is good!! does anyone else pay that much for their lessons?
Sounds about right for a standard commercial price as far as I'm concerned. Used to pay £3.50 a couple of years ago, now £8 for 3 lessons (one comes free). Uni clubs are way cheaper though. We only paid about £35 a term, two lessons a week when I was there. http://www.martialartsplanet.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15268&highlight=paying This one's been running a while and'll probably answer your question a bit more broadly.
I think they do discounts for familys, students and stuff like that. All prices in the area are similar. I use to go to a Kung Fu club in Southampton that was £6 an hour.
wow i pay 2 - 2.50 pound for 2-5 hours, dependending on who wants to use teh hall after us, i know that is really cheap but it only cost me about 2.50 or 3.50 for two hours in teh other clubs i have been to
Are you currently living in Swansea? Perhaps you are just lucky there with your prices, like everything it probably varies a lot from region to region. When you find a club you think you might want to join, before you even go there to have a look properly email (or phone) the instructor they are almost always prepared to lower the price if they are asked. Then when you find a club and price you like, that's the time to go and check out the club in the flesh. Other wise you can be spending loads of money just because you didn't ask for a cheaper price!
yea martialrts clubs are probably just cheaper here i have never heard of paying 4 pound for an hour before. i hope not all clubs in england cost that much, i wanted to train a minimum of three days a week in a minimun of two styles, that could get pretty expensive.
