| What style of Martial Art is being taught? |
| Chinese American Goju-Ryu Karate System |
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| What does Goju-Ryu mean? |
| Way of the hard and soft |
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| What does Sensei mean? |
| Teacher |
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| Who is Sensei Gary's instructor? |
| Shihan William Louie |
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| What does Shihan mean? |
| Founder |
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| How long has Sensei Gary been atudying the Martial Arts? |
| Over 23 years |
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| When are classes being held? |
| Monday thru Saturday (see class schedule) |
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| Does Sensei Gary teach private or semi group classes? |
| Yes. By appointment. |
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| As a beginner, what would I wear? |
| Sweatpants, sweatshirt or a tee-shirt are fine and Karate uniforms are available at your convenience. |
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| Will I be taking tests? |
| Yes, when you have the necessary requirements for advancement, then you will be tested. |
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| Does your school enter tournaments? |
| Yes. We try to compete in tournaments as much as possible, however competition not minatory. |
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| Are there any contracts that I have to sign? |
| No. There are no contracts. |
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| How does your ranking system work? |
| The first rank is white belt then yellow, green, purple, brown and black. In between each belt is a colored tip.(see grades) |
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| How long does it take to become a Black Belt? |
| To give a specific answer is difficult, however, depending on the students and how hard they train, anywhere between 4 and 7 years. |
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| At what age can they start attending classes? |
| Usually 5 years old is the youngest. |
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| When I join, will I have to fight a Black Belt? |
| All sparring matches are equal and supervised. You will be matched up with someone your own rank. |
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| How often must I attend class? |
| There is no required number of classes that a student must attend. Come as often as you like. Of course, the more classes a student attends, the more quickly he or she will progress. |
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| What type of a floor do you practice on? |
| We have 1800 sq. feet of high density padding with a custom-made canvas covering. This type of surface allows us to practice leg sweeps, take downs, and self defense with the highest degree of safety and realism. |
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| Does your school practice any street techniques? |
| Yes. Goju-Ryu specializes in close-in fighting, making full use of the hands, elbows and knees. |
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| What Martial Art is considered the best? |
| There is no single style that is considered superior to another. |
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| What does a basic Karate class consist of? |
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- doing slow and static stretching techniques
- doing warm up exercises
- learn (stances, blocks, kicks, strikes, etc.)
- learn Katas (prearranged movements)
- learn self-defense and sparring techniques
- practice and question & answer time
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| What is a Kata? |
| A Kata is a prearranged set of movements consisting of blocks, punches, kicks, and other techniques used to fight off one or more imaginary opponents. In Goju Karate, the Katas that we perform are considered the backbone of our training. |
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| Does your school get involved with the neighborhood? |
| Yes. Some of the organization we work with are...
- Lowell Boys Club
- D.A.R.E. Program
- Big Brothers/Big Sisters
- Blind Association
- Lowell Social Services
- Lowell Mentally Ill
- and many more
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