Kids Martial Arts Class - Matt Fiddes

[LittleShark]

Has anyone else had a poor experience with Matt Fiddes Martial Arts?

My son started lessons and it was rather expensive at £45 a month! They said there would be a couple of gradings per year at a small cost which turned out to be 4 gradings a year at £40 each!

They then only let them learn a couple of kicks and punches and a hand drill, and if you don’t pay for a grading, then they get stuck doing the same thing, so lots of pressure on parents to pay more money.

Once he got to a certain belt, they insisted he had a sparring kit. We had one already, but weren’t allowed to use it because you have to pay £150 for their own branded one. Yet again I had to pay for it as I would have felt like a bad parent otherwise. It was awful quality and split so easily.

They then said he was doing brilliantly and invited him to join their leadership group. He was SO excited to be invited in front of the entire class. So that was another £35 a month (on top of the £45 already paid), plus I had to pay an eye watering £160 for a new black uniform and weapons pack.

The last straw was being invited to their young instructors thing. Yet again, another monthly amount which had no fixed end to it, and seemed to be about using these kids to help in their own lessons as they often didn’t have enough instructors.

Obviously I had to disappoint my son and tell him I’d had enough as the whole thing felt like The Apprentice with all the add-ons and extra costs to fleece as much money out of people as possible.

Thankfully we have since found another club which is so much more professional and much cheaper, but I was wondering if any other parents have been conned into this club or another one?

I felt it was so unfair to get a child really excited about something without telling the parents first what costs were involved.

I 100% agree with this. We've just learnt about the £45 grading charge. It was expensive anyway (way more expensive than any other activity they do) and I think it is an absolute con.

My son loves it though, so I've now got to work out how to get him off this and onto a different martial art. Organise "clubs" like this for adults, but to do this for kids I think is immoral.

My 7yo does kickboxing and it costs £45/month, and gradings are quarterly for £30.

When we signed up (think it cost £30-50 but I can’t remember) we were given a uniform and white belt, boxing gloves and pads, and several booklets explaining the programme and nutrition etc. Full new uniforms are £35 or branded t-shirts are £15 (can be worn with black trousers).

They also have a very select group of older kids who are showing hard work and dedication to guide the younger kids, however they have several instructors in the class so it’s not because there aren’t enough staff. These kids can eventually go on to a training programme once they become brown belts (I think) if they wish to become instructors when they are older.

I don’t think martial arts is the cheapest of activities but it does sound like they are not being upfront about all the ad-ons.

That does sound like a lot of extra costs. My daughter is a brown belt, I pay £55 a month for two lessons a week. Gradings are £25 and happen less frequently as they go up the grades. We can buy their karate suits and equipment anywhere, the only branded item that they have to have is a badge for the suit. The only other additional costs are for additional classes/holiday courses and competitions.

They charge kids to help out?! Our dojo do discounted memberships for helpers, we've clearly been doing it wrong

As someone with a lot of interest in martial arts, I'm trying very hard not to be snobby about MF!
I mean, it's a franchise, so it's there to make money really. They have loads of advertising and I'm sure the classes look smart with their branded kit and all. To be honest the £45-50 a month seems pretty standard, though that seems like a lot of gradings.

I'm glad you managed to find another club, hope your son carries on with his enthusiasm!

Our karate club has different pricing structure, you pay 1 fee if only going to go once a week £35 then £50to go as many times as you like a week. Gradings are 4 times a year if you are eligible to grade and cost £35 new belt included in fee. If you don’t grade you don’t learn the new higher grade syllabus but no pressure to grade but might get bit boring stuck at same belt and all your friends move up. Competitions are also extra but you don’t need to take part like wise the special 4 times a year sessions taken by world famous Senseis with other clubs, 2 of these sessions are free and 2 have a £30 charge to attend.

£5 a session here. Gradings are 3 times a year if the sensai agrees they are up to it. A grading costs £10 under brown belt. Above is £15. Adults 16 above are £16 an grading.. A gi (uniform) is no more than £15.

Thanks for all the helpful replies. I'm glad it isn't just me that feels the whole thing is a bit of a rip off and a McDojo!

It's always tough as a parent to take your child out of something they enjoy, but if it wasn't for me constantly paying more, he would of been stuck on basic moves.

Thankfully he has settled really well into the new club and they encourage the kids to have a go at everything, helping them build up to black belt level, adding spinning etc... gradings are free but they only grade you when you are ready.

I have since been in touch with another woman who trained with Matt Fiddes martial arts and left after 3 years. She said the gradings were
ridiculous, and they passed people who could vaguely demonstrate the moves rather than actually do them. Her aim was to get to black belt, but she realised that a MF blackbelt was meaningless after she watched some really awful people pass. She has since found another club which she says is much better.

I just feel like a complete mug having paid for such rubbish for so long.

Such a shame people are getting put off by money making martial arts groups but unfortunately they are everywhere and impossible for parents to know what type of club it is until they sign up. We run a local (Portsmouth and Fareham) martial arts club charging £20 per month for 2 classes a week with a £5 discount for every additional child from the same address. Gradings cost £5. We struggle to compete with the advertising and promotions that a profit driven group can do. So try to look around for smaller local groups if possible. There are some out there and they only charge enough to pay for the hall hire and equipment in order to make martial arts affordable to all.

We also got conned by MattFiddes martial arts which I did with my son. I assumed the blue instructor uniforms with black belts meant they were black belts, but after just 15 months and 5 belts in they invited me to a meeting to see if I wanted to be an instructor. I was quite horrified by some of the stuff they were saying. basically a strategy to open as many classes as possible and all they want are enthusiastic people regardless of belt level as they would basically send you on a training course and you can go up several belts in a day. All they were interested in was opening more classes to make more money.

After that we left a few months later because I realised the whole thing was money.

we found a new club that is much better. We still pay for gradings but now we get to have a go at everything and grade if we have made good progress. we had to go back several belts as we were a long way off the standard of their 5th belt equivalent. at matt fiddes they pass anyone who pays and each belt has set kick and punch so if you do not pay you cannot do new things. also at matt fiddes we had to spend a lot of time waiting for them to go through what each belt colour was going to do and lots of it was just standing in lines waiting. white belts were not allowed to do anything other than a jab cross and front kick for 12 weeks. then you pay for grading. then you get a new punch and kick to do for another 12 weeks.

some of the instructors were nice and they are very badly paid unless they get lots of people in their class as the franchise owners take lots of the money. but again most instructors not black belt and very inexperienced. there turn over of students was very high so instructors were always under pressure to get more people and pass them to keep them interested.

I think it is awful to pull parents in like this to get them to keep paying. my advise to anyone would be to look at small independent martial arts clubs and ask questions before joining and look for genuine reviews. hope this helps someone who was considering joining matt fiddes martial arts and I hope @LittleShark is still enjoying the new club and didn't get put off by their experience.

i also saw kids helping with lessons and assumed they gave them free lessons for their help. thats crazy if they have to pay.

The one me and DS go to is £30 a month and grades are three times a year and £40 each. Sparring kit is horribly expensive at £130, but there's so many bits to it I can't see how it could be much cheaper without buying poor quality stuff.