Reviews of MF Carterton

most the lesson is standing in a line kicking the air. long pauses in class while instructor tells each belt colour what move they will be doing to a count. each belt does particular moves and you get stuck for weeks doing the same thing until you pay for a new grading. rather boring. they tag everyone whether they can do it or not and even in the grading everyone passes, even if they haven't got a clue how to do stuff. if you don't pay for the grading you get stuck doing the same things for another 12 weeks so lots of pressure on parents to pay for gradings. my kids now train at a different and much more professional club which is also much better value.

Having trained with MF Martial Arts for almost 3 years, I think this is fair reflection of the Dojo.

The class is now at the Leisure centre and is huge. Not enough instructors per pupil, and very little equipment, so a lot of the lesson is just standing in lines kicking and punching the air. Some of the instructors are very inexperienced.

The MF brand runs their classes on a pay to progress method. You learn a couple of kicks and punches then if you want to get a higher belt you pay for a grading. If you don't pay then you cannot learn anything new, so it gets rather dull.

Then there are all the "add on" costs. They tell you your child is good enough for their leadership program, get them all excited, and then hit you with the HUGE extra monthly cost as well as the HUGE cost for all the kit.

You then have to have a sparring kit past a certain grade, and they will only let you buy their own brand at £150 which is a huge amount given it was poor quality. It's not even CE marked!

Then there's the junior instructor program, and yet again, another monthly fee for your child to help them in lessons.

Grades are awarded on knowledge rather than ability, so it also makes the belts rather meaningless. Even their panel gradings for red, deputy black and black belts (which again YOU pay a HUGE amount for) are based on knowledge and not ability, and I was so disappointed to see some rather nice but talentless people pass.

I left because the who thing became about money and not about martial arts. It's a fun but very overpriced exercise class, but not really martial arts.

MF Oxfordshire Martial Arts has helped me turn my life around. I've lost 5 stone and now train regularly with my children (6 & 9) and love the challenge, friendship, fun and achievement. I highly recommend MF Carterton to anyone who is looking for something to help their children grow and develop into strong, confident and capable young citizens. A warm welcome and a caring, supportive, family environment is guaranteed. MF Carterton follows in the footsteps of all the Oxfordshire schools and is destined to be as big a success as all the other MF schools.