​​"Which martial art is best for personal defense?"

The answer to this question is always: "It depends on the context of the moment." (Run from any teacher that pushes their own chosen style as the correct answer to this question!) And in any bad situation, that moment is likely to be quite mercurial. The trick, therefore, is to deeply understand a handful of fundamental concepts and be able to blend and balance them into a fluid workflow. This is what Black Soul teaches — truly mixed martial arts. There is simply no such thing as one ultimate style for personal defense. And real talk? The best style is the one you have fun learning!

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"Okay, then which discipline(s) do you teach?"

Strictly speaking, Black Soul has chosen to teach a very progressive, evolutionary form of Taekwondo as its core skill set. This is because it naturally excels at three things: mental discipline, lateral agility, and keeping (even multiple) threats at the safest possible distance. (And because no single martial art is a complete system alone; we augment these core skills in our curriculum by pulling in complementary tactics from other arts such as Muay Thai, American Boxing, BJJ, Krav Maga, Karate, etc.)

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"Do you award belts or hold rank exams?"
Nope. (Although there are rare exceptions ✨) We exist to give as many people as we can a 'quick and dirty' martial arts education, to help current students reach their goals when their dojo's regular group-ex classes may not be enough, and to benefit under-served communities in the martial arts world. We are not a traditional studio where cyclical rank exams are offered.

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"May I book a session and share my screen time with friends or family?"

Absolutely! In fact, your freedom to do *exactly this* is a major selling point at Black Soul! 🥳🎉 Why pay hundreds of dollars each month to maintain your family's individual memberships (+ unnecessary equipment costs, hidden fees, get stuck in a contract, etc.) at a generic studio when you could instead pay one lower rate, have more productive classes, get your own private tutor, and share your time exclusively with whomever you choose, whenever you choose? Heck, split the cost and bring along a couple of friends!

 

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"What ages do you start teaching children?"

Every child is different, so we certainly encourage parents to engage with their kids throughout the Black Soul process. But as a rule of thumb, we use the Rule of Four:

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We will take children on as students starting at age 4. For the first four years (ages 4-7), parents must be present on camera at all times with their children. For the next four years (ages 8-11), parents must be within earshot to supervise their child's session. And we trust ages 12+ to behave appropriately with very minimal parental supervision.

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Mind you, we do reserve the right to terminate any session (due to poor behavior, lack of engagement with the instructor, etc) without refund. We like to joke with parents to "bet on your child's maturity level" wisely. 😉

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"What do I need to get started?"
REQUIRED:

✅ Comfy workout clothes.

✅ A device with the Zoom app and a high quality camera & mic.

✅ Fast, reliable wifi. (See Zoom's required tech specs here. Spoilers, your wifi is probably A-OK.)

✅ And a 10'x10' practice space. (Some students even use smaller spaces successfully!)

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RECOMMENDED:

➕ A friend!

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That's it, super easy.