Reviews of Charlie Lee Karate

As a former student of Charlie lee karate or D4 karate I can very well say that choosing karate and doing it at D4 was one of the best decisions I had ever made. I studied at D4 karate for 7 years and it was great Mr. B doesn't just teach you karate lessons but life lessons as well. Mr. B is very charismatic and tries to get to know you which really does help in the learning process. Karate is a very competitive sport and every teacher has a favorite and why not? That child obviously worked really hard to get there ,but I can easily say as a former student at that school it motivated me even more to work harder and practice more. Like any sport with success comes hard work which means going to class 4-6 days a week practicing at home, especially with karate where there are so many aspects you get tested on, like traditional forms, combinations, sparring, and just overall technique, and that's just at a beginner level as you progress as a students more aspects get added to the list. If you or your child wasn't successful there than you or your child didn't work as hard to be honest. Martial arts takes years to master so obviously Any teacher isn't going to be handing out black belts to every child who has been there for a minimum of 3 years. (Referring to the previous review) teachers will go out of there way to teach and coach a student if they see that that student is working hard and practicing, and therefore it's not the teachers fault if he doesn't decide to invite your child to the advanced/adult classes. Karate is all about what you bring to the table and if your experience wasn't good at D4 then it probably wouldn't have been good anywhere.

charlie lee karate in my opinion is the best in the business.Not only because of their great lessons and great system,but because of their great commitment.As a student at charlie lee karate i find that the instructors are very supportive and helpful at all times.whenever i see students having trouble with lessons because of there disabilities and complications throughout lessons,i find that Mr.B along with the other instructors give support,encouragement and wise teachings.Throughout my experience i would recommend this school to almost everyone.On my first taste of karate i felt asif that waswhere i was supposed to be.Mr.B has tought me many wise lessons witch i would have ever learned if i had not found this school.As an advanced blue belt who started at the end of december,i have increased my memmory,strength and defensive skills throughout karate.

WORST KARATE PLACE!! MONEY TRAP!! I have two kids that went for the D4 Karate / Charlie Lee Karate in Herndon for around 4 years and we had a very painful experience with the Karate in Herndon, especially with the owner, Mr. B. and my kids never got the black belt.

The whole experience has inflicted a long term moral damage to both of my kids. The contract was to get a black belt in 3.5 years.

Mr B ( the owner Danny Bocagno) is a very shrewd business man with no conscience.

My advice for the parents is to NEVER EVER sign a LONG TERM contract. And make sure - whatever Mr B says verbally is on the contract. Mr B is a child psychologist who only knows how to lure the kids to get into the karate and then the parents follows blindly into signing the contract. No matter how tempting his sales deals are - beware of signing the long term contract. He comes with the deal on the fly that - if you have sibling then it will be discounted for 10 or 25% - provided you sign up for the contract now. If you have more than two kids - then do not sign up for all sibling. I know many parents who signed up with 2 kids and they also ended up like us, without the black belt.

Mr B has favorites where he knows he can extract money from the parents, if the money is already paid - then those kids are no longer taught by Mr B himself, but by his assistant who never pays any attention. Mr B picks and choose kids who he wants to teach and sees opportunity to extract more money or prepare for the showcase. This creates a very looky situation and rest of the kids feels very disheartened by his this biased attitude. Since he does not have office administration assistant - most of his times are spent in office doing and conducting business rather than actually teaching the kids - that he is supposed to do. For the last six months - I can count that my kids were taught by Mr B less than 10 times. That too - he picked up only one sibling and always left the other sibling behind - creating a very morally damaging and demotivating experience for the kids. Once the contract got over - he wants to go month to month to extract more money from me and offered to test one kid and leave the other behind. If for the last one year my kids could not get tested what was the guarantee that in next three months they will ever get tested. I chose to drop out and happy that this whole excruciatingly painful experience is over for my kids as well as for us as a parents.