Even with the best possible instruction, learning a martial art requires years of discipline and focused effort. The first challenge for any fledgling martial artist, is to find that instruction. Where do you begin?
A comprehensive list of martial arts schools in your area would be a great place to start–if it existed. But, until recently, such a list did not, and could not exist. Let us briefly explain the problem, and our solution.
Every week, dozens of schools open up, move to a new location, change ownership, or close their doors. Maintaining an up-to-date list of all these schools is a part-time job in itself. So directory managers have a choice to make: do we hire someone to do this job, or just skip it?
Some skip the job, choosing instead to publish a stale and incomplete listing. These “online school finders” may only contain half of the schools in your city–and half of those listed no longer exist! In our experience, the average local martial arts guide is, in fact, a dojo graveyard.
Other directories charge a fee for inclusion. While this fee helps keep the list fresh, it also keeps it short: many talented teachers are simply not willing to pay for such a service.
Here at DojoScore, we’ve created a new kind of resource for martial artists. Instead of asking teachers to email a directory administrator about recent changes at their school, we put the power directly into their hands. Anyone can add or edit their own dojo listing, at no charge, and see the changes take effect immediately.
For students, we offer a powerful geographic search feature, that lists all schools within a specified distance from their home or workplace, and the martial arts styles they teach. Also completely free to use!
At the time of this writing, DojoScore is a brand new service, and we probably haven’t listed all the schools in your area yet. Nevertheless, we hope to grow quickly with your help. So please add your school; try a search; spread the word!