Changing Lives Martial Arts Princess One Shopping Center

I was visiting my granddaughter and attended her class. As a former student of tae kwon do (different dojo) I am appalled by the lack of discipline displayed by the younger Mr.Guse. Rather than explain how to do the moves and why or making sure they are executed correctly he is more concerned with throwing his limbs around in undisciplined manner and forcing a “Yes Sir” from the kids after every sentence. He had to refer to his phone twice in one half hour class. You have a child teaching kids who has no business teaching for money. How do you expect to propagate the next round of students with this guy teaching the youngest kids??

Changing Lives Martial Arts Princess Anne has brought our son out of his shell and turned him into such a confident child. They were one of the only Taekwondo schools around to take him at such a young age, and help instill many life skills that he can use both on and off the matt. We are going on year two here and have many more years to come. The staff is amazing, they are patient, and always provide sincere dedication and compassion to each and every student. The sky is the limit here, and they are willing to help each and every student meet their goals and aspirations. We now consider everyone family at ATA !

I’ve been a practitioner of the martial arts for 30 years. In all my time studying and instructing particularly during times of inactivity, there has never been a time that I referred a friend or even a stranger for that matter to this dojo. There business practices are over the top with little respect and honor which ironically is a lot of what the martial arts is all about. Sadly in my 30 years, I honestly can’t recall a conversation with someone that where praise was a part of the conversation.Responding to the businesses reply:No... I was talking about this school in particular. Look, contracts make good business sense particularly for a martial arts school. But holding those to it that might be in unique situations is just not the way. Other reviews confirm this and in all my years I’ve heard others say this as well. Need to lower the sales pressure tactics and focus on speaking with your passion for the art and the school when convincing a potential customer. Either way, I may have been a little harsh on the review so yes, I will take it down.

When I took my 4 year old son to the trial class, it was great. The owner was so patient with him and my son was so excited. We discussed that my main goal was to help my son become a better listener and with controlling himself. He is very high energy and often times struggles to calm down when he is overly excited or frustrated. Mr. Guse assured me that while the change wouldn’t happen over night, I should definitely start noticing positive changes within a month. I thought that seemed reasonable. I signed him up and paid in full for 6 months which included all the weapons, uniform, and belt testing/graduation. Paying in full saved money because those things cost more when bought separately as you go. I started taking my son to the classes twice a week immediately. The classes were not like the trial AT ALL. Mr. Guse rarely is the instructor but is physically there to man the phones and front desk, which is unfortunate because he is really great with the younger kids. He would jump in every so often to help but not super frequently. There are 3 other instructors: Ms. Lainalee, Shannon Guse (wife), and Nathaniel Guse (son). Lainalee was, in my opinion, the best because she is very structured in her attitude and stayed consistently firm with the little ones while still letting them enjoy it. Unfortunately, we didn’t get her as our instructor most of the time due to class times and days she was there. As the next few months continued and covid restrictions were becoming lighter, the class sizes grew. For older kids it may not have mattered, but for a 4 year old it did. The classes were 30 minutes long so there wasn’t much wiggle room in regards to time. Each class, they typically set up some sort of obstacle course or had to drag out multiple types of equipment for a small lesson. Adding more kids meant more equipment and more downtime while kids went through their obstacle course or kicked/punched things individually. I timed it and one course took 6 minutes to setup, 3 minutes of explanation and then 10 minutes of actually doing it… but one at a time. This brings me to my biggest point of frustration, which was the instructor Nathaniel. While I'm certain he is incredibly talented himself and works maybe a little better with older kids, he is not fit to teach little kids. He is only 14. He often took a long time to setup each thing, then would get somewhat distracted explaining it which confused the kids, and then when it was finally time for each child to participate, they either already forgot what to do or they were getting yelled at for acting out and not paying attention because they were so bored and frustrated. Unfortunately, we started getting him as our instructor more often than not. My son had his belt testing/graduation and I was SURE there was no way he would pass because he struggled through almost every class because of the lack of structure and the added kids, he didn’t seem to memorize much on his own, and he was getting fussed at during most classes because he was so bored and acted out. I would sometimes have to sit outside because it was hard to watch because I felt like I was somehow a bad parent because he was struggling. To my surprise, he passed the test and graduated and so did every single child. It seemed like more of a belt factory than an actual test you could only pass with satisfactory performance. Some kids literally did almost nothing and passed. I was shocked. The goal we had discussed on day 1 was not even slightly met. My son had no improvement in his karate or his overall behavior. After 3.5 months of zero change and more frustration, we quit. It was a huge waste of $1100. Two suggestions would be to setup the equipment on the entire other half of the gym not being used in advance and don’t have Nathaniel instruct the young kids. As a single mom of a child who’s father died unexpectedly a couple months ago, $1100 was a hard hit on one income for absolutely nothing. They texted once asking why we hadn’t come and I expressed my concern in response. I never heard back.

Our entire family takes classes at Changing Lives Martial Arts. It has been a really great experience for all of us. All of the instructors are extremely professional and know how to connect with each individual student.

Pros - my son at the time 7years learned a great set of skills amongst other positives:a. Hand eye coordinationb. Beginning of structurec. Physical conditioningd. Sense of accomplishment with each belte. True sense of competition (took 1st place in a sparring, 2nd place in weapons kata)f. Some great instructors who I believe really had the best intentions for my sonCon:a. Please please please read the fine print before signing that contract and if I could do it over again choose 1 year and and add on bc you never know whats going to happen (locked in for a few years and we had to stop due to financial hardships beyond our control but still contractually obligated to continue paying despite not going almost the last 9 months ($1800) lost.b. It gets very expensive: the monthly payment, plus..uniform upgrades, new weapon monthly payments, testing paymentsc. In tournaments they only competed in house only against other ATA schoolsSummary: Juice not the worth the squeeze.. although beneficial for my son, i believe if we would of shopped a bit more and read the contract more concisely we would of found another school not so expensive yet would of provided the same benefits expected mentioned above. Great people. Great lessons. Too expensive.

My son Ryley has been attending classes at this studio since 2013. He has come to truly love Taekwondo. His instructors have worked hard with him over these years and we are thankful for his progress. He is almost a 3rd degree and feels this studio is a second home.

My son started Tae Kwon Do about 2 years ago when he was 7. He mentioned several times Tae Kwon Do was something he was interested in and wanted to take lessons. Either my husband or I knew anything about the sport or were to begin looking for a location to train. I was speaking to one of Hunter’s classmate’s mother who recommended we try Changing Lives on Princess Anne. We started off by trying classes with a Groupon to determine if it was something my son would stick with. Since then we have had nothing but a positive experience. Mr. Gunsel, Ms. Moran and the other instructors have taken the time to get to know each child individually and always maintain a positive atmosphere during classes. My son has good days at class and sometimes bad days. But the instructors are always helpful preventing him from getting discouraged. After about a year my son joined the Demo Team which has provided an opportunity for him to perform in front of an audience. This has boosted his self-esteem and confidence. We have also been interested in taking what he has learned and competing in tournaments. To say Mr. Gunsel has been supportive is an understatement. He has been invaluable by providing my son with ‘private lessons’ during which he worked with him on his areas of weakness. He also ensured that during regular classes he concentrated on those same areas. He doesn’t just do this for my son he does this for all the students. My son is just about to take his test for his black belt and I am so proud of how much he has grown and developed over the last few years. I am also content with our decision to take him to Changing Lives in Princess Anne.

CLMA Princess Anne was recommended to us by one of our son's classmates when they were 5 yrs old. We walked in one day and were greeted by an instructor who took the time to tell us about CLMA and tried to get our son excited about Tae Kwon Do. He was hesitant at first and even cried during that initial visit. After that first day, he has never looked back- that was 5 yrs ago.CLMA, as with any martial arts program, requires dedication to the sport. If one understands All of what that entails, the student can truly learn a great skill.The instructors and some of the junior instructors have been amazing mentors to our son. Mr. Gunsel is the chief instructor at this location. He has a great way with the kids and is respected by students and parents alike. Through his primary instruction, it has been a joy to watch our son grow in respect and discipline. His increasing self-confidence and pride also shows with each of the belt ranks and regional competition titles he earns.My husband, who took Tae Kwon Do in his adolescent years, has also started taking the adult classes offered and enjoys the workout he gets each time.

Our son began his Tae Kwon Do training at the age of 5. Football was my first choice...wife said, "no!"Chief Master Thomas's instructors at the time, which included Mr. C. Gunsel, did not coddle him or baby him. Instead, the black belts immediately built in our son a strong foundation comprising of self-discipline, respect, and confidence through positive reinforcement. Once he stepped onto the mat; he never looked back.Five years later, he is a 2nd degree black belt and a junior instructor. This achievement required dedication and sacrifice from a young kid; such as skipping the Ipod/TV after school, instead study and finish the homework in order to make it to Tae Kwon Do class on time. It also required active participation, dedication, and financial sacrifice from the parents/guardians. I'm an old school martial arts student and I thought that my son was too young to teach others; that he received his black belt too fast and too early.Each day that I get the chance, to watch our son assist the newer students; to watch him practice the art; and to have him compete in tournaments.....he proves me wrong in ever thinking he wasn't ready.ATA Changing Lives Martial Arts can provide martial artists the ability to obtain an effective skill set that transcends outside the dojang.