Blackman's Championship Martial Arts — Attraction in Albuquerque

Update to review from 4 years ago - The Blackman's and their team have been awesome over the years. It's been an incredible journey. From friendships made, trials overcome, birthday parties, day camps, some minor injuries, and continued persistence ... to my daughter testing for her black belt soon, it has been an excellent life experience. The Blackman's are good people, full of heart. Our daughter started as a quiet, shy and timid 6 year old, and is now a confident, outgoing 12 year old with a deep sense of her ability to succeed in almost anything she puts her mind to, and the patience to persist and follow through. And, that stick-to-it-ness has paid off at school and in other sports. It wasn't inexpensive, but it is worth every penny spent. I can't thank the Blackman's enough.

Since Covid broke out, I have been impressed. The Blackman's kept students and staff safe, creating virtual training so my daughter can keep training from home. When we could attend in person again, we went to see the precautions the Blackman's are taking. I am immune compromised. I have had radiation, chemotherapy, bone marrow and stem cell transplants. I operate with 50% kidney function or less, and maybe 60% lung function. I worry about catching even a minor cold, let alone Corona virus. To be blunt, seeing in person the safeguards Blackman's has in place, and the cleaning procedures they repeat throughout the day ... I feel perfectly safe sitting there watching my kid train. The Blackman's have gone the extra mile with cleanliness, antimicrobial and anti-viral cleaning. The facility is well ventilated. I'm guessing they are being so over the top safe that it has to be overkill. But, that's fine with me. Better safe than sorry. We are attending in person 3 to 4 times a week now. Thanks to all the staff at Blackman's.

Review from 4 yrs ago: Our daughter has been going for a year and a quarter. We originally signed the one year contract. But, we are exceptionally pleased, so we just re-signed for the longest contract. Our daughter loves her instructors, and the whole experience has been great for her and for the family,

In reply to one of reviews here that costs were not fairly represented. They were to us.

Then, in reply to the person that said their children were bored and quit. If I let my child out of her activities whenever she was bored, she'd never do much of anything. She wouldn't learn to persevere, never learn to cope with boredom, and in short, be more likely to be ADD. It isn't my child's cheerleading coach's responsibility, or the piano teacher's responsibility, or anyone's responsibility to see to it that my child is not bored. My kid needs to learn to cope with boredom, structure, boundaries, and repetition. Those traits are required to persevere and be successful in virtually anything.

I used to ask my daughter if she wanted to go to TKD, piano, or chearleading, or pretty much anything. The answer was always no. When asked why, the answer was always, "it's boring," or "it's stupid, I don't want to." A child psychiatrist friend of mine explained it to me. Kids, developmentally, rarely want to stop what they are doing to do something else. It is simply developmental. They'll protest, they'll cry. You have to make them do things. If I didn't make my kid quit doing what she was doing, as a parent I would be at the mercy of my child's whims. If I didn't make her quit what she was doing to go to her activities, I'd be robbing her of some incredible life experiences and opportunities. To this very day, if I ask if she wants to go to one of her activities out of the house she will say no. But, I make her go anyway. Then she goes, and she winds up making new friends, and growing, and learning, and becoming more proficient at a discipline, and sometimes she's bored. But now, having persevered to go for a year, she decided she likes chearleading, she likes TKD. She likes the power, and confidence, and sense of competence she has learned... And she has a great time at the dojang. I recommend TKD and Blackman to...

I had been doing research on choosing a school and decided since I was in the area with my family, I thought we would stop by to get more info. The second we walked in I felt all eyes were on us. The girl at the podium asked what we were doing there and why we randomly wanted to drop in. I told her I saw their special online and wanted to get more info. It seemed so odd for them to just have a random potential student/family walk in and ask questions about their program. When I asked about pricing she explained I couldn’t get that info until my son was evaluated we set up an evaluation with Mr. Nick and we’re given a uniform. I was thrown off that the staff didn’t bother to check if the uniform fit or not. I asked if we should try it on the receptionist told us she can “eye” sizes. We later learned the uniform was small. In that SHORT 15 minutes of walking in I felt like we were already being evaluated it was a uncomfortable feeling. As the week went on I received a email stating our evaluation will be with none other than Mr. Blackman himself. I first read the email like WOW this business owner sure takes pride in his new students. We arrived at the school and I I was told the entire family will be evaluated. We were told we would have to fill out monthly success forms for chores and to help earn stripes on their belt. I asked if there were tournaments only because we had seen cobra Kai and I was told they only do in house tournaments and that every kid gets a place or medal because there is always room for growth and improvement. This sounded very similar to i9sports where everybody gets a participation ribbon of some sort. After the evaluation we were directed into the financial office to get more info on pricing and classes. The whole presentation of prices seemed very pushy like as if I was buying a car. She explained we’d get two weeks of sick/vacation leave, two 30 minute classes a week for the price of only $1,580.25 which would save me 25%. Option B was save 15% with $399 down with 12 payments of $115 a month. Option C was save 5% with $299 12 payments of $141.89. Option D was $199 with 12 payments of $159 with no interest or finance charges. This does not even include the $99.99 basic equipment package. She also stated if my child has potential he could be asked to join the masters club or black belt club. She pointed out the window and said those were the kids wearing red and blue uniforms. Because we were just joining those pricing weren’t available to us and we could go over that when the time comes. The idea of the different colored uniforms made it seem like all the business owners see is a different dollar sign, by the color of your uniform they know how much you pay. After going over everything she said our paperwork would be ready to sign after our son would earn his first white belt by breaking a board. I asked if their payment plans were contracted with hesitation she said yes. Because the class was over we left without an earned white belt. The next day we tried another school and I liked it wasn’t contracted there was no individual evaluation my son was able to join the 45 minute class. After speaking with the Coach I enrolled not only one son but two for price of one kid at Blackman’s. After getting everything I called back in the financial office of Blackman’s to cancel the board breaking and to get my money back because the ad stated it was 100% refundable. She offered to match the price for one son and asked where we join when I said the schools name her tone of voice changed in the rudest tone she stated my money would only be refunded if I returned their uniform and hung up. By the tone of her voice and attitude I felt the need not to return the uniform only because it seemed like it was a personal issue for me choosing the school I chose. I recently saw the school offered to refund another parents money, I will gladly send you my receipt to get my refund. I hope my review helps potential families who want to be more educated in the world...

I've had some time away from Blackman's to really process our experience and give a more thorough review. My children had been in a martial arts school that did not survive the pandemic, and were in need of some exercise and discipline, and they preferred martial arts. We had some friends who are members of the Blackman's community who we think very highly of so we thought we would try the school out. Both of my children really enjoyed their initial private class with an instructor, and we met with the contracts person to sign up. While I was a little shocked at the initial cost for the first year's contract, especially given there would only be 2 classes a week. I thought at least the school was still open and has survived the pandemic, so my children would get consistent instruction.

About 4 months later, both my children had achieved the rank of yellow belt, and the invitation to join black belt club came. This was when the serious nickel and diming began. I waited a couple of months for their "Christmas in July" sale when the "biggest discounts of the year" would be available. What was offered was a 3-year contract (at nearly twice what any other school is charging for a monthly membership fee with unlimited classes), and the only advantage was a different colored uniform, and 3 days of instruction per week, plus weapons classes (but you have to buy the weapons kit)

At this point, the instruction level went way down. Or maybe I just started noticing it. Come hell or high water there is a belt test every 10 weeks. I noticed that none of the little stickers they give out for curriculum to determine who is ready for belt testing were being given out until less than a week before any of the tests happen. I'm also going to say after calling around and doing some research that this school has at least twice as many belt levels for children as other schools do, and the belt testing fees are expensive! It was constant nickel and diming, upsell, extend the contract for more money, buy a new uniform, parents night out, in-house tournaments where you not only don't see what other schools are teaching, but because it's in-house the house keeps the (expensive) tournament fees! Marking up everything and then having a "sale" every 3 months. By the time I was truly starting to feel like a cash cow and my kids weren't learning anything, we only had a couple months left on our contract. We completed the contract and decided to move on. It took them 6 weeks to realize my kids weren't coming anymore and have someone call to check on us. I was sure getting emails to come in to renew the contract though.

The people in the community are truly wonderful and some of the instructors are nice, but you can get far better value for your money at a different Taekwondo school. Unless you have a lot of money to burn, I would look at other schools before looking...