Help Finding Martial Arts Schools in Jamaica

@Winnie Wa most of these are in Kingston

There's one one Winchester rd

How would you commute, you may want to consider Kingston or st andrew for living arrangements. Have you concluded on st elizabeth?

Thanks Beres, my family are largely in St Elizabeth whereas i havent made any connections in Kingston yet.

Thank you again for your response, i’ll definitely have to take this into consideration for arrangements

@Winnie Wa I came across your inquiry here and thought I'd add my two cents of knowledge. Jamaica is generally limited in its martial arts spread. Main styles in this country are Karate (Seido and various offshoots of this system or Shotokan), Tae Kwon Do (ITF form) and some Kung Fu (Wu Shu/ animal styles mixed with some Kickboxing). There is also an Aikido school which I believe is the one on Winchester Road in Kingston that was mentioned in a previous reply to you (it is not a Wing Chun or Krav Maga school). You also have some gyms that have branched off into teaching Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). I myself have been searching for years now for a good (as in experienced with a knowledge of practical application) Wing Chun instructor/ practitioner in Jamaica but haven't come across any. I was taught Wing Chun by my uncle in the U.S. for a while but that's about the extent of my experience with this particular system. I really want to learn Jeet Kune Do (Bruce Lee's system which is influenced in part by Wing Chun) but, again, that's not in Jamaica (as far as I know). You may come across a mid to high-ranking student who studied overseas and returned to Jamaica but as far as I know there are no established schools. It is the same with Krav Maga which I also have an interest in learning. The other issue is that it is likely that St. Elizabeth the parish that you are relocating to does not have many martial arts schools. Most schools are situated across Kingston, Mobay and Mandeville. Hope this helps and all the best on your martial arts training journey! 

@The Reformer Thanks for adding your personal insights!

I have a feeling you’re into the right idea about finding individuals who have become masters (or at least highly experienced!)

It’s quite interesting that Karate is more widespread. Whilst I’m aware it has both a Chinese/Japanese influence in it’s origins, I had conceived the idea in my mind that there had to be even a handful of schoools teaching a more distinctly Chinese style (i.e. Wing Chun) as a way of maintaining connection - given the huge Chinese-Jamaican presence.

I’ve seen quite a bit about the Chinese Jamaican population though, so I’m not completely surprised to think perhaps it’s just that - a thing of my mind!

Wishing you success in finding your preferred school also.

Thanks again,

-W