01The short answer
02What the dojo adds for a racket player
The hour. A game has to be booked — the court, the time, the partner — and falls through if any of the three is missing. A karate class needs nobody but you: the group is there, so is the instructor, at the same hour every week, five days a week.
The empty hand. Badminton, squash, pickleball, padel: one racket, one hand, one side. At the dojo, nothing in the hand, and every technique repeated left then right. That is not an advantage promised for your game; it is simply what your arms will do during the hour, and do not do on a court.
Face to face. A net or a wall separates the players; in kumite the partner is in front, within arm’s reach, and does not cooperate — What is Kyokushin kumite? says how that work is introduced, graded and supervised.
03A complete programme, in the same hour
In the WKO Shinkyokushinkai first-year textbook, an examination covers kihon, ido geiko, kata, conditioning (knuckle push-ups, jumping squats), flexibility and kumite. A racket player knows the repetition of a stroke until it holds; at the dojo that repetition covers six subjects at once, and the examination grades them together. That is the sense in which karate is complete — Kyokushin karate belts gives the order of the ten kyu and what each one asks.
The 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities gives each described activity a MET value — a multiple of the energy spent at rest. Social badminton, singles or doubles, is listed at 5.5, racquetball at 7.0, squash at 7.3, table tennis at 4.0; the Compendium describes neither pickleball nor padel, and this page does not invent a value for them. Karate at a moderate pace is at 10.3, and a beginner’s slower practice at 5.3. These values describe an activity as it was observed, not your class or your game: a beginners’ class is closer to karate’s 5.3 at a slower pace than to 10.3. On this page the highest value is karate at a moderate pace, and the closest to it is squash.
04No off-season, on either side
These sports have the advantage of not depending on the weather, and neither does karate: the question is therefore not when, but where in the week. Is twice a week enough? says what a work timetable can hold, and one class a week is already a start. The trial class is there to see how the body reacts without a racket, and whether the wish to come back is there.
05For a junior: the second sport
If it is your child who plays, the argument changes. The American Academy of Pediatrics writes, in its 2016 clinical report on sports specialization, that participating in multiple sports, at least until puberty, decreases the chances of injuries, stress and burnout in young athletes. Sport for Life, the Canadian long-term development body, puts it another way: early specialization makes no sense if the aim is healthy, lifelong participation rather than the podium. Karate is a second sport about as far from a racket as it is possible to get: empty-handed, barefoot, in a group formed by age and by level — and Kyokushin for kids answers parents’ questions.
06Your game keeps its coach
The serve, court position, reading a rebound off a wall or a shuttle at the net are learned on court, and this page does not promise a better smash. Karate brings something else, as its own: a technical catalogue, a progression by belt, and a partner who does not return the ball.
07On Nuns’ Island, in practice
The dojo is at 550 chemin du Golf, suite 010, on Nuns’ Island (Verdun), and also serves LaSalle, Pointe-Saint-Charles and the Sud-Ouest. Children train from age 4 to 13, adults from 14, five days a week: the schedule gives the groups and times, the pricing page the monthly rates.
The first class is a free trial, and there is nothing to buy beforehand: comfortable clothes and a bottle of water are enough — what to bring to your first class has the list.
Come and try a class
A free trial class on Nuns’ Island, for children from age 4 and adults from 14.
Book a free trial class