Choosing a Club With Both a Male and a Female Instructor
Why the instructor's gender is a real question, not a minor detail
When you are comparing karate clubs in Kartal, Yakacık, Maltepe or Pendik, most of what you find online is the same: a schedule, a price, some belt-testing photos. One detail rarely gets mentioned, and it matters more than it looks. Who is actually standing on the mat teaching your class, and is it only ever one person, of one gender.
At Kartal Karate Academy the answer is neither. Sensei Behzad Yaghoubian and Sensei Homa Yaghoubian are both International Karate Champions and both teach. That is not a marketing detail, it is a structural one, and it changes a few real things about what training there looks like.
What a female sensei changes for girls and women
A seven-year-old girl who has never done a contact sport before is often more willing to be corrected, held, and paired up in drills by a woman she does not yet know than by a man she does not yet know. That is not true of every child, but it is true often enough that it should factor into your decision if your daughter is nervous.
The same applies to adult women starting karate at 30 or 45. Being shown how to break a grip, or having your stance adjusted by hand, is a normal part of every class. Some women are entirely comfortable with a male instructor doing that from day one. Others train harder and relax faster when a woman is leading, at least at first. Neither reaction is wrong, and a club that only offers one option is quietly deciding this for you.
What it changes for boys, too
It is easy to assume this only matters for girls and women, and that misses half of it. A boy training under Sensei Homa learns, without anyone stating it as a lesson, that a woman can be the person correcting his stance, calling the count, and holding the pads he hits. That is a small thing to absorb at eight years old, and it is not something a single-instructor, single-gender club can offer no matter how good that one instructor is.
Two teaching styles, not two tracks
This is not a club where the woman teaches the children's class and the man teaches the adults, which is the pattern you sometimes find elsewhere. Both instructors teach the Tuesday and Saturday karate class. What differs is teaching style, not curriculum. Ask a direct question when you visit: who is actually teaching my child's specific class time, and is it always the same person or does it vary.
The honest tradeoff
There is a downside worth naming. A family that specifically wants their daughter trained only by a woman, every single session, needs to ask for that explicitly and confirm it is possible given the weekly schedule, rather than assuming it. Two instructors sharing a small academy is not the same as two full parallel programs. If schedule certainty about which sensei teaches which exact class matters to you, ask before you commit, not after.
What to actually watch for when you visit
Come to Yakacık Spor Kulübü and watch a class, ideally at the time slot your child or you would actually attend. Notice who is running it, how corrections are given, and whether the class feels rushed or unhurried. A free trial class exists precisely so you are not deciding from a webpage. Take it.
Getting started
Kartal Karate Academy trains children and adults at Yakacık Spor Kulübü, Spor Cd. No:4, Cumhuriyet Mahallesi, Kartal, on Tuesday and Saturday, 18:00–19:00, with an adult class on Thursday, 18:00–19:00. You can reach the academy at +90 501 366 56 30 or +90 544 373 74 79. A free trial class is open to new students, and you can register at karatekartal.fit/en/register. Come and see for yourself who teaches the class you would actually attend.