I love this place. My daughter (11) started taking classes here in February. Classes are attended by kids and teens between 5 and 16. However, the instructors Master Carlos and Master Michelle allow parents to participate. I (48) used to do Shotokan Karate and kickboxing when I was teenager, but havent practiced for 30 years. I am now enjoying a revival and thanks to this new family activity I am already noticing the beneficial effects on my coordination, strength, and endurance. It would be great to see more parents join. I actually dont understand some recent negative GOOGLE reviews. This center is highly professional and they offer you a lot of value for money. You can always come and check it out by taking a free trial class.

As a former MA practitioner of 20 years I have to say that the experience with my kids in this place was subpar at best.In a regular class kids dont even break a sweat and adults wonder how to learn anything at all.For the same tuition I can get more value just around the corner and after I made suggestions to keep us in, the feedback I got was rude and made me feel like my family was the problem.

Not worth the money.

GoldMedal is 99% about taking your money and 1% about teaching martial arts skills and philosophy to children. Your child will advance belts so long as you pay for the promotion tests, and there are many opportunities for them to make you pay.The proprietor is too concentrated on expansion and not focused on providing value to the members. He is an absentee owner and has no clue how useless the instructors are because he is never there.Also, there is a serious lack of competent instructors. Seems like the owner hires anyone with a belt without any teaching qualifications. There is a revolving door for the instructors and most of them dont know how to teach nor interact with younger children. They get frustrated and set up an obstacle course to deal with overcrowded classes. Last year for a period of time all they did were obstacle courses without any meaningful teaching of the basic moves.We decided to take our daughter elsewhere because the classes were a waste of time with very little learning value for her.Lastly, my daughter was a member for over 3 years, and there was never a Mr. Jose Bencose instructor as alleged by another reviewer.UPDATE: Be leery of reviews placed here by members of Gold Medal Gym that offer nothing but praise of their business!

Not sure who the last reviewer was but obviously not a member Jose Benscome is the student of Mike Swain 5 time Olympian and Jose is the instructor and manager of Belmont location. Additionally he is a Judo Pan Am Gold Medalist and National Champ. He currently trains under the 1992 Olympic Champion in Taekwondo as well and teaches all the young kids. From time to time bad intended reviewers have a bone to pick or their child goes to another school in the area.Gold Medal continues to provide the best value and instruction in San Mateo County as it has for the past 12 years. Visit and see why they are the number one choice for life skill and martial art development.

Mr Jose Bencose is the heart and soul of this high quality Judo dojo.I am a black belt holder, and former competitor myself, and can only say that Joses knowledge, skills and ability to enthusiastically teach the art of Judo is exemplary. My kids (5 & 8) love him, and benefit tremendously from his classes. Jose provides a great mix of skills, competition, and respect. All balanced well with a good sense of what the kids need.

A great place to work out and learn,A great start for your kids,