Running a successful martial arts club.

It’s important to understand the art of ‘preframing’ on all is levels. Recruiting lots of people with inaccurate adverts ‘because they work’ will give you high recruitment but also high attrition levels, by explaining exactly what you teach and what the outcomes are is important to filter your potential students and so you don’t have to waste both your time and theirs. More importantly it will reach the potential students you want who might be put off by your ‘catch all’ advertising. It seems that most club owners haven’t thought out exactly who and what they are and who they want to appeal to.

By working out what you want as the end result of your training system you can then work backwards, designing your syllabus and programmes. Students work best by understanding why they are practicing the drills and skills they are doing when they can see how they are a layer that leads to the more advanced levels. By explaining and showing this and alluding to the higher level of skills you are preframing them for what is come and far more likely to keep them. Mindless and purposeless training is only the realm of the stupid. You only have to look at a club’s long term students to see how good they are at this.

Aim at the students you want and work to engage them. Devise your programme to keep them long term and preframe them all the way so they understand where they are going, what is expected from them and what they can expect from you and then don’t let them down, remember that respect is earned both ways.