How to Become an Attractive Martial Arts School
Is Your School Attractive?
I’ve been fortunate enough to visit martial arts schools on three continents. As with anything, there is always a top, middle, and bottom third of success. I’ve been in schools that have not changed since they opened decades ago. I’ve been in schools that seemed as though they haven’t cleaned the school since they opened decades ago. I’ve also been in schools that were multi-stories high with a restaurant as part of the facility.
What I’ve learned is that the schools that continue to evolve and adjust grow while those who do not stagnate. To help you evaluate your school, I’ve broken this down to a number of categories that collectively make one school more attractive than another.
Before we dive in, let share an observation I’ve had for years. In every market, the most expensive school with contracts typically has the most students and income. Why? Because they are constantly evolving and improving. That doesn’t mean that they chase every shiny object, but they work on their teaching skills and their selling skills. Every aspect of the operation is part of a system that is usually in writing or video.
Here are some important areas that when optimized, make one school more attractive than another. We start with what you teach and how you teach it.
Your Martial Arts Curriculum
In designing your curriculum, it’s important that you take a step back and run everything you teach through a series of filters including, “Why am I teaching this?” “Is it necessary?” “What would happen if I stopped teaching it?” Attractive schools consistently review their curriculum and modify it as new information comes in. Just because an Asian in an Asian country decades ago did it this way doesn’t mean you have to do it that way. Design your curriculum to serve your students best interests, not the styles’ legacy.
See more on Curriculum Design
Professional Martial Arts Instructors
Everything starts with the interaction of the instructors and the students. The quality of that relationship will set the ceiling of potential for school growth. That’s why we have the MATA Certification program. This gives everyone a common understanding and language for becoming a professional instructor rather than simply repeating the same patterns and methods of previous instructors.
Martial Arts Uniforms
Adults, especially women, are sensitive to required attire and how it makes them look. The traditional karate is unflattering, to say the least. Some of you may be thinking, “Good. That teaches students to be humble.” The problem is that they have to be in class to learn these lessons and many women will not enroll because of the uniform. Many are also turned off by the prospect of being barefoot in class.
Martial Arts School Logo
Most martial arts logos look either like a pesticide company or ancient hieroglyphics. The goal of a logo is to brand the school, not tell a history lesson. A good logo has one or two elements to it. That’s it. Think of the Apple logo. It used to have multi-colors like a rainbow. Today, it has one element, the gray apple. Most of the time, it doesn’t even have the name Apple on it. Think of your favorite sports team. Odds are their logo is simple but exciting. That is what you want for your school logo.
Martial Arts School Name
A good martial arts school name has one or two words followed by, “martial arts” “karate” or “kung fu.” Never use a specific style in the school name. It has no meaning to non-martial artists. Never use your name in the school name. It makes it harder to sell the school. If your area has a common reference like Tampa Bay, then Tampa Bay Martial Arts is a good name. Tampa Martial Arts confines the school to that cities’ identity which may make it less attractive to those who live outside the city and can create confusion if you want to open a branch school in another city.
Martial Arts School Website
Your website should reflect your school’s spirit, colors, and language. Have your site designed and built by a professional, not a friend of a friend or student. Make sure the images are NOT stock and that the students are smiling and enjoying themselves.
Understand that just having a website is not enough. You can have the best-looking school but if it’s out in the desert people will not find it. You have to invest in SEO so that people searching for martial arts will see your website on the first page of the search results.
Martial Arts School Condition
Your school must be clean and free of a barefoot stench. I always traded tuition for cleaning since that’s how I could afford classes myself. Whatever your system, be consistent.
Communication Skills
From answering questions to dealing with complaints, there is a communication skill for every situation. Learn them and rehearse them with your staff.
Martial Arts School Systems
Attractive schools stay attractive by recording everything in a system’s manual that is a combination of video and written steps. From how to order equipment to how to tell a student he didn’t pass his exam, everything is part of an established system.
Energy and Excitement
Attractive schools have a good energy. The instructors, including you, are in great shape and lead with a sincere smile. There is nothing less attractive than an obese instructor promising to get you in shape if you join. The easiest way to lose weight is not to “diet” but “decide.” Decide if this pizza at 10 pm after classes is worth the calories. Make it a habit to burn 300+ calories a day with exercise and keep your caloric intake under 2,200. You will begin to shrink.
Three Curriculum Questions for Martial Arts Instructors
NOTE: There is a link to the curriculum at the bottom of the page.
1. What is easier to learn? A hook kick or a sidekick? I say the hook kick.
Which do you teach first? I’ve always taught sidekick first. Why? Because it’s always been taught that way.
In truth, when you are teaching hook kick, most students are actually doing a low hook kick. Why? It’s a more natural movement.
2. What is easier to learn? A spinning hook kick or a spinning back kick? I say the spinning hook kick.
Which do you teach first? I’ve always taught spinning back kick. Why? Because it’s always been taught that way. The reality is that most kids can do a spinning hook kick on their first day in class.
3. As white belts in your school, do students have to first learn the basic tradition blocks and stances before they move into more applicable strikes and kicks? Why?
Traditional anything is more complex (not more advanced) than most any strike or kick. The application of traditional material is also harder to grasp for the new student.
Do the traditional arts have value? Yes! Absolutely. It’s just a bit of a hard sale to retain a new student when he is hit with this kind of complexity right out of the gate.
For the past few years I have been working on a curriculum that makes teaching and learning martial arts easy.
Rather than spreading practice time over dozens, if not hundreds of techniques, we focus on a much smaller amount of techniques so we can spend more time on each.
The idea is that if you spend 45-minutes practicing a half-dozen techniques in various applications your students will feel much more progress than if you spend that class teaching or reviewing a 24-move kata.
We call a month a Module. Each month the focus of the module changes:
Three Modules = One Term
Term One
1. Kickboxing
2. Weapons / Ground
3. Martial Arts
Term Two
1. Kickboxing
2. Weapons / Ground
3. Martial Arts
Term Three
1. Kickboxing
2. Weapons / Ground
3. Martial Arts
Term Four
1. Kickboxing
2. Weapons / Ground
3. Martial Arts