Info for Martial Arts School Owners and Instructors

The Martial Arts Teachers’ Association (MATA) is a professional organization that helps martial arts school owners and instructors improve their teaching skills and grow their schools with proven marketing, management, and curriculum design.

Click JOIN MATA to learn more.

martial arts instructor association and curriculum

1. Tony Robbins Interview for Martial Arts Instructors

by | Offline Marketing & Sales

Setting Expectations for Martial Arts Students Upfront

Authority is highly influenced by emotion.

While your staff and students may intellectually understand that you are the boss and master instructor, they have to feel it, not think it.

It’s the emotional connection that anchors your authority on a deep level.

If there is one powerful moment in your role as a professional martial arts instructor, it’s in the enrollment conference.

While the parents may see you as the master black belt, they usually don’t have an authoritative reverence at this early stage.

The enrollment conference is a seminal moment for you to establish your authority and gain the respect and gratitude of the family you’re dealing with.

Presenting the programs and their cost to parents can be tense at times. Some parents want to negotiate. Others might object to the agreement. Some want a safety net in case their child wants to quit.

While it’s important that you are prepared to overcome any objections, it’s when the bottom line is signed and the initial investment is completed that you have a critical window to demonstrate your authority.

Many owners complete the transaction and gush with statements like, “Awesome. It’s great to have you on board. Johnny, you did an awesome job tonight. High five! Thanks Mrs. Jones it’s great to have Johnny as part of our family. Let me know if I can help with anything.”

Barf.

Who has the role of authority here? Mrs. Jones and her credit card. That was a missed opportunity.

Let’s try again. You would adjust this script to the age and circumstance, but here is an authority template for the enrollment conference.

Mom has just enrolled Johnny into the program.

You, “Johnny. You want to learn Empower Kickboxing, right?”

“Yes sir.”

“Good. I want you to understand that your mom just enrolled you into a six month program. You are going to learn a lot of great skills and lessons. It’s going to be fun and sometimes it’s going to be hard. That’s the good part because that means you’re learning. So you have to pay attention and practice at home 20-minutes a day when you don’t have class.

Are you going to work hard and practice?”

“Yes sir.”

“I’m glad. Your classes are Monday and Wednesday at 5pm. When are your classes?”

“Monday and Wednesday at 5pm.”

“Good. You’re a smart guy. That means that you have to be ready to come to class by 4:30 on Monday and Wednesdays so that you’re not late. Will you do that?”

“Yes sir.”

“No matter what you are doing, you will be ready by 4:30, right?”

“Yes sir.”

“Good. The first lesson is integrity. Integrity means that you do what you say you are going to do. You keep your promises. You promise to work hard and be ready for class, right?”

“Yes sir.”

“No matter what you’re doing. Right?”

“Yes sir.”

“Great. We’re going to be so proud of you. Your mom just enrolled you, so please turn to her and say, ‘Thank you mom.”

“Thank you mom.”

“Alright. When someone does something good for you, you always say thank you. That’s called gratitude. What’s it called?”

“Gratitude.”

“Correct. So you’ve learned two important lessons today. Integrity and gratitude. What does integrity mean?

“Keeping your promises.”

“Yes. What does gratitude mean?”

“Saying thank you.”

“You got it! You are going to do great, I can tell already.”

“Remember, your class is…”

“Monday and Wednesday at 5pm.”

“When will you be ready to come to class?”

“4:30pm.”

“You have a good head on your shoulders Johnny. You’re going to be good at this.”

“Because you’ve showed your mom gratitude and you’re going to keep your promises, here is a school t-shirt for you to wear. Every time you put it on, I want you to think of integrity and gratitude. Will you do that?”

“Yes sir.”

“I just gave you a shirt. How do you show gratitude?”

“Thank you sir.”

As taught in the MATA Certification program, it’s also a good idea to let mom know that it’s important that she control what Johnny is doing around 4:30 which is the agreed upon to be ready for class.

If Johnny is playing with his friends or deep in a video game, it’s going to be harder to get him to get ready than if he is cleaning his bedroom or something he’d like to leave to go to class.

Keep in mind that mom is watching this happen before her eyes. What have you done to establish your authority?

  1. You’ve provided her with a language pattern that both her and Johnny understand. This is huge.
  2. You’ve given mom the “integrity” framework to deal with any reluctance to go to class.
  3. You’ve provided her with a strategy to engage Johnny in less fun activities so that going to class is an easy decision.
  4. You’ve laid out when Johnny should get ready for class without complaint.
  5. Before her eyes, you taught her son important lessons with real world examples. No doubt, your authority sky-rocketed in her eyes and in her heart.

Look for places where you can make these kinds of strong emotional connections.

Demonstrate true authority and leadership. That will last much longer than a trite, shallow compliments like “Awesome! Good job.”

This will help your students to understand how and why they are training with the best school.

MATA Podcast 1

Interview with Tony Robbins 1

Interview with Tony Robbins teaches you how to use martial arts to awaken the giant within.

 Show One–Tony Robbins Interview 1

This first interview with Tony Robbins shares insights he gained from his martial arts experience.

A black belt under the late Jhoon Rhee, Tony talks about raising your standards and your beliefs to create a new focus on success.

All human emotion is controlled by emotions and martial arts is all about emotion, so it can be a strong vehicle for success or a poor excuse for failure.

He also describes the mindset and belief system of Stu Middleman who was running 75 miles a day for fun.

Teach Like a Pro Tip from John Graden

The Principles of an Authoritative Instructor:
How to Give Clear Directions

These lessons are straight from the MATA Certification Course at MATACertification.com

This lesson helps instructors to gain control of their classroom by avoiding vague language and unclear directions.

Tony Robbins Interview 

3:11 How Tony hit rock bottom

3:28 Raise your standards

3:50 Raising your beliefs

4:00 Creating a new focus

5:15 Black Belt Excellence

5:50 Jhoon Rhee

6:00 What are Martial Arts?

6:50 Getting off balance as a martial artist

7:00 Good judgement comes from….

7:30 What Tony Teaches Is…

7:45 Martial arts is all emotion

8:15 All human emotion is controlled by focus

8:30 Focus is controlled by emotions

9:40 The importance or asking the right questions

9:30 He’s feeding his opponents

9:55 Stu Middleman

10:30 Running 75 Miles a day for fun

Sponsor

Hosts & Guests

John Graden

Tony Robbins

 Share Episode

Facebook Twitter LinkedIn 

1 Comment

  1. karan singh
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • LinkedIn

    I am really big fan of tony robbins he is a american author, public speaker, life coach. I have Learned so much from him and now from this podcast also i have learned so much about martial art, self defense and thank you for sharing this popcast.

You May Also Like…

1 Comment

  1. karan singh

    I am really big fan of tony robbins he is a american author, public speaker, life coach. I have Learned so much from him and now from this podcast also i have learned so much about martial art, self defense and thank you for sharing this popcast.