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Why Your Martial Arts Curriculum Matters Now More Than Ever

by | Instructor Certification and Training

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.

Ask 100 people who are interested in joining a martial arts school this question.

“Would you prefer a martial arts curriculum that is more complex and difficult or would you prefer a curriculum that is easy to learn?”

How do you think our instant gratification population would respond?

Yes. I love complexity. Or, No. I love simplicity.

This question is more important than ever because the pandemic has taught us that our world can change overnight. People do not have the patience for complex kata and skills that are only remotely related to self-defense.

We all live in an instant gratification world where almost anything we want is a click away. More than ever before, people want it now. They don’t like to wait. Especially since we’ve all seen how fast our world can be turned upside down.

Post-COVID, schools that are deep into the complexity of traditional martial arts will be less attractive than schools where the program is easier to learn.

Do you think people are attracted to an elaborate martial arts curriculum centered around kata, blocks, and stances to remember?

Have you ever had a person join your school because they wanted to learn kata? I’ve had a potential student say that he will not join because he thought kata was ridiculous looking.

Which one of these two statements do you think people will find more attractive?

1. Empower Kickboxing is a martial art that you can master faster!

2. Traditional Martial Arts will take you years to fully understand and decades to master.

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Geno GuevaraAlamo Ranch Martial ArtsSan Antonio, TX

“I am an old school “tae kwon do” instructor. Everything Mr. Graden described about the complexity of multiple classes learning different kata’s was true. I struggled for years trying to come up with a solution.

I tried a rotating curriculum with kata’s, students would fall behind, and the truth is kata’s did not help with real world self-defense. My students would get in a traditional stance or point fighting stance to defend themselves.

I knew deep down I wasn’t providing what I promised. I decided to switch over when COVID hit.. Teaching the basic skills in Empower Kickboxing helped me retain students over COVID and teach online.

I didn’t lose one student because of the transition. They all loved the new curriculum.

Plus, I didn’t need as much space since Kata’s required space. I cut my teaching hours in half since classes were all combined.

Even though the school took a hit in student count with COVID we are climbing back up pretty quickly. By the end we should be back to our normal student count.

Not to mention I no longer have to do all the introductory lessons which makes the sales process less reliant on me.

His methodology has allowed me to create a unique brand to separate against other schools. Most of my competitors are all traditional schools and we have positioned our brand against what everyone else is doing.  Differentiation.”

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