Martial Arts Business Vol.1 No.1

Martial Arts

BROUGHT TO YOU BY

BUSINESS www.blitzpublications.com.au

australia’s ONLY martial arts industry magazine

THE LAWS OF

decEMBER 2016

ATTRACTION HOW TO BOOST female membership

UPSkill

why extreme martial arts is on the rise

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+ targeted marketing: how to find your niche + master metrics: data to boost your bottom line + better branding: define your organisation

7 leave

reasons students

And how to prevent it

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CONTENTS ISSUE 0101

8 THE WARM-UP 06 Publisher’s Letter

18 56

50

Blitz Publications CEO Silvio Morelli introduces the martial arts industry’s new go-to business guide

08 Movers & Shakers Martial arts industry news & insights

12 Gearing Up New products and services to help the martial arts business owner

14 Success Story Shihan Malcolm Ayles on how he overcame the difficulty of getting graded as an independent school owner

18 Motivators Words of inspiration from your peers

DOWN TO BUSINESS 20 From Plan to Action Hapkido instructor and founder of Black Belt Business Nathan McDonald reveals four key principles for putting your business plan into action

22 You Are Your Market The Institute of Martial Arts founders Phil Britten and Graham McDonnell explain the connection between class content, community and good marketing

26 7 Reasons Students Quit US martial arts business guru Kyoshi Dave Kovar outlines seven key reasons students give up on martial arts, and how to stop it happening

4 • www.martialartsbusiness.com.au | CONTENTS

28 Find Your Niche Michelle Hext, founder of Australia’s first women-only taekwondo club, offers tips on finding and targeting your key market

30 The Law of Attraction Freestyle martial arts instructor Shihan Matt Charnley reveals the steps he and his staff took to increase their female membership and maintain it

34 On the Brand-Wagon Barrister, entrepreneur and martial artist William Lye looks at the power and process of branding your martial art

REGULARS

36 All Systems Go Kovars’ business systems specialist Dave Chamberlain explains how to track class metrics for a better bottom line

40 The Way of Success Dave Kovar reveals some simple but very effective ways to entice more students

28

42 Martial Law Business lawyer Scott McKenzie helps you navigate the pitfalls when buying or selling a martial arts academy

ON THE MAT 44 Testing Times Long-time instructor Andrea Harkins looks at the many formats you can use when grading students

50 UPSKILL: Extreme Martial Arts Taekwondo instructor Wayne Abbott tells how an extreme martial arts program helped his school and students

REGULARS

54 Small Talk Melody Shuman, creator of specialist MA programs for kids, reveals ways to build good behaviour in young students

56 A Will & A Way BJJ pioneer John Will discusses the key attributes of master teachers

58 The Physical

EDITORIAL MANAGING EDITOR Ben Stone ben@blitzmag.com.au EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS Zach Broadhurst, Molly Morelli REGULAR CONTRIBUTORS Matt Beecroft, Phil Britten, David Chamberlain, Nathan McDonald, Graham McDonnell, Andrea Harkins, Michelle Hext, Melody Shuman, Ricardo Vargas, John Will ART ART DIRECTOR Javie D’Souza GRAPHIC DESIGNERS Diep Nguyen, Jonathan Rudolph, James Steer DIGITAL & ONLINE HEAD OF DIGITAL STRATEGY Karl Nemsow SENIOR WEB DEVELOPER David Ding WEB DEVELOPER & LEAD PROGRAMMER Davide Pani ONLINE CONTENT EDITOR Christine Assirvaden PHOTOGRAPHY Charlie Suriano, Getty Images, Thinkstock Cover photo: Jared Abbott by Charlie Suriano ADVERTISING SALES Mark Unwin – mark.u@blitzmag.com.au MARKETING MARKETING & EVENTS MANAGER Robyn Newman robyn@blitzmag.com.au

Strength and conditioning expert and krav maga instructor Matt Beecroft offers 15 ways to keep students injury free

62 Drill Master BJJ instructor and UFC trainer Liam Resnekov offers a vital self-defence drill

THE COOL DOWN 64 Peer to Peer Andrea Harkins argues that you should always train beside your students, not just teach from the sidelines

66 Budo in Business Jeet Kune Do teacher and business ethics professor Ricardo Vargas explains the role of good will in business success

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CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Silvio Morelli GENERAL MANAGER Mark Unwin CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER Stefanie Morelli ADMINISTRATION & CUSTOMER SERVICE FINANCE Min You SUBSCRIPTIONS MANAGER Angelina Modica CUSTOMER SERVICE Angelina Modica, Robyn Newman Email: customerservice@blitzmag.com.au Phone: (03) 9574 8999 Fax: (03) 9574 8899 PO Box 4075, Mulgrave, 3170 Web: www.blitzmag.net Articles published in this issue of Martial Arts Business magazine are Copyrighted © 2016 and are published by Blitz Publications and Multi-media Group Pty Ltd under license from Bushi Pty Ltd. PRINTING

GRAPHIC IMPRESSIONS AUSTRALIA PTY. LTD. Ph: (03) 9574 9211

DISCLAIMER Opinions and viewpoints expressed in Martial Arts Business do not necessarily represent those of the editor, staff or publishers. Responsible instructors, individuals or organisations with something valid and relevant to say will, whenever possible, be given the opportunity. Reproduction of any material without written permission from the publishers is strictly prohibited.

The acceptance of advertising does not necessarily imply endorsement of services or products. All articles, photographs and other material submitted by mail for publication in Martial Arts Business must be accompanied by a stamped, self-addressed envelope. Contributions are submitted at the sender’s risk and while all possible care will be exercised, we cannot accept responsibility for loss.

Please see www.blitzpublications.com.au/privacy-policy for location of our privacy policy.

CONTENTS | www.blitzmag.net • 5

PUBLISHER’S NOTE SILVIO MORELLI

GETTING DOWN TO BUSINESS

W

elcome to the first issue of Martial Arts Business magazine.

As a martial arts instructor for many years myself, I know the challenges faced by anyone wanting to make their passion for martial arts into a sustainable career. It isn’t easy to run a full-time — or even part-time — school and really make a good fist of it, so to speak. It’s for this reason that it gives me a huge buzz to be launching this free publication designed to educate, inform, inspire and assist hard-working instructors and school owners out there to achieve success.

Having been involved in martial arts for more than 40 years now, and with our consumer magazine for martial arts, Blitz, now in its 30th year, I have seen and experienced many changes in our industry, and learned as much from the ups as the downs.

Like most instructors then and now, I began teaching as I was coming up through the ranks. This turned into 25 years of instructing professionally, and opening one of Victoria’s first full-time martial arts schools (in Boronia). I invested my all into that 3000 square-feet dojo, but after five years I had to close it down. Like many other sensei I knew, I was a hard instructor but not a good businessman.

I then ran a chain of about eight part-time schools for many years and, having learned a lot more, I tried again (in the late 1990s), opening up the Blitz Martial Arts Centre, then one of the biggest centres in Australia. With a set-up cost of almost $100,000, failure was not an option, so I began researching business methods and marketing strategies used in the health and fitness industry, and applying them to the business of martial arts. However, it didn’t take long to discover that what worked in the health and fitness industry did not necessarily apply to the martial arts.

Next I tried researching the successful martial arts business operators in Australia — however, the few instructors who seemed to be operating successful schools were very guarded and unwilling to share their strategies and systems. This led me to look abroad to the USA, where I knew the

6 • www.martialartsbusiness.com.au | EDITORIAL

martial arts industry — and, in particular, full-time martial arts professionals and academies — were well established. This I knew from my almost yearly travels to America to train with some of the globe’s top martial arts instructors.

I spent time in some of the USA’s most successful centres and eventually realised that many of them were using particular systems and strategies. I also found several organisations that provided these business systems as a service, leading me to licence the NAPMA (National Association of Professional Martial Artists) program from its originators in Florida. I began distributing and promoting the NAPMA program to martial arts schools around Australia while also applying it at the Blitz Martial Arts Centre.

Within months of putting the program in place, we took our Blitz Centre from 150-plus students to more than 250 students, and over the next few years our membership grew to almost 500.

Fast forward a few years and the owners of NAPMA in the USA found themselves in a lawsuit, which unfortunately spelled the end of NAPMA in Australia.

Now, a few more years down the track, we are set to bring back some much-needed support of Australia’s martial arts business professionals through Martial Arts Business magazine. In order to bring you the knowledge and contacts you need to be successful, we have sought out some of the most successful operators in the field, both from Australia and abroad.

We welcome your feedback — and if your business can benefit from speaking directly to other martial arts business owners, I encourage you to contact us about getting involved.

Yours in prosperity,

Silvio Morelli, CEO of Blitz Publications & Multi-Media Group, co-founded Blitz magazine in the late 1980s.

Morelli is a lifelong martial artist and founder of Geido Kai freestyle karate.

@BlitzMartialArt blitzmartialarts

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ON THE MAT | www.martialartsbusiness.com.au • 7

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Rest in peace, Kyoshi EDGE Martial Arts Centre in Victoria lost its much-loved chief instructor Kyoshi Andrew Roberts on 22 November following a long battle with brain cancer. He was 53 and had been involved in martial arts for more than 40 years.

Roberts and his wife Heather told of his fight against glioblastoma multiforme grade IV brain cancer in Blitz Australasian Martial Arts magazine in November 2015, just months after his diagnosis. Despite several operations, chemotherapy and radiation, doctors had given the father of four daughters just 14 months to live — but his response was typically positive.

“I don’t want to bitch and moan about it. I get up every day and I have a smile on my face.

I look at the sky and just think that I’m blessed to even be here,” he told Blitz.

“Everyone handles it slightly differently, but I guess, for me, if people can be aware of brain cancer and how it affects everybody, that would be great.

But, I’m not going to go out whingeing and moaning, I’d rather go out on a positive note and make people aware of it.”

The Roberts family and their dojo community also threw themselves into fundraising for brain cancer research, raising

more than $40,000 through various initiatives including a push-up-a-thon. Testament to his character, Roberts knocked out an impressive 60 push-ups at the event just weeks after he’d undergone brain surgery.

Roberts’ daughter and EDGE instructor Amy Gardam told the Lilydale & Yarra Valley Leader that her dad was “an inspiration, mentor and friend to many students”.

“To us he’s a great dad and best friend,” she said. “He’s protected us and made sure we’re strong.”

Roberts continued to train and teach as much as he could through the illness, saying, “Martial arts has taught me to be really strong and have a good wisdom within myself about what’s actually happened right now. Without it, I don’t know where I would be. My advice [to any martial artist with cancer] is that they need to continue training. Some people would think this is really bizarre, but if you are really ill, you can still train.”

Sensei Gardam and fellow Black-belt Sensei Paul Brown have since taken on the running of the four EDGE MA centres, located in the outer eastern Melbourne suburbs of in Mount Evelyn, Chirnside Park, Woori Yallock and Monbulk.

Krav maga vs road rage Former Australian Federal Police agent Paul Johnstone, founder of Street Edge Krav Maga and owner of Brisbane’s Jissen Dojos, is developing a training curriculum for dealing with road rage and car-park rage, which he plans to make available for other martial arts/defensive tactics instructors to incorporate into their curriculums.

Johnstone, who has served in the Australian Defence Force and as a private security contractor in Afghanistan as well as with the AFP, has lectured and trained police, military and security personnel from Australia, USA, Afghanistan, China, the Philippines, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea and several other Pacific Rim nations.

The former law enforcer Street Edge Krav Maga’s was recently invited by Paul Johnstone the Queensland University of Technology/Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety Queensland to present a seminar on self-defence, use of force and various types of crime, including road rage.

Johnstone interviews Israeli former counter-terror soldier Nir Maman about krav maga training and tactics in the Dec.–Jan. issue of Blitz Australasian Martial Arts magazine, out now.

Reality-based kata classes Leading exponent of applied karate and kata application (bunkai) Sensei Iain Abernethy will return to Australia for a series of workshops in March 2017.

Abernethy, from Northern England, holds 5th Dan Black-belts with both Karate England and the British Combat Association, founded by reality-based self-defence (RBSD) pioneer Geoff Thompson.

Abernethy has long been renowned for his study of karate kata from an RBSD standpoint and has produced a wealth of articles, videos and podcasts on the topic.

“Taking the techniques of the kata into your sparring is a must. If you do not engage in katabased kumite, you will be unable to apply the techniques of the kata in live situations,” says the Shotokan instructor.

Interested in hosting Abernethy for seminars?

Email ben@blitzmag.com.au

8 • www.martialartsbusiness.com.au | WARM UP

Okinawa’s Sensei Satoshi Kinjo recently visited Southern Cross Martial Arts in Helensvale, Queensland to give seminars in kobudo, the indigenous weaponry systems of Okinawa.

During the course of the weekend, students studied a variety of weapons kata associated with the Kinjo family method, including bo (wooden staff), tekko (similar to brass knuckles), nunchaku (pictured, right) and sai (iron forks). Chief instructor Damien Martin described it as “a great weekend of training, with the usual cast of familiar faces attending and sweating together”.

Kinjo Sensei’s wife, Nanae, painted up an eku — a traditional Okinawan oar, also used as a weapon — as a gift for their hosts. “Nanae-san is an amazingly talented artist and we feel humbled by such a magnificent gift,” said Martin.

The eku itself was handmade by Shiroma Sensei of the Shubukan, a 9th Dan in Goju-ryu karate and a 4th Dan kobudo student of Satoshi Sensei’s father, Masakazu Kinjo Sensei. “Shiroma Sensei is a Goju-ryu student of the famous Tetsuhiro Hokama Sensei, 10th Dan, whose museum we usually visit while on Okinawa,” said Martin.

Martin will next host Masaji Taira Sensei, the Okinawan founder of the Goju Ryu Kenkyukai. Taira Sensei, a renowned technician of kata applications, will give karate and kobudo seminars in Gold Coast, Melbourne and Perth in March 2017.

Hayward with his mum, Tania Barrett

Blind karate man earns 2nd Dan Lachlan Hayward — a Melbourne karateka who is legally blind — has achieved an amazing feat, receiving his 2nd Dan during Ishinryu Australia’s annual one-day course.

Hayward, who has a degenerative eye condition called retinitis pigmentosa, started training in 2008 and was declared legally blind just over a year later.

“In 2008 my eyesight was okay, I wore glasses,” said Hayward, “but 15 months after I started, I was diagnosed as legally blind and my sight has slightly gotten worse over the years.”

Despite his condition, Hayward does everything including kata and kumite but has had to adapt so he can still take part in classes.

“The biggest difficulty I have when I train is trying to adapt drills in ways so I’m able to be a part of the class instead of standing to the side,” said the 23-year-old.

His fellow karateka and their sensei, Bruce Hyland, 6th Dan, have also done what they can to help Hayward, including verbalising every detail of technique.

JAMES BALL: DLSCAPE.COM

Kinjo brings kobudo joy

Goju-Kai grandmaster visits Goju-Kai Karate Australia was honoured by a visit from the son and grandson of Grandmaster Gogen Yamaguchi earlier this year. In what was a momentous visit, Saiko Shihan Goshi Yamaguchi and his son Gohei Shihan came to Australia earlier this year to run a series of seminars in Albury, Woolgoolga on the north coast of NSW, and in Perth, WA. “It was a historic visit for many reasons,” said Paul Starling Shihan, 8th Dan and vice president of the IKGA (International Karate-Do Goju-Kai Association). “It was the first time that father and son have visited our shores together. We were able to see firsthand the interrelationship between Goshi Hanshi and his son Gohei Shihan, and how well they worked together teaching as well as partnering with each other to demonstrate.

“Goshi Hanshi and Gohei Shihan are examples of people who have given their lives to mastering karate.

Everyone who attended the seminars was astounded at their extremely high level of proficiency. It is amazing to see the way Goshi Hanshi moves so swiftly and strongly at 74 years of age,” said Starling. “Despite his high ranking, Goshi Hanshi is personable and humble, and taught all grade levels, and in Woolgoolga he spent an entire seminar teaching the children.”

The visit allowed students a look into the future of IKGA via Gohei Yamaguchi, said Starling.

“After having trained for many years under the leadership of Saiko Shihan Goshi Yamaguchi Hanshi, it was really very vital for all of the members of the Australian branch of the IKGA to meet Gohei Yamaguchi Shihan and to also have the opportunity to train with him,” said Starling Shihan. “This is one very important positive produced by the seminars — our members were able to see with their own eyes that the future of the IKGA is in good hands.”

Goshi and Gohei Yamaguchi (centre) with Aussie Goju-Kai seniors

Read Hayward’s personal reflections in the ‘Guest Speaker’ column of the Dec–Jan issue of Blitz.

WARM UP | www.martialartsbusiness.com.au • 9

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Is breakdancing the best base for BJJ?

Brisbane Wing Chun club gets mobile Sifu Jack Leung of Practical Wing Chun Queensland is taking a unique approach to the usual self-defence class by teaching people how to defend themselves on public transport.

“I’ve been doing a lot of self-defence workshops on public transport,” said Sifu Leung. “I booked a bus recently and will be doing an airplane workshop soon before I head over to Miami to do my first international seminar.”

Leung said that while incidents that require someone to defend themselves on public transport aren’t an everyday occurrence in Brisbane, he still sees the need to be vigilant and prepared.

“I wouldn’t say these incidents are common, but you hear it on the news every now and then,” he said, “and especially when people get off the bus in quiet streets, or there’s aggression on late-night buses after weekend partying.

“Things I focus on in the workshop come down to fundamental strategy around awareness — again, if you can avoid it, why bother?”

The classes focus a lot on balancing on the bus, moving opponents around (off balance), using the surroundings as weapons or for protection, and utilising other weapons of opportunity.

“Basically, its a like a modern-day, reality-based self-defence class on a bus with a kung fu perspective,” said Leung.

Bravo on Rogan’s podcast

YOUTUBE

Sifu Jack Leung (right)

Respected American Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner and founder of 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu Eddie Bravo feels that breakdancing could be a great foundation for BJJ. In a discussion on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, Bravo said that a breakdancing background could be a perfect starting point for young people looking to transition into BJJ and MMA. Bravo inferred that breakdancing is the ideal base for submission grappling because it incorporates elements and skills of gymnastics, yoga, Pilates and wrestling, resulting in an unsurpassed grounding in dynamic balance, core strength and motor control that is both highly variable and transferable.

“If you’re a kid, I would say get into breakdancing and wrestling,” said Bravo. “But make sure you’re putting enough time into wrestling and that breakdancing…combine them both, because we all know wrestling translates beautifully into jiu-jitsu and now we know breakdancing translates even better into jiujitsu… ’cause when you’re doing breakdancing, you’re doing way more crazy things than when you are wrestling. When you’re used to doing crazy s*** like spinning on your head in slow motion and s*** like that — the amount of control you have to have over your core and the strength to do all that…it’s like crazy yoga, capoeira, touch-butt, all that s***.”

Bravo has had first-hand experience of his theory in action, as one of his top students is Geo ‘Freakazoid’ Martinez, who came from a breakdancing background and earned his BJJ Black-belt in only three years.

INSTAGRAM

Amateur MMA to evolve with world association partnership The largest MMA governing body in the world, the World MMA Association (WMMAA), has partnered with one of the world’s foremost MMA gyms, American Top Team (ATT), to start a USA National MMA team program. The alliance will foster and redefine amateur platforms, both in the United States and around the world, with the best amateur national MMA teams.

“Our partnership with WMMAA forms a progressive bond with the most prominent MMA governing body,” said Shah Bobonis of ATT. “The

10 • www.martialartsbusiness.com.au | WARM UP

WMMAA Pan-American Division has developed a stable of great, 100 per cent amateur national fighters, with eight male weight categories and two female categories on their international rosters, and a strong team behind the scenes. With this partnership, the two organisations will build an MMA cultural bridge that the industry is sure to welcome.”

Australia is represented in the WMMAA along with 53 other countries and is part of the Oceania Division.

Bullyproofing hits mats in Victoria physically assaulted. It doesn’t teach how to punch or kick, but how to use leveragebased control holds to neutralise threats without injury. As a result, several US school districts have embraced the Gracie Bullyproof techniques as a reasonable response to bullying, and some even host Gracie Bullyproof classes on campus.

“Everyone has the right to learn how to defend themselves,” said Singh. “My aim is not to make you the fastest or strongest athlete — although you will develop physically through training. My aim is to make you smarter, more aware and give you the ability to physically, verbally and mentally defend yourself in a range of situations.”

Singh’s academy in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs has introduced a free 10-day trial for parents interested in getting their children involved in the program.

For more information on Gracie Bullyproof, visit www.gracieburwood.com

Isshinryu Australia turns 21 Isshinryu Australia recently celebrated its anniversary, marking 21 years since Shihan Robert Slywa brought the Isshinryu karate style into Australia from Okinawa in July 1995.

Slywa said that it initially wasn’t easy to get the classes going. “As most of the styles were from Japan, it was not easy to establish an Okinawan style in Australia, as it was not heard of here,” he said.

To spread the word, Slywa entered as many National All Styles (NAS) tournaments as possible after his return from training and living with Hanshi Angi Uezu (then head of Isshinryu) in Okinawa. Master Uezu is the son-in-law of the system’s founder, Tatsuo Shimabuku.

Slywa was also instrumental in establishing a weaponry division in the NAS. “Having the foresight that kobudo [weapon arts] would be a growing event, I was pleased that the director of NAS in NSW at the time, Master Glenn Coxon, also saw the benefit,” he said.

Isshinryu Australia now has five branches teaching karate and kobudo.

Slywa (left) with Isshinryu seniors in Okinawa, 2016

Instructor Robbie Singh teaching the Gracie Bullyproof program

A heads-up on concussions The results of a recent study into soccer headers could be just as worrying for the martial artist.

Recent research from the UK published in EBioMedicine studied brain changes among amateur players aged 19 to 25 who headed machine-projected soccer balls at speeds modelling a typical practice.

Each player performed a rotational header — redirecting the soccer ball — 20 consecutive times during each 10-minute session.

Changes in motor response and memory were observed in the five women and 14 men participating in the study. The researchers found that immediately following the sessions, subjects’ error scores on both shortand long-term memory tests were significantly higher than subjects’ baseline performances. After just a single session of heading, memorytest performance was reduced by as much as 67 per cent; however, the alterations appeared to clear within 24 hours.

Although the recorded effects were temporary, the researchers cautioned against taking this temporary disruption as a sign of no long-term

damage, triggering questions about possible cumulative damage over time. The worry for martial artists is that if the brain can be damaged by striking an inflated leather ball with your head, what might be the effect of strikes to the head during repeated sparring sessions?

“Although the magnitude of the acute changes observed was small,” the researchers said, “it is the presence of the effect that is of interest. This measure was previously shown to be altered in confirmed concussions, but the acute changes…following the sub-concussive impact of football heading raise concerns that this practice, routine in soccer, may affect brain health.”

The science on concussions suggests we may need to take better care of our craniums

THINKSTOCK

According to Australian Government research, one in every four school children is affected by bullying. Robbie Singh and his club Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Burwood are doing their part to alleviate the problem with the recent introduction of the Gracie Bullyproof program.

Their goal, said Singh, is to give children unshakable confidence so they can overcome bullies without violence. Due to the nonviolent nature of the techniques, US TV channels CNN, ABC, NBC and Oprah have featured the Gracie Bullyproof program as one of the few effective counter-measures to bullying for children from age five to 13.

Designed by California’s Ryron and Rener Gracie, the program’s key goal is to prepare children to defend themselves against bullies without turning them into bullies themselves. Bullyproof teaches kids to use verbal assertiveness to deter bullies, and several nonviolent self-defence techniques to stay safe if

GEARING UP

THE PAINPOD The PainPod advanced medical units are fast-working and drug-free medical devices designed to alleviate pain by passing ‘bio-friendly’ electrical currents through the skin.

They are also used in physiotherapy for injury or surgery recovery, and can be used as a workout aid to improve exercise performance. Anyone benefiting from treatment can potentially enjoy pain relief from a number of different conditions including chronic pain, musculoskeletal disorders, surgery, injury, muscle strain, cramps, labour pain and more.

PainPod is suitable for physiotherapy and is known to improve performance and recovery for professional athletes and general lovers of recreational exercise.

Price: From $299 Supplier: www.thepainpod.com

THE SEISHIN GI TANS BELT DISPLAY These Japanese-style belt racks and stands allow the martial arts school owner to display the belts on offer through the syllabus.

Available as a six-piece wallhanging or free-standing rack, or a 10-piece wall-hanging or free-standing rack, all models have hanging clips and elastic clips to ensure the belts are

neatly presented.

Price: From $49.50 (Mention Blitz and receive 20% off) Supplier: www.tansmas.com

Seishin’s premium-quality lightweight gi is designed to have a high-quality heavyweight look while feeling like a lightweight gi. Constructed with a unique 385 GSM 100 per cent cotton, it is both silky smooth and breathable, and caters to an expansive range of movement for easy, deep stances and high kicks. It features Okinawan-cut HW (high waist) pants with quadruple loops, pleats and air-cooling in the jacket and pants, as well as extra stitching in seams, strings and hems for superior durability.

Available only in traditional white and in different sizes for men, women and children.

Price: $354 (adult) / $174 (kids) Supplier: www.seishinaustralia.com.au

MMA TIMER BY SKH APPS Arguably the best professional app timer for martial arts training currently available, MMA Timer allows you to connect your device to a dock or speakers to create a loud end-of-round bell or siren. The timer can be used for any sport and circuit training, and with timers a staple of most dojos and gyms, the app can be used in place of a professional gym timer, many of which cost well over $100.

12 • www.martialartsbusiness.com.au | THE WARM UP

MMA Timer Pro is fully customisable with four one-touch presets — Amateur (3x3 minutes), Pro (3x5), Champion (5x5) and World Champion (3x10). Add a rest duration timer and warning alert and you’ve got yourself a pretty complete timing app. It’s available for both iPhone and iPad, but the latter is the better device to use as it can easily be seen from across the room.

Price: Free–$1.49/iOS devices Supplier: The App Store

FIMFUM VIDEO APP The FimFum app is a handy tool if using video for training and student assessments. It allows users to watch video together without the need for digital file transfer, so instead of a student sending a video to their trainer (or vice versa) and waiting for

feedback, they can watch the video together — both looking at the same thing at the same time.

Trainer or student can pause the video and talk to each other for instant feedback, and can even rewind the video to show the action again, then fast forward to any part of the video and start watching from the same frame.

Easy to sign up to and easy to use, the FimFum app is great for any student or fighter and their trainers to improve on performance or to study the competitors.

Price: Free Supplier: iOS and Android sites

BOOK: THE MARTIAL ARTS INSTRUCTOR’S TOOLBOX In The Martial Arts Instructor’s Toolbox, Kyoshi Dave Kovar shares the keys to becoming an outstanding martial arts teacher. Drawing on his 30 years of teaching martial arts and development of eight successful schools, Kovar discusses the ideal mindset for martial arts instructors and details 16 essential teaching techniques, tactics and tools that will help the instructor hone their craft.

The book also covers high-level people skills including dealing with challenging children and parent/student communications, and Kovar also includes 17 chapters outlining the most valuable lessons he’s learned in his teaching career.

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A TRUE TEST SUCCESS STORY | MALCOLM AYLES

This success story is one of passion, perseverance and practical problem-solving: what do you do as an independent instructor unwilling to self-award grades and titles? Shiryodo Karate chief instructor Sensei Malcolm Ayles reveals why he undertook a tough, physical 5th Dan grading to mark his 50th birthday.

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fter 25 years of devotion to the martial arts and my last grading (Yondan, 4th Dan) having taken place over 10 years ago — and all my senior students climbing through the ranks to Sandan (3rd Dan) — I felt it was finally time for me to test for my Godan (5th Dan).

In the past, when I had been a member of a large organisation, I hadn’t needed to worry about grading, as the required time would tick around until it was my turn to be tested again. The requirements to grade were clear and the process well defined. Of course, that doesn’t mean the grading tests were easy, but no one ever really failed, either.

In leaving to run an independent school, that clear structure was one of the most obvious things that I saw myself losing — the ability to just do what was required and wait to be asked to grade.

I know quite a few martial artists running independent schools, multiple schools or even heading up organisations who have found themselves in this same position. There are a lot of martial artists like myself who are not being tested and graded, whereas they would have been long ago if they were part of a large organisation. Many of these people are very competent — even more so, at times, than some of the more highly ranked martial artists in some large organisations. That’s not a criticism of these organisations or the quality of their members, it’s just that the opportunity to grade to higher ranks isn’t so readily available to those who don’t belong to one.

That there are quite a few people in this situation I think made me comfortable in some way with the fact I hadn’t graded for nearly a decade.

Then I got busy… I became very involved as an environmental activist working to raise awareness of climate change and initiate action on it. Prior to this, grading hadn’t seemed that important, and once I came to see that there was a small window that was rapidly closing to secure a safe climate for future generations, little else, including grading, seemed important at all. For others, I’m sure families, work commitments and other priorities have the same effect at times.

After two years of tireless work on this issue came a world agreement on climate change in Paris in December of 2015. It may not have been the

14 • www.martialartsbusiness.com.au | THE WARM UP

agreement the world needed, but it certainly marked a point where decisions had been made to lock in a course of action — in other words, for now there was no more for me to do, at least not on the scale there had been previously.

Malcolm Ayles decided on a 50th birthday celebration with a difference: testing for his 5th Dan

SETTING THE NEXT CHALLENGE Post-Paris, the new year came and suddenly I was only months away from turning 50. It seemed that I should

do something to celebrate it. The martial arts has been a huge part of my life for 25 years, and starting karate had marked a turning point for me. A severe accident when I was a child led me to become an angry youth and then a troubled young man without direction, but through karate I became a confident person, achieving way more than the people around me had believed was possible. So, as I approached 50 and reflected on my life, it was quite clear that who I am and the life I have led are direct consequences of my involvement in traditional martial arts. So I decided that my 50th should reflect that in some way.

As I often do, I took some time to consider my options. In a perfect world with no restrictions, what would I do? How would my 50th look? A celebration of my love for karate with my friends, family and students all together is what I envisaged. Then I thought about what I wanted out of it for myself and decided that I wanted to make it a physical challenge; I wanted turning 50 to be not about me getting old, but a demonstration of the vitality that everyone can and should have at that age.

PLANNING THE TEST A couple of organisations had offered to grade me over the years and when I spoke to them about my idea for a 5th Dan grading, they were open to it. To be honest, though, while arranging a panel to come and do the promotion would have been fine, it just didn’t fit with the vision I had. It almost felt like it would be too easy. Now I’m sure it wouldn’t have been easy on the day, but it just didn’t have the tradition and feel that I was after.

That’s when I sat down and thought about all the people in the martial arts who I knew, had trained with, was close to and respected. There are a huge number of people who I know well in the martial arts community, a lot who I respect and a lot who I call friends, but there was only one I wanted to ask — Kancho Jim Casey from KenshinKan Karate. Highly respected not only by myself but the martial arts community as a whole, Kancho Jim has been teaching martial arts for the past 46 years as a true karateka and has been a friend of over 20 years.

More importantly, though, he is someone who I know well and I also know many of his students well.

His style is based in traditional Kyokushin karate, as is mine, and I knew from his attitude and the way he runs his own school that he would oversee my grading and ensure it was both traditional and tough.

I forwarded Kancho Jim an email, asking if he would consider testing me for my 5th Dan, and outlining my reasons for asking him. Kancho Jim responded that he would be honoured to oversee the grading; however, due to the differences between the Kenshinkan and Shiryodo styles — their terminology, kata, etc. — slight adjustments would have to be made. So, over the many weeks leading up to the grading, Kancho and I had numerous conversations regarding the event, syllabus and requirements.

Ayles is presented with his 5th Dan belt by his examiner and long-time mentor, KenshinKan’s Kancho Jim Casey

After those conversations, I knew I had made the right choice — but I suddenly also felt the pressure of having made that choice. The key concern wasn’t passing or failing, it was demonstrating faithfully who I am as a martial artist to someone I greatly respect.

We determined that the criteria for my grading were to be as follows: 1) Theory: I would deliver a history of my martial arts and the sensei who graded me, and my aspirations for the future of Shiryodo Karate Club.

2) Instruction: On the Friday evening before the full test, I had to run a 90-minute Black-belt class to demonstrate my knowledge of martial arts and ability to instruct my students well.

3) Kata: Beginning at 11am Saturday, I must demonstrate eight kata from the Shiryodo syllabus and show a deep understanding of the bunkai (practical application of techniques).

4) Grading: From 1pm Saturday, I would undertake a four-hour grading test run by Kancho Casey (with a small number of my senior Black-belts assisting) covering all techniques and conditioning, and finishing with 40 rounds of sparring.

PARTYING HARD: THE GRADING When grading day finally arrived, it was a very cold Geelong day (5 degrees all day) and I was apprehensive about how the grading was going to be run. Kancho Jim had everyone lined up for the traditional bow-in, then he started it off with warm-ups consisting of 100 star-jumps followed by all the basics such as blocks, punches, shuto, kicks etc. — over 50 of each. Then, after

THE WARM UP | www.martialartsbusiness.com.au • 15

a moment to get my breath, I was required to do 100 push-ups on my knuckles with my students taking turns in joining me and encouraging me to finish. Next I was asked to do 100 sit-ups then 100 twists…and at the end of all that came another 20 sit-ups, this time with one of my senior students punching my stomach hard. Half way through, my stomach cramped up and I took a moment to shake it off so I could finish.

The grading continued with ippon kihon (one-step techniques): a series of strikes, blocks and kicks to demonstrate knowledge and application of the basic techniques. Next came sanbon kihon (longer-form kihon), where gradually the techniques become ever more complex. I was required to show a high standard of skill in all these applications before another round of push-ups.

By the time I was given a couple of minutes’ break to grab some water, I was starting to feel quite drained…but Kancho yelled for everyone to line up again, and I was straight into jumping over a partner into a full squat, 30 times. My legs began cramping and my thighs were on fire — I was pretty worn out!

At this point I would like to mention, though, that Kancho Casey, at 64 years of age, participated in the grading along with my senior students, demonstrating the true spirit of a karateka.

Kancho then told me to pad up — it was time for kumite, which was the last part of the grading. Five of my senior students rotated through as my opponents, and after the first 10 fights, the pain started to show. I

A CELEBRATION OF MY LOVE FOR KARATE WITH MY FRIENDS, FAMILY AND STUDENTS ALL TOGETHER IS WHAT I ENVISAGED.

Kancho Casey presents Ayles with his Godan certificate in front of his karate students, friends and family

was starting to feel my 50 years of age and had to dig deep to keep going as the bouts continued, with only a small break after every 10 rounds to have a drink.

By the 20th fight there was not much power in my kicks or punches and this continued until my 30th fight — then, during the break, Kancho Jim advised that I only had 10 to go…but I was required to do another 20 push-ups before I continued!

Not surprisingly, the last 10 bouts seemed to be the longest and hardest I had ever done. I was physically exhausted and my students pushed me to keep going.

I was so relieved when the last bout came — there was nothing pretty about my fighting, I was just glad to finish! My students embraced me as Kancho Jim came forward to congratulate me too.

Words can’t really express the immense pride I felt when Kancho Jim presented me back my belt after the grading; my 5th Dan certificate was presented later that evening at my 50th birthday party in front of all the attending guests. I was honoured to have him do this and having so many people who are close to me able to share that moment made it even more meaningful. The whole event will always mean a lot to me as a karateka.

THE WASH-UP Reflecting on it all now, I think I made the decision that was right for me, and what feels right for the individual is obviously important. For some in my situation, this might mean simply forgoing promotion, and I respect and understand why people often choose this. For others who are considering possible means of promotion, I’d encourage you to think about not what might be easy or convenient but rather what is going to mean something to you and maintain the integrity of your system and rank. Having a close relationship with my tester and mutual respect between us as martial artists were the most important factors for me. That I combined the grading with my 50th birthday was more convenient timing than anything; had I been doing the promotion at some other time, I don’t think the decision would have been any different.

Malcolm Ayles, 5th Dan, is the founder and chief instructor of the Shiryodo Karate school in Geelong, Victoria, teaching karate and weaponry skills. He is also a NAS official and former champion.

16 • www.martialartsbusiness.com.au | THE WARM UP

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YOU CHANGE LIVES MOTIVATORS | ANDREA HARKINS

Professional tang soo do instructor, writer and 24-year veteran of the martial arts Andrea Harkins passes on a motivational message that keeps her on the up.

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“WHEN A STUDENT BELIEVES IN HIMSELF, HE WILL CARRY THAT WITH HIM FOR A LIFETIME. NEVER WILL HE LOOK BACK, OR LOOK DOWN, AGAIN. IT IS BECAUSE OF YOU.” One day, a young boy came to one of my classes. He was probably eight years old. He was shy and his eyes were always down. His body language was that of a youngster who lacked confidence and did not believe in himself. It almost made me sad, but I knew then that there was valuable work to be done in his life.

18 • www.martialartsbusiness.com.au | THE WARM UP

THINKSTOCK

very day you change lives. You may not always recognise that, but as an instructor or a school owner, you are molding the future of your students. It is not the same as waving a magic wand, because that would be easy. It is the commitment, diligence and effort for which you strive in your practice and in your teaching that permeates the lives and minds of your students.

Even if a student attends only one class or only achieves a certain lower-level rank, they have benefited from your wisdom and expertise. One day they may look back and think, ‘If not for my instructor, I would never realise how much potential I have,’ or ‘The day my instructor pushed me to break that mental block was the day I found my self-confidence.’ It does not matter how long they study with you for you to make some important difference in their lives.

When my instructor told me to break boards in my Green-belt exam, I was not prepared. I had never done it before, and in front of a large audience, it took me three tries. I look back at the experience frequently, whenever I need to overcome a personal barrier. Because he believed in me and provided me with an opportunity, I saw myself in a whole new way.

The skills you teach a student will often be secondary to the mental strength and confidence they gain on the tatami

Step by step, over time, he learned new skills. They were not perfect, but they were the steps necessary to make a martial artist. Gradually, I noticed that he started to look up. He learned the movements of the forms. His stances were a little short, and he could have used a little more power. All that aside, he was emerging as a new, hopeful person. He started to believe in himself.

When a student believes in himself, he will carry that with him for a lifetime. Never will he look back, or look down, again. It is because of you.

The fact is that you constantly remind students, both young and old, of their worth, their potential and their unique attributes as martial artists. Not every student will be a competitor, a Black-belt or a star student, but each will recognise their importance and self-worth.

It would be great if a magic wand could accomplish all this. It would be a much quicker process. Instead, it will take your actions and teaching, but that is not a bad thing. In fact, you will learn as much about being a teacher as they will learn about being a student.

DOWN TO BUSINESS

FROM PLAN TO ACTION RULES FOR MAKING BUSINESS PLANS HAPPEN

We may know what we want to achieve in our business, and maybe we’ve even got a good plan to make it happen…but implementing those plans can quickly turn into an unexpected trial. Even the best-laid plans can end up tattered, torn and tossed in the too-hard basket when unexpected obstacles arise — but Black Belt Business founder and 4th Dan hapkido instructor Nathan McDonald has some advice to help you turn your plans into reality.

BY NATHAN MCDONALD

A

s the start of a new financial year rolls through, people often get the planning bug and begin to dream big… or of things being bigger and better than last year, at least. But most of the time — let’s be honest here — those plans fall by the wayside and the dreams remain just that. People just go back to their old ways and go through the same motions as before: they let life get in the way, they let their customers dictate how they run their business, and they don’t achieve everything (or sometimes, anything) that they wanted.

But it need not be that way — here are four easy rules to follow that will make sure you smash your business plans this year.

DON’T TOLERATE FAILURE

Every time I do a business planning session with a client, this is the first thing I tell them: You deserve what you tolerate. Think about that for a moment. Then think about this when you’re implementing your business plans: are you tolerating having your life and business method being dictated by others — by customers/clients? Have you simply learned to put up with not 20 • www.martialartsbusiness.com.au

having the results you want from your business? Most people do.

So, when you write down your business plan, focus on that thought: I deserve what I will tolerate. And with that in mind, write down next to each step in your plan what, if anything, is likely or possibly going to stop you from getting there, and how you are going to navigate your way around those roadblocks. What skills, resources, thought patterns, time, etc. can you draw from your arsenal to combat the common assaults on your plans?

If you’re reading this, you probably care a lot about your business, you probably put a lot of energy and effort in, and therefore you deserve to get the best out of it. So go and get what you deserve; look within and define what’s important in your life — in and outside of business and in order of priority — and make plans that fit with those priorities. Once you have decided what you will and will not tolerate, be resolute.

OWN YOUR TIME

With the aforementioned steps complete, you must adopt the mindset that you’re not going to compromise

on any part of your plan. Let’s use time management as an example.

When planning your day, week, fortnight or month, you must include ‘no compromise’ time or activity for your key priorities. You set it up in your diary and that’s it — you give the allocated time to the specified activity of importance, without compromise.

It’s irrelevant if a customer wants to come in and use that time; you turn your phones off, lock the door, put emails aside and focus totally on achieving an important task.

My Black Belt Business clients allocate at least 20 per cent of their working weeks to no-compromise time in order to achieve those things that normally fall by the wayside due to poor time-management habits and patterns.

Funny thing is, most still fit a full week’s worth of work — those day-to-day tasks that are part and parcel of working in a business — into that remaining 80 per cent of time. And the growth in business that results from that 20 per cent of time taken to work on (as opposed to in) the business without compromise will inevitably bring in more than enough revenue long-term to cover any overspill of tasks that must be outsourced to keep the 20 per cent free.

SET TASKS & DEADLINES

Think about each task that you’ve actually got to do for each part in your plan. Break it down, prioritise the steps and put each one in your diary. Most clients simply whack a big goal up on their whiteboard or they write it on a bit of paper, or at best they’ve got a few steps listed in an Excel spreadsheet, and occasionally go back and look at it. Instead, take each one of

your goals and the key steps in meeting them, and give each one a starting and completion date. Put them in your diary; this way, you know you’ve got to start that task and so mentally you will switch on to thinking about achieving it. Some people like to map out every single step in detail, task by task, and can spend days doing that, but I find that doesn’t work for a lot of clients because life is too unpredictable to allow for being too inflexible — as in martial arts, you might have a plan of attack or defence, but when things go awry you have to roll with the punches and come at it a different way.

So instead of plotting every minute detail, I advise clients to not think too much about the many tasks at hand — because that gets very overwhelming — and just worry about the next key step and when you’ve actually got to start it. Diarising helps prioritise each step, and when the next one hits the top of the priority list, you must allocate the necessary ‘no compromise’ time to get it done.

FORGET WHY, FOCUS ON HOW

A lot of people talk about knowing your ‘why’, your purpose.

When I ask clients why they want a business plan, most say it’s for their family; they want a better lifestyle. That’s great. It’s good to know your deeper reasons for wanting what you want — keeping that in mind can often help motivate you when plans are proving tough to implement. But don’t spend a lot of time on it. Why? Because a lot of plans do not get implemented and the key reason is not that the planner doesn’t know the ‘why’, he/she doesn’t know the ‘how-to’. So stay focused on the how. How do we implement each one of these items? What do we need to do?

If you can focus on the how rather than the why, you’ll find that you’ll have a lot more success in implementing your plan.

I have many more functional and effective tips to share when it comes to implementing a business plan, but these are the most vital, no matter how simple or complex your plan.

In a coming issue we’ll look at the process of planning itself, and how to make sure your plans are workable with the resources you have.

“EVERY TIME I DO A BUSINESS PLANNING SESSION WITH A CLIENT, THIS IS THE FIRST THING I TELL THEM: YOU DESERVE WHAT YOU TOLERATE.”

Nathan McDonald, 4th Dan hapkido, is the founder of Black Belt Business and has more than 20 years’ experience in business growth and development, and 18 years in martial arts. He can be contacted via www.blackbeltbusiness.com.au

www.martialartsbusiness.com.au • 21

DOWN TO BUSINESS

YOU ARE YOUR MARKET HOW TO TARGET THE EDUCATED BEGINNER

There are numerous pitfalls for the martial arts instructor looking to market their business in rapidly changing times.

Long-time school owners, martial arts business coaches and professional speakers Phil Britten and Graham McDonnell of WA-based The Institiute of Martial Arts offer a few vital tips.

BY GRAHAM MCDONNELL & PHIL BRITTEN

TAP TO HEAR THE TIMA TEAM’S MARKETING TIPS

22 • www.martialartsbusiness.com.au

T

his year has been a rollercoaster period for many businesses, and not only in the martial arts industry. Over the past few years, I have seen a shift in the behaviour of customers — an evolution of sorts.

Let me clarify: the potential client still has a need to learn personal protection skills, improve their confidence and self-esteem, lose weight and so on. The real change is that the buyers are now far more educated about what they want. They have money to invest but they don’t want to invest it unwisely, so they are doing a lot more research before they pick up the phone or send an email enquiry.

This changing trend is not a fad or a phase; this is the new norm. So as a business owner, it is vital that I lift my game and make sure that all aspects of my business are operating at 100 per cent.

Marketing as a whole is a very fluid industry that can change quickly due to the powerful influences of social media.

Marketing your business correctly and efficiently is now a real concern for martial arts business owners. So where do I start?

If you look at the range of successful businesses globally — and not just in the martial arts industry — they all have one point of difference. Clarity when it comes to understanding your target audience and knowing your point of difference, or USP (unique selling point), is vital before you start to spend money on websites, SEO, Facebook, Google AdWords and print ads.

Here are two key tips to get you started:

TIP #1

As Stephen Covey said, “Begin with the end in mind.” Ask yourself, who do I want to teach — fighters, kids, adults…? And what do I want to teach — traditional martial arts, reality-based self-defence, full-contact? Also ask yourself truthfully whether yours is a hobby school or a professional business.

Getting a really clear idea of your ideal school and an ideal client is the first step. Don’t try to be something you’re

not and don’t try to be something for everyone. Be clear on what your ideal students look like so you can attract them, and then build your marketing campaign around that.

“MARKETING AS A WHOLE IS A VERY FLUID INDUSTRY THAT CAN CHANGE QUICKLY DUE TO THE POWERFUL INFLUENCES OF SOCIAL MEDIA.” TIP #2

When creating a marketing campaign, flyer, poster or whatever media you use to get your name out there, remember what the ‘pain points’ are for your ideal student. Think about what they’re going through and let them know how you can solve that issue. Why you and your business? And why now, why is it important to take action now?

For example: Student A is eight years old, shy and lacking in confidence, and doesn’t have many friends. (Remember, the decision maker is Mum or Dad, so the advertisement must speak to them AND Student A.) The ad reads: Are you worried that your child does not fit easily?

Do they find it hard to make friends?

(Pain) ABC Martial Arts has helped many families with the same challenges — you’re not alone. (Why you and your business?)

Our friendly, fun programs are created to help kids make friends, improve their self-confidence, plus they learn all the other great life skills that martial arts has to offer. (How we will solve the challenge) Help your child today and call now to talk with an instructor and find out more. Enrolments closing soon!

(Why now?)

This mock ad is very specific about who I wanted to target — it was a shy

eight-year-old who lacked confidence.

The same strategy is implemented whenever you are creating a demand for a product or service: 1) Identify who your audience is.

2) Find out what they are looking for — or, better still, what pains they are going through, so you can offer a solution to that pain or problem.

3) Position your business as the go-to place that provides the solution.

4) Communicate the importance of taking action now, not waiting.

OVERALL STRATEGY

Having a solid marketing strategy and then the systems to implement it is critical; it needs to work like a welloiled machine, but I believe the best method of getting new members is through referral.

There are many different ways to generate referrals, and there are hundreds of opinions on whether or not you should reward students for the referral, but that is a whole other topic.

The most important thing to consider to generate referrals is to create a raving fan out of your client.

A raving fan-client is someone who is so happy with every aspect of your business that they tell every single person who will listen. Look at Apple, for example; what makes people camp out for days, time and again, to get a new version of what they probably already have?

So, how do we create the same level of excitement within your own school?

It all starts on the floor; the classes need to be world-class; they need to exceed all expectations of those in attendance. But where do you start? With content…

CLASS CONTENT

Is the content of your syllabus relevant to the 21st century? Now don’t get me wrong, it is important to pay respects to our heritage, but as a martial artist, I have to ask myself the question: Am I teaching my students skills that could genuinely save them if they are put in a life-threatening situation? Remember, the new students who are seeking martial arts are more educated about what they want and what they do not. www.martialartsbusiness.com.au • 23

DOWN TO BUSINESS

SHY, UNDERCONFIDENT KIDS ARE JUST SUPERHEROES WAITING FOR THEIR CAPES.

HOW DO WE KNOW? WE MAKE THE CAPES.

ABC MARTIAL ARTS – WHERE SUPERHEROES START It’s important to regularly look back over the curriculum and see if any areas can be improved.

COMMUNICATION

How is your class content being delivered? You may have the best material out there but if the delivery is below expectations then you will have some challenges. I’m sure we can all remember a time through our schooling years when a teacher lost the engagement of the class because of their delivery style. It’s important to remember that we are educators and not everyone will absorb knowledge the same way, so it is vital to keep your classes exciting and dynamic. Develop a communication and demonstration style that keeps everyone engaged and has them feeling better than they did when they walked in.

also important that we take the time to develop a community or extended family out of the school as well. This doesn’t mean having everyone over to your place for a barbecue; it means that no one is just a face in the crowd.

Create a place where people feel that they belong, and you will create a strong community that will pay dividends in your business.

Think back to a time when you were at a social gathering growing up, and you didn’t know anyone. It can feel a little awkward. Now think of a time when you started the night not knowing anyone but the difference is the people at the gathering came up and introduced themselves to you, then introduced you to others — before you know it you feel more relaxed, comfortable and more likely to speak about your great experience with others (there’s your referral).

COMMUNITY

Creating a community is vital when looking to retain students; plus it creates a buzz that naturally attracts people.

Remember, a crowd draws a crowd. If we are looking to create excitement and engagement in our classes, it’s 24 • www.martialartsbusiness.com.au

THE FIVE CS

When I take the time to look back at the growth I have had over the past few years within my martial arts businesses, I can honestly put it down to these five key principles:

“REMEMBER, THE DECISION MAKER IS MUM OR DAD, SO THE ADVERTISEMENT MUST SPEAK TO THEM…” <<< Clarity – Know how you want your ideal school to operate; picture your ideal students, the programs you want to have running, and market and create everything that supports that vision.

Content – Create programs that will inspire your students to train longer and will also get them excited to tell others about what you do.

Communication – In all forms, from your marketing to how instructors teach their classes, make sure the way you communicate supports your ideal model of your school and keeps your students engaged, learning and excited.

Community – Create an environment where students, parents and potential students all feel like they belong, that they are welcome, and it is a great place to be.

Constant improvement – Always look to be better — be a better martial artist, a better business owner, a better teacher. Look for ways to better serve your clients. Always look for the means to improve; don’t fall into the trap of thinking ‘that is how it was always done, and that is how it will be’. Times have changed, and we need to strive continually to be better in all areas.

Graham McDonnell and Phil Britten are co-directors of WA Institute of Martial Arts (WAIMA), one of Australia’s most successful martial arts academies, teaching Zen Do Kai, muay Thai and Kombatan arnis to over 1000 students at three locations. The pair also run The Institute of Martial Arts, a business program for martial arts school owners.

They can be emailed at GMcDonnell@ waima.com.au and info@philbritten.com.

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DOWN TO BUSINESS

7

REASONS STUDENTS QUIT AND HOW TO PREVENT IT

Multiple Black-belt holder Kyoshi Dave Kovar is the owner of eight successful martial arts schools in the US and founder of Kovar Systems and the Professional Martial Arts College (ProMAC).

Recognised as an innovator of best practices for martial arts schools around the world, here he offers some insights on the perennial problem of student retention.

BY DAVE KOVAR

A

s martial arts instructors, we’ve all lost students for a variety of reasons. While we’d like to think that these reasons are beyond our control, that’s not really the truth. There are many reasons why students quit, and many of those reasons are avoidable.

Having students leave can be frustrating, but it’s also an opportunity.

When you can figure out why your students are leaving, you can take the steps needed to prevent it. The following is a countdown of the seven most common (avoidable) reasons why students leave. Take a look at your school and see if these are areas for improvement for you and your team.

26 • www.martialartsbusiness.com.au

7

NO RETENTION SYSTEMS AND PROCEDURES

One of the most obvious reasons students leave is that there are no checks and balances within the school to keep track of each student’s progress, attitude and attendance. Without clearcut procedures in place, many students may end up falling through the cracks.

To fix this, consider implementing regular meetings with staff to discuss student progress, calling or texting students who have not shown up to class recently and having a tracking system for students who are in their first 100 days of training (one of the most common periods when a student quits).

6

NO LIFE SKILLS CURRICULUM

Personal development has always been a part of martial arts, but if your school does not take the time to teach character skills, students may have a difficult time understanding the value they are receiving from your program. Today’s top-notch schools teach more than just self-defence and fitness, they are teaching life skills like conflict avoidance techniques, stress management, self-control and positive communication, to name a few.

Consider rounding out your curriculum to include: » A student creed » A message of the week » A Black-belt oath

5

4

SCHOOLS SET UNREALISTIC GOALS

Failing schools often demand too much from their beginning students and not enough from their advanced students. If students feel they are falling too far behind or not being challenged enough, they will consider leaving the program. Schools that succeed all have progressively higher standards.

They teach their curriculum in a way that allows students to progress in a logical and consistent fashion. As most everyone is aware of, belt testing is probably the best retention tool there is (if done correctly). Some important things to remember are: » Have a set schedule. Everybody tip tests or belt tests at the same time. » Have frequent tip tests, once every four or five weeks. » Make sure students know exactly what they will be tested on. » Make sure to distribute your curriculum evenly over various tips and belts to avoid bottlenecks.

“SUCCESSFUL SCHOOLS ARE INTERESTED IN THE LONG-TERM PROGRESSION AND IMPROVEMENT OF THEIR STUDENTS”

STUDENTS DON’T FEEL SAFE

A quick way to lose students is to have them injure themselves in class. In the modern martial arts school, strong safety policies must be adhered to. Teaching class in a safety-conscious way not only decreases potential liability, but it increases retention. The successful schools are interested in the long-term progression and improvement of their students. They are aware of the healthiest (i.e. biomechanically correct) warm-up and stretching procedures. They are wise in how sparring is introduced and practised. They require the use of safety equipment and are careful in pairing off students appropriately for sparring and while doing bag work.

3

POOR TRAINING ENVIRONMENT

You can be doing everything else right, but if your training environment is substandard, then success will be hard won. The key ingredients for a proper training environment are:

» Adequate heating and air conditioning » A safe training floor (preferably matted) » Sufficient instructor-to-student ratio » Well-maintained equipment » No safety hazards (missing electrical box covers, broken mirrors, sharp edges, etc.)

2

UNENTHUSIASTIC OR POORLY TRAINED INSTRUCTORS

When instructors are not enthusiastic about teaching, the interest and energy level of their students goes down. Having motivated and enthusiastic instructors is not enough, however. The instructor must be well trained in teaching methodologies as well, with a large arsenal of teaching tools in their toolbox. A few examples of important teaching skill are: » Always choosing ‘influence’ over ‘authority’ as a teaching style » Knowing the curriculum » Mat vision: being aware of everything happening on the floor » Focus anchors: making frequent use of several different focus points to keep the class on track.

1

POOR QUALITY CLASSES

While all of the reasons we’ve discussed are incredibly important to the success of your school, this last reason is paramount. The trick to student longevity is making sure students are enjoying the process.

Boredom must be avoided at all costs.

The curriculum taught at martial arts schools varies dramatically from one instructor to another and one system to another, but all schools can improve the way they teach. Changing existing drills, disguising repetition, and constantly challenging your students in a safe and fun way will keep them for the long haul and make teaching more fun.

A lifelong martial artist with Black-belts in 10 styles, Kyoshi Dave Kovar is recognised worldwide as an innovator of best practices for martial arts school operation. He oversees the operation of eight Kovar’s Satori Academy schools and is the founder of ProMAC, the Professional Martial Arts College. Kyoshi Kovar is the lead instructor for Century’s Martial Arts Industry Association (USA) and he has published over 100 online business and teaching videos for the Educational Funding Company (EFC). He can be contacted via email at dave.kovar@kovars.com www.martialartsbusiness.com.au • 27

DOWN TO BUSINESS

D N R I F OU E Y ICH N

G TIN E K AR ey

M ek e D h t E ET hat’s mor G s T AR he? effort and ly T c n h i OF ur n eting coac ale-o T o k r .

AR ow y r ma siness st fem Hext E n r i u TH you k g yo tes bu lia’s f helle i ic n Do maki e, wr ustra ol M to ectiv of A scho eff nder ndo XT fou kwo LE HE EL tae M BY

28 • www.martialartsbusiness.com.au

IC

H

I

n the early days of running my martial arts schools, the one thing that challenged and frustrated me beyond words was my marketing. I constantly agonised over coming up with the perfect advert. You know the one…the one that will solve all of your problems and have you beating back potential students with a stick.

Over the years, I came to learn two things, and these two things combined gave me the perfect recipe for developing an advert that attracts and converts into members ONLY the type of students I wanted in my dojang.

LESSON 1

There is no such thing as the perfect advert (duh!). Any advert that attracted the wrong type of students to my school or didn’t convert them into members was not a failure; instead it delivered priceless and valuable information. So view any ‘failed’ marketing attempts as research that you can use moving forward.

Back in the day, these priceless and valuable bits of information hurt the hip pocket quite a bit, because advertising used to cost a packet. These days you can run a Facebook advert or boosted post for just a few dollars. Because the financial investment, and therefore the risk, is not so great, it means you can test and measure your little heart out until you come up with what message (or messages) works best for your school.

You need to spend time playing around with your message until you see results, then continue to refine and pay attention to the results you are getting. Spend more money on the ads that convert and pull the pin on the ones that don’t. But even then, continue to try new things; continue to test and measure to see if you can achieve an even better result.

LESSON 2

You cannot expect to market to anyone and everyone in a crowded marketplace and generate a WOW response; instead you need to speak directly to your specific and intended market in the language they speak if you want to be noticed.

In other words, you need to implement niche-based marketing.

Like most things in life, consumer

“YOU CANNOT EXPECT TO MARKET TO ANYONE AND EVERYONE IN A CROWDED MARKETPLACE AND GENERATE A WOW RESPONSE; INSTEAD YOU NEED TO SPEAK DIRECTLY TO YOUR SPECIFIC AND INTENDED MARKET IN THE LANGUAGE THEY SPEAK IF YOU WANT TO BE NOTICED.” purchasing is also coming full circle.

While for a period of time we ate up mass-produced items (mobile phones are now throwaway items) and experiences (personal trainers used to be reserved for the rich and famous) because things were cheap, much cheaper than they had ever been before, we now want a more personalised purchasing experience.

These days consumers have a very short attention span; in fact, you have just five seconds (sometimes less) to capture your potential students’ attention before they click off. I don’t need to tell you that this is not a lot of time, so you need to pull out all stops to get them to stay, because the longer they stay, the more likely they are to engage your services or buy your goods.

The best way to do this is to ensure your message speaks directly to your market, and the best way to do that is to focus on your niche so that you are speaking directly to the person you wish to attract and don’t waste time on the ones you don’t.

As an example, a 24-year-old male looking to train in MMA is not going to linger long on a website that is heavily promoting its kids program on the home page even if it does also offer MMA. He is likely to click off well before five seconds and continue his search until he stumbles across a web page that features images of men his age training in MMA. When I had my women-only dojang, I discovered that while I loved having teenage girls in my classes, I didn’t market to them. Why not? I only wanted the

decision makers in my beginner program; I wanted the person who was going to be paying for classes to be the person experiencing the classes. I made this decision after I had some teenage girls complete my beginner program and not continue training because the parents didn’t see the value — because they weren’t on the mat. They didn’t see the value because they didn’t experience it themselves. Lesson learned, I modified my marketing to reflect this. I still attracted teenage girls to my beginner program, but these were the exception, with the majority being women in their thirties and forties, which was my niche market and thus where I was directing my marketing.

I had honed my marketing message to promise my potential students “bulletproof confidence and a kickass body” based on my knowledge of my target market (niche), and my marketing attracted the exact type of students I was after.

While I had decided to run mine as a niche-based school with only adult women attending classes, not everyone wants or needs to go this route. However, you do need to run separate marketing campaigns to target the different niches you’re trying to fill at the time; i.e. kids, adults classes, self-defence, etc. Split your marketing to highly target that market rather than try to cover all bases in one advert, and you’ll have far greater impact.

Once you understand your market/s and how they communicate, creating your marketing messages becomes very easy.

Michelle Hext is a 5th Dan taekwondo instructor, entrepreneur of 23 years and author of three books, one of which is on Amazon’s best-seller list.

Having run a successful women-only martial arts school, she is now a brand strategist and mentor for female entrepreneurs through her global online business, The Art Of Kicking Ass Elegantly. Michelle can be contacted via email at michelle@theartofkickingasselegantly.com www.martialartsbusiness.com.au • 29

DOWN TO BUSINESS

THE LAW OF ATTRACTION HOW TO RAISE AND MAINTAIN YOUR MARTIAL ARTS CLUB’S FEMALE MEMBERSHIP

Since its inception, long before its establishment in the West, martial arts training has been all about the blokes — and within the walls of many clubs it is still very much a man’s world. But one Melbourne school has made a concerted effort to coax more women to its mats and has achieved startling results. Shihan Matt Charnley reveals how Hoshiki Kiritsu Martial Arts has achieved and sustained a 60 per cent female participation rate for more than 20 years now.

BY MATT CHARNLEY

W

hen I began training in the early 1980s, having a female in the class was quite often an anomaly.

For most of my formative years training in various martial arts, the class would invariably consist of 20 to 30 people with only one or two being females. This participation rate of 10 per cent or lower always seemed strange — and certainly not representative of Australia’s 52 per cent female population. So when in 1995 I formed Hoshiki Kiritsu Martial Arts, it was a very specific goal to create a school where women would make up 50 per cent of the participants in all martial arts, selfdefence and kickboxing classes, both at a junior and senior level.

Having always been blessed to have my wife, Sensei Maree Charnley (4th Dan), by 30 • www.martialartsbusiness.com.au

my side right from the inception of HKMA, I had access to a very informed opinion as to why more women did not persist with, or even begin, martial arts. So we set about finding out what the major inhibiting factors were for females. By doing this we could actively combat these barriers to ensure that the talent of more than half the population was not lacking in martial arts.

FEARING THE UNKNOWN

The first factor we unearthed was fear of the unknown. By talking to many female students and of course Sensei Maree, we found that a lot of women were in no way familiar with what a martial arts class entailed. To address this we embarked on an extensive campaign to target women’s groups, aerobics classes and girls’ high schools. We found that by including a

Renshi Maree Charnley, 4th Dan, practising on husband and HKMA chief instructor Shihan Matt Charnley, 5th Dan

detailed written breakdown of what the first five classes consisted of, the women could at least visualise not only what was involved but also how long each activity would run for.

Here is a typical example of what was handed out to any prospective students: » First class — 90 mins » Introduction to the dojo/class » Brief history of Hoshiki Kiritsu Martial Arts » Instructor’s history and qualifications » Aims and objectives of martial arts » Questions from students » Basic warm-up » Basic stretch routine » Basic skills — balance/stances and awareness » Basic strikes — focus and technique » Basic self-defence applications » Cool-down/visualisation » Questions from students.

We found that by removing at least some of the uncertainty, the women were much more likely to take that first tentative step into the dojo.

BLOKES, BLOKES & MORE BLOKES

The second obstacle was the fact that the classes were so heavily populated with males. This meant that any prospective female students were always in the minority. So tipping the balance and then retaining the female students and instructors became a priority. Once this was achieved and females became more prevalent within the club at all levels, it became the norm rather than the exception that females made up the majority at HKMA. This in turn perpetuated further female participation.

FALSE PERCEPTIONS

The third reason for low participation rates that we deduced from our female students was that a lot of women held the false preconception that strength and endurance were needed to properly participate in and/or execute some of the techniques within martial arts. To dispel this false notion it was crucial that a fundamental part of the Hoshiki Kiritsu curriculum was centred around easy-to-execute techniques that used economy of movement, accuracy, balance and timing, and were effective against www.martialartsbusiness.com.au • 31

DOWN TO BUSINESS

Renshi Maree Charnley (centre) leads a large team of female Black-belts

larger opponents. This is not to say that females didn’t participate in the more rigorous drills — they absolutely did; in fact, a number of our female students have gone on to be very proficient full-contact fighters and kickboxers. It is about giving options so that no one feels that martial arts is only for the big and strong.

EVERYBODY NEEDS FRIENDS

The fourth barrier identified was that females were far more likely to participate in their first class if they were with a friend.

This is something that is more or less out of the club’s control; however, a higher proportion of females to males already on the dojo floor means that a training partner can be instantly found for any women who join on their own. Similarly, the active promotion of martial arts within women’s groups greatly increases the chances of two females commencing their training together.

HIGH STANDARDS & SAFE SPACES

The fifth factor identified was the physical environment. Today’s modern facilities allow us to train in much better equipped and safer environments. Many of us would remember what it was like to train on freezing cold hardwood floors for three hours at a time in the middle of winter.

32 • www.martialartsbusiness.com.au

“WE FOUND THAT

BY REMOVING AT LEAST SOME OF THE UNCERTAINTY, THE WOMEN WERE MUCH MORE LIKELY TO TAKE THAT FIRST TENTATIVE STEP INTO THE DOJO.” This was always seen as the norm, a rite of passage or even a badge of honour for any serious martial artist to expect physical discomfort. However, with the abundance of air conditioned, fully matted and well-appointed gymnasiums and personal training studios, people now expect a certain level of safety and modernisation. Now that we have a fully fitted-out and air conditioned honbu dojo, I would never want to revert back to the old halls and courts we once used. We haven’t done away with discomfort, as it’s necessary for personal growth, but we have greater control of when and how people experience it.

I know that many of our female students over the years have commented on the overall atmosphere of the dojo — both in a physical and spiritual sense. Spiritually

they feel that the dojo is a sanctuary where they feel valued, important and comfortable. Physically they feel that the environment is safe; the matting, temperature control and amenities allow them to train hard without fear of injury or dehydration.

AN INTRODUCTION TO IMPACT

The sixth but by no means least important factor is the fear of being hurt. Many women have never participated in any sport, much less an activity involving physical contact and impact. Similarly, very few have been taught even the basics of striking with a hand or foot.

When entering a dojo for the first time and seeing how much power and speed a well-trained male can deliver, many women are simply frightened.

To overcome this obstacle, HKMA uses a two-pronged approach. Firstly, with the new female participants it is reinforced that learning martial arts does not require force. They are also encouraged to speak up immediately if a training partner (male or female) is using more force than they find acceptable.

Secondly, with the other members of the class, we emphasise one of the key principles of Hoshiki Kiritsu: control.

By this we mean self-control in every

qualified instructors we produce, who can therefore teach more self-defence courses.

It is one thing for a fit, physically capable male to stand up and show self-defence techniques, but when teaching a women’s class, the women are far more inspired by a woman teaching and executing the techniques on a male partner.

Marie Charnley during her 4th Dan grading

INPUT & OWNERSHIP

facet of our technique: power, speed and accuracy. Members are instructed to take the size, strength and experience of their partner into account. We find that the first few months of training are critical in helping female students overcome their fear of physical force. As they progress, they gradually become accustomed to delivering and receiving forceful techniques and learn how to do so without undue discomfort or injury.

OPENING DOORS FOR WOMEN

By far the best way to attract long-term female martial artists is focusing on the participants who have recently completed our women’s self-defence course. We have found that once the women have

completed eight weeks of self-defence, they understand how simple yet effective the techniques are. More often than not they also display a desire to learn more, not just in the way of physical techniques but also the deeper, more philosophical and spiritual side of martial arts. This deep thinking and appreciation of active meditation (kata) and visualisation is something that I have found many of our female students really take to; so when the self-defence course is finished, the only way to extend and deepen their experience of martial arts is to commence formal training in the dojo. This then builds naturally — the more self-defence courses we run, the more women join HKMA. The more women who join HKMA, the more

Another motivating factor that has provided our female students and instructors with much inspiration hangs on the entry wall to the dojo — our lineage chart. This three-by-two-metre chart traces Hoshiki Kiritsu’s lineage back some 260 years to White Crane kung fu, which was developed by a woman — Qiniang Fang — in 1750 in Fujian, Southern China.

This serves as a constant reminder as to how imperative it is to regularly consult our female instructors and students to help shape the destiny of HKMA in every possible way. Some of our female instructors will devise and teach particular techniques for self-defence that do not require strength but still have the same effect as other techniques used by male students that do require strength. These techniques are useful to all students, as there will always be someone who is stronger. With Sensei Maree constantly providing leadership and vision, the ladies within HKMA are inspired with confidence and the expectation that their contributions will be taken into account and valued.

Over the past 20-plus years, the contributions of females to all facets of HKMA has been invaluable. From forming the junior and senior philosophy, grading requirements and curriculum to developing Level 1 and 2 self-defence courses and handbooks, every element of HKMA has had a balance of input from both females and males. As a result of this we have always managed to maintain a 60 per cent female participation rate and these students and instructors know that they are very much an integral part of the club’s future. Of the 55 Black-belts that have graduated through HKMA, 32 of them have been female; this is something I am immensely proud of, as it has reversed the trend of my first 15 years of martial arts training. www.martialartsbusiness.com.au • 33

DOWN TO BUSINESS

ON THE BRAND-WAGON BRAND AWARENESS IS PIVOTAL TO YOUR DOJO OR MARTIAL ARTS STYLE BEING CONSIDERED BY POTENTIAL STUDENTS.

BY WILLIAM LYE

B

ig businesses recognise the power of brands. They are often a company’s most valuable asset. So I ask martial arts teachers, how have you developed, strengthened, defended and managed your ‘brand’ of martial art?

Some may recoil from the use of the term ‘brand’ in association with their martial art, as it may seem to diminish its value beyond being simply another commercial service, and pay insufficient regard to its greater social contribution and deep history. However, the notion that there’s no such thing as having a brand of martial art is misconceived, because many people equate brands to an image they can relate to, as much as to any product or service. In fact, often it is the buyers’ or clients’ identification with the attitude or feeling the brand and its slogans project that makes them want to buy the product or engage the service, rather than the product or service itself.

And even non-profit organisations and grassroots sporting organisations — for example, Oxfam and Auskick — need to develop strong brands. Effective branding is important, no matter the cause, especially in an industry where there is a lot of competition and potential confusion over which company or organisation is which, and what type of product or service each one offers.

So, how do you develop your ‘brand’ of martial arts? In his book Managing Brand Equity: Capitalizing on the Value

16 • www.martialartsbusiness.com.au

Creating an instantly recognisable logo like those below — and protecting it under law — is key for strong brand awareness and recall.

of a Brand Name, D.A. Aaker suggested a model of brand equity that includes developing brand awareness and brand image. The latter is the anchor to which potential martial arts students would like to associate themselves. It’s the familiarity or liking of your brand or martial arts style, and signifies substance and a commitment to support it.

CREATING YOUR BRAND IMAGE

In developing brand image, instructors ought to consider not only creating attributes, benefits and philosophies that would be embraced, but to strengthen the brand image by having appropriate legal protection in place. This is to ensure that the uniqueness of your brand association is protected when competing with others in the martial arts marketplace. Measures like trademark protection and copyright notices on all your written material (including online) would promote favourable associations with your brand of martial arts.

Brand awareness is the ability to recall and recognise your offering. A good name is priceless and in the martial arts industry, reputation is vital. Given the ease with which one could just set up a dojo and begin teaching, the power of brand reputation is critical in distinguishing the great from the good — and from the bad. One only needs to think about Bruce Lee, and his art of Jeet Kune Do springs to mind. Arguably, the name Bruce Lee is also a brand — a great brand, as it has very strong brand imagery and awareness, being synonymous with kung fu and martial arts generally. Likewise, the name Gracie is generic of Brazilian jiu-jitsu; Mas Oyama of Kyokushin karate; Muhammad Ali of boxing; and so on.

BUILDING BRAND AWARENESS

Brand awareness is a very valuable asset, and developing it, along with a sound brand image, is the foundation for cultivating strong brand loyalty. When you’ve spent time and resources setting up the legal structure to protect your intellectual property, you want to keep the loyal following of your students, otherwise your brand becomes worthless. Brand loyalty also provides you with time to respond to competition.

Martial arts is no longer just about taking a journey of enlightenment by way

of difficult self-protection training under your chosen master; it’s also a big business, ranging from providing school students with basic self-defence knowledge and confidence to producing elite combat sportspeople, and even delivering closecombat training for police, military and security teams. With the proliferation of reality-based self-defence and the like, the aperture of traditional martial arts is getting smaller; however, these newer forms of selfdefence lack the kind of brand image and brand awareness that traditional martial arts styles have developed.

So, think about the name, the symbol/ logo and the slogan of your martial art ‘brand’. Names are important, and you begin by protecting them either by trademark protection, business name and/ or company name registration, and by using them consistently in the marketplace. If you do nothing, your competitors might prevent you from doing something in the future if they use the brand you created but never legally protected.

FOSTERING BRAND LOYALTY

Consistently maintaining a strong brand loyalty isn’t easy, but if you treat your students correctly, stay abreast of their needs, constantly measure and manage their level of satisfaction with their learning and progress, and provide additional training and resources for growth, they will not only stay with you in the majority but will help build your brand through representation and word of mouth.

Finally, it would be remiss of me not to state that having a strong martial arts brand doesn’t necessarily mean you deliver the best martial arts. Reputation really comes down to the customers’ perception of the overall quality or superiority of your martial arts instruction. If, however, you achieve for the students what they perceive to be the intended objective of the training, then you have gone a long way to building brand image and awareness among your students.

William Lye has been a practising barrister at law for 28 years and has studied several martial arts.

He can be contacted at wemlye@gmail.com

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TRACK YOUR METRICS FOR MAJOR RETURNS ALL SYSTEMS GO | DAVE CHAMBERLAIN

One of the cornerstones of Kovar’s academies since our founding 38 years ago is analysing the metrics of our business, and it is largely what has propelled us to averaging 350 students and $50K in revenue in each of our eight locations.

T

he stats we analyse in 2016 are largely different to what we looked at in 1978 because as the industry changed, what we measured to understand our position and progress also changed.

However, we do not track stats just to look at numbers. If the results we track didn’t provide us with the ability to learn and improve, we would stop tracking them.

We still measure the big four: revenue, profit, number of students training and personnel costs, or

36 • www.martialartsbusiness.com.au | DOWN TO BUSINESS

wage line. However, we also look below the surface, so to speak, to find hidden gems of data that can help us in understanding how we can improve.

WE ALSO MEASURE:

Retail revenue – We want to achieve a goal of five per cent of revenues, but we also want to have on hand what students want and need to be able to train safely.

Other revenues – Birthday parties, karate camps,

The more you know about the training, buying and attendance habits of your students, the better you can direct your business

weapons seminars, etc. We want to ensure our schools are allowing students to have outlets for social engagement and opportunities to learn more about certain martial arts techniques and weapons.

The wage line as a percentage of revenue – Our goal is 27 per cent.

Facility costs as a percentage of revenue – Our goal is 16 per cent.

Conversions – A rolling three-month average from inquiry to enrollment (60 per cent is our goal).

Net new members – New students minus quits equals ‘net new’ — as many as possible is our goal.

Quit rate – Also a three-month rolling average — less than three per cent is our goal.

These seven categories are tracked for all of our eight Kovar-owned schools and posted in our monthly leaderboard, which rewards points depending on each school’s place against the other seven schools in each category. The top school in a category receives one point; second place receives two points and so on through to eighth place. The school with the lowest point total is declared the winner of the leaderboard for that month (see our May leaderboard results above).

In addition, we have also begun tracking average revenue per student, which is calculated by dividing total revenue by student count. Tracking this number helps ensure nothing is falling through the cracks in revenue collection. For example, if your tuition is $159 per month, but your average revenue per student is $120, you need to inspect to find out why there is a

DOWN TO BUSINESS | www.martialartsbusiness.com.au • 37

Average revenue per student Academy

J

F

M

YTD

Q1-15

YoY

Active Enrolment

349

351

356

356

334

22

Avg Rev/Student

$133

$137

$130

$135

$134

$1

Avg Cost/Student

$95

$94

$96

$96

$100

$(4)

Net Profit/Student

$38

$43

$34

$39

$34

$5

Quits By Belt Rank LS

Jr

Teen

Adults

Tot

White

1

0

0

2

3

Gold

1

0

0

2

3

Orange

1

2

0

0

3

Green

0

1

0

0

1

Purple

0

0

0

0

0

Blue

0

0

0

0

0

Red

0

1

0

0

1

A-Red

0

0

0

0

0

Brown

0

0

0

1

1

I-Brown

0

0

0

0

0

A-Brown

0

1

0

0

1

Jr. Black

0

2

0

0

2

1st Black

0

0

0

1

1

2nd Black

0

0

0

1

1

3rd Black

0

0

0

0

0

Other Programs

0

0

0

3

3

Quits total

3

7

0

10

20

W-G-O

3

2

0

4

9

% of Total

100%

29%

0

40%

45%

Black

0

2

000

2

4

% of Total

0%

29%

0

20%

20%

$39 difference between your tuition amount and your average revenue per student collections.

Next, we track the cost per student, which is calculated by dividing your direct costs and operating costs by your number of students.

Finally, we track the net profit per student, which is calculated by subtracting the cost per student from the average revenue per student (see the chart above).

We track these three metrics because it brings these dollar amounts to lower values that we can more easily wrap our heads around. However, these numbers — and really all stats — are only valuable if you compare them to past results for context.

We learned several years ago to look at quits by belt rank. We had an academy with the largest

38 • www.martialartsbusiness.com.au | DOWN TO BUSINESS

WE ALSO LOOK BELOW THE SURFACE, SO TO SPEAK, TO FIND HIDDEN GEMS OF DATA THAT CAN HELP US IN UNDERSTANDING HOW WE CAN IMPROVE. Lil’ Samurai program in our eight schools that suddenly started to lose Lil’ Samurais from their program (having noticed the drop in the Quits By Belt Rank report — see an example at left). When we approached the school with what we found, they admitted they had swapped instructors and now had someone teaching the Lil’ Samurai program who clearly is better with adults than with children. Tracking quits by belt rank is an excellent method for seeing trends occurring in your school.

Again, tracking our statistics and comparing them to our past results has been a cornerstone of our success. If you aren’t tracking metrics, or not tracking them as diligently as you should, think about implementing stats tracking in your school or schools.

If this is new to you, start small and make sure to only track the stats that provide you with the information you can use to improve.

Until next time, all the best in teaching martial arts in changing the world for the better.

There are apps available that let you view student stats easily and even track class activities and attendance in real time

Dave Chamberlain joined Kovars in 2006 and now serves as the CEO, working side-by-side with Kyoshi Dave Kovar to make Kovars and their clients successful. Mr Chamberlain is a seasoned senior executive with experience in high-profile corporate environments and fast-growing start-ups. Prior to joining Kovars Inc., he held executive management positions at IBM and Novell. He has earned his 2nd Degree Black Belt and is currently training for his 3rd Degree.

GIVE ‘EM A NUDGE THE WAY OF SUCCESS | DAVE KOVAR

When it comes to attracting new students to your martial arts school, a little nudge may be all they need.

I

40 • www.martialartsbusiness.com.au | DOWN TO BUSINESS

Sometimes a little extra encouragement is all that’s needed to get a valuable member on the mat

He then made this announcement: “If there are any other mums who would also like to take us up on this offer, this is a great chance to get started.”

Within minutes, four other women came forward to take him up on the offer. Instead of just one, he now had five new students signed up to start trial programs.

To get those four other women to join in, all it took was that one extra little nudge — the inspiration of seeing someone else step up, and that extra bit of encouragement to follow suit.

This doesn’t work every time (nothing does!), but it certainly worked well in this case. So, of course, we recommend that you do this as outlined here. But what we really want you to think about is all the other people who might be very close to starting your program and all the different kinds of little nudges that might just get them to begin. Obviously, you don’t want people to think of you as a pest, but more often than you think, you’re just one little nudge away from adding another student.

THINKSTOCK

normally don’t focus my columns on how to generate new members, but this month I am going to. If you’re looking for motivation on how to get new students at your martial arts school, I’d like to share an important piece of information with you.

Right now, there are a number of people who are ready to start training at your school, but they just need a little nudge. More specifically, they need the right kind of nudge at the right time. But it’s hard to know who’s close to being ready, what kind of nudge it will take to get them to start, and when the best time to nudge them happens to be. Still, the right nudge at the right time can produce great results — keep in mind that the most important thing about generating new members is having the right mindset.

With every method of attracting students that you use, whether it is birthday parties, belt promotions, open-house days, demos, booths, school talks or whatever, you should keep in mind the fact that what you do has MASSIVE value for your students. You are not selling some worthless trinket or used car. Your program is — or should be — changing lives. You should never forget the positive impact that you are having on your students and your community. When you make a conscious effort to remember this, you will be much more congruent in your delivery.

Now, back to the little nudge. Here’s an example of what happened when one of our instructors used that little nudge at a belt promotion at one of our schools: With Mother’s Day, we always offer some kind of ‘Mums Train Free’ promotion. We usually go with ‘Mums Train Free in May’ or ‘Any Mum Who Starts in May Gets 4 Weeks and a Uniform Free’. The reality is that in our organisation, any family member can have a free month-long trial any time they would like, but when we package it right, we get a better response.

At our belt promotion, the head instructor at one of our locations announced this offer and told the audience that if any mum wanted to get started, to please see him to get the free uniform and set up an appointment for her first class. One mum approached him to take him up on the offer. Normally this instructor would have gotten the mum registered, stopped there and considered it a small victory.

Instead, he announced to the audience that this mum had decided to start her training and he presented her with her uniform. There was a spontaneous round of applause from those in attendance.

A lifelong martial artist with Black-belts in 10 styles, Kyoshi Dave Kovar is recognised worldwide as an innovator of best practices for martial arts school operation. He oversees eight Kovar’s Satori Academies, is the founder of ProMAC (Professional Martial Arts College) and is the lead instructor for Century’s Martial Arts Industry Association (USA). Kovar has also published over 100 online business and teaching videos for the Educational Funding Company (EFC). He can be contacted via www.kovarsystems.com

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BUYER VS SELLER MARTIAL LAW | SCOTT MCKENZIE

Buying or selling a martial arts business is an exciting process; however, even the most savvy operators can fall into some dangerous legal traps if due care is not taken. Long story short, all of your hard work in negotiating a good sale price can be completely undone if you enter into a sub-optimal contract of sale.

I

n a nutshell, buyers should be primarily concerned with negotiating strong rights to make claims — i.e. the semekata (attacking methods) — while sellers should aim to have contractual protections to ensure that claims are prevented as much as possible — i.e. the ukekata (blocking methods).

BE ON GUARD Buyers and sellers have diverging interests when it comes to a contract of sale. As such, it is important that you are on guard and do not accidently make concessions that will leave you in a precarious legal situation.

For a buyer, it is critical that you know exactly

42 • www.martialartsbusiness.com.au | DOWN TO BUSINESS

There is a natural tension between buyer and seller, and both should keep their guard up to avoid any pain

what you are buying and that you ensure the seller remains responsible for any ‘skeletons in the closet’.

For example, if the financial records for the business shown to you before signing a contract of sale were prepared using very ‘creative’ accounting practices, then you should have specific contractual protection to recover any losses suffered.

For a seller, it is imperative to optimise the value of your business prior to sale by understanding the key items that potential buyers will be looking for.

Preparation for sale is vital, and it should involve more than just a new coat of paint. Also, the seller should aim to negotiate robust limitations of liability, which mean that the buyer’s right to make a claim is as narrow as possible.

KNOW WHICH PUNCHES TO LAND There are often a number of contentious ‘big ticket items’ when negotiations take place, some of which include: 1. Financials – The seller is usually expected to provide some degree of comfort to the buyer in relation to the accuracy of the financials of the business. How robust these protections are, and how the risk should be apportioned, are matters that are commonly discussed during contract negotiations.

2. Existing contracts – Whether the terms of existing member contracts are desirable is something that the buyer should interrogate. For example, you must be careful to not inherit liability for membership contracts that are non-compliant with legislation. Also, disputes often arise in relation to who gets the revenue from memberships that have been paid in advance.

3. Instructor contracts – Given that instructors often hold personal relationships with the members, it is important to ensure that appropriate and enforceable employer protections are included in their employment contracts (e.g. cascading restraint clauses and protections from stealing clients). Also, whether existing instructors’ employment contracts will be transferred across to the buyer should be carefully set out in the contract of sale.

4. Competition – Given the rapid growth of the martial arts movement in recent times, it is important to understand whether there are any competitors in the surrounding region, and if there are any newly established martial arts centres due to open after the sale is complete. Buyers will often seek to get some degree of comfort under the contract of sale that the seller is not aware of any new competitor that is set to enter the market.

5. Lease/property due diligence – Particularly for the buyer, it is important to understand the implications of the terms of any new lease that is proposed by a landlord (e.g. make-good obligations, increases in rent, restrictions to operating hours). If an assignment of an existing lease is proposed, both parties will need to ensure that the process is carefully managed so that there is no accidental breach of the terms of the lease.

6. Restraint – There is a natural tension between the buyer and seller in relation to any restraint of trade that the seller should be subject to after the business is sold. The buyer will of course want to make sure that the seller is not able to set up a competing martial arts business across the road, poach staff and try to steal members. Equally, the seller will want to try and escape from any post-sale restrictions as much as possible.

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Scott McKenzie is a corporate lawyer and director at Velocity Legal with a particular interest in martial arts businesses and the fitness industry. He has extensive experience providing businesses with strategic legal advice and has a deep understanding of commercial risks and solutions. He can be emailed at scott@velocitylegal.com.au

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ON THE MAT

TESTING TIMES CHOOSING THE RIGHT GRADING METHOD

No matter the cost or time, or what different direction each martial arts test takes, there’s one thing all tests have in common — the chance for the students to showcase what they know...but that’s the easy part.

THINSTOCK

BY ANDREA F. HARKINS

44 • www.martialartsbusiness.com.au

E

ach martial arts school is different. Some use testing as a profit maker while others focus on simple fees. Some tests last for hours; others are quick and to the point. Some are really just demonstrations, because students don’t even get to participate in the ‘test’ if they have not already pre-qualified; and others are pass-or-fail.

Deciding on testing protocols can be tough — from setting up for the test to gathering certificates and belts; from taking photographs to posting on social media sites; and from dealing with students who question why they are not testing, to collecting fees.

We all wonder, don’t we, what the other guy does? I spoke to martial artists, asked questions on social media and did some internet searching to explore some of the variations in the industry. One thing is certain — school owners and instructors strive to infuse a novice with the values, virtues and attributes of their system and style.

To identify a suitable test for your school, first decide on your own definition of ‘test’. Here’s a partial list of what a test means to instructors and students as referenced by various karate groups on social media. A test is: • graded • a privilege earned • an opportunity to demonstrate capabilities, improved knowledge and techniques • a measured point in time, development and progress • a reward for effort • an incentive to learn • a measure of ability • a performance; an understanding of the art • a personal achievement • an insight into the instructor’s and school’s philosophy.

Then, to define your own testing style, check out these exam options below and tick off your favourites.

THE INVITATION

The whole exam momentum starts when the student is invited to test. So, what is the best way to tell your students their

test is approaching? Is it a handwritten note, a flier, an announcement or simply the words ‘you are ready’? Is it a formal invitation, casual or completely unexpected? Each instructor has probably used at least one of these options or perhaps several.

A verbal invitation may be shared after class or in front of the whole student group. The basic information that needs to be in any test invitation is date, time, place, cost, and whether friends and family can be invited.

The important thing is not the invitation, but the student’s readiness for testing.

NOT TALL ENOUGH TO RIDE

If you are not tall enough, you don’t get to ride the rollercoaster at the theme park.

The same is true for testing. If a student is not ready, then they should not test.

Of course, when a student questions why they are not testing, it can be difficult to explain. One way to handle this is to have written criteria about what is expected to advance to the next grade. John Newport of Lake Charles Martial Arts uses a set of written criteria for his Black-belt test that covers everything that he taught, so each student knows exactly what is expected at the test. If the student has not learned all that is identified in the written criteria, he is not ready.

Another solution is to explain that the decision to test is not a personal one. It is based on the skills and knowledge that the student is able to demonstrate and as soon as he is ready, he will be invited to test.

SHAKING THINGS UP

You’ve given the same test with slight variation for years. There is no mystery about what is expected, but is there something more you should consider?

Let’s roll out some of the other options in the industry that can elevate your existing testing style. From bringing the mind and body to new extremes to individualised testing, here are a few ways to expand your existing exam curriculum.

Martial arts smarts: Written and/ or verbal questions or other educational goals may be required before testing is allowed. An essay on the art’s country of origin or the meaning behind the style is

a way to encourage introspection by the student before moving up in rank. For children, good grades in school could be required in advance of the test.

Personality fit: Are you testing your student, or just his knowledge and ability to ‘perform’ skills? Consider incorporating how a student’s personality fits into his test. For example, the shy student could be unexpectedly asked to step up and talk in front of an audience about the reason he wants to test; the woman who is reluctant to break a board could be asked to conquer her fear; the student who shies away from sparring must face an opponent. This exploration adds a meaningful and personal dimension to a test.

One of our teenaged students was called up to break a board. Having done it before and knowing what to expect, he had confidence as he readied himself.

When we pulled out a blindfold, his whole perspective changed. He had to rely on more than his confidence or ‘usual’ way of breaking a board in order to succeed, and he did.

ONE OF OUR TEENAGED STUDENTS WAS CALLED UP TO BREAK A BOARD. WHEN WE PULLED OUT A BLINDFOLD, HIS WHOLE PERSPECTIVE CHANGED. Passport: John Wilkerson of Gold Tree Martial Arts is planning to introduce a new concept to his testing. He started to feel that testing placed too much importance on a group-testing mentality or an easy way to ‘grade up’ with little chance of failure. He is interested in issuing students a passport booklet/check sheet to keep track of training; at any time, the student may petition to test one or two requirement sections for that belt rank. Once all parts of the check sheet are signed off, the student can be elevated in rank.

Endurance: Next up, the tricky and controversial barrel roll known as www.martialartsbusiness.com.au • 45

ON THE MAT endurance testing. A candidate testing for a 4th Degree has to run 6.5 kilometres.

Another student needs to complete a 1.5 km run in eight minutes or less. An excruciating set of sit-ups, squats and push-ups coupled with demanding and ongoing sparring, traditional karate skills and other calisthenics follows.

Some label endurance training and testing as brutal and punishing, and believe that martial arts testing should never require more than examination of the martial arts skills themselves.

One way to ease the controversy is to compare this martial artist to a runner who decides to run a marathon instead of a 5k. He chooses a more demanding competition based on his understanding of the task, his personality, his goal and his training methodology.

In the end, each style embraces different results. Whatever criteria make up your program, be upfront and explicit about your requirements, make sure students understand what is expected, and lead them to success.

Safety and equipment requirements are key considerations for tests that require board breaks

IF A STUDENT IS NOT READY, THEN THEY SHOULD NOT TEST. TEST LENGTH

Testing can last anywhere from 30 minutes to several days, depending on the type of test.

A ‘pass/fail’ test often includes a series of traditional techniques such as kicks, punching, blocking, and katas, board breaks and sparring. It may also include endurance drills and physical fitness.

Some instructors equate it to earning a bachelor’s degree — it should not be easy and should embrace teachings and knowledge from the past as they lead into the present. This is the longest test structure because endurance drills and physical fitness skills can extend longer than just one day. Verbal examinations may also be included.

A performance or demonstration test is typically shorter because it is a sampling of skills and techniques. The premise is that students are testing each and every time they attend class. In this regard, 46 • www.martialartsbusiness.com.au

If body conditioning is key to the system, it should be tested (this Australian WingTsun instructor class shows one method)

testing is a slow, incremental journey.

Since the graduation or promotion is a celebratory event, it is normally the shortest of all testing, typically ranging from 30 minutes to three hours.

Whether a pass/fail test or a demonstration, for either scenario the Black-belt tests are typically longer than the lower-belt tests. Here are some examples of various length tests and what some students have done: 30-to-45 minutes: Single student testing – demonstration of 20 katas, two board breaks and a challenge to punch the flame out of a candle; several children testing – random students are asked to display various skills. They still must

study and practise everything for that belt level because they do not know what they will need to actually demonstrate.

3.5 hours: Katas, self-defence techniques, board breaks, weapons, sparring, a speech by the student about what martial arts means to him and a verbal examination.

Several hours to 1 day: Pass/fail test that entails testing of all skills, sparring, board breaks and other traditional drills.

Endurance and/or physical fitness may be tested.

1 day to several days: Pass/fail tests where every aspect of learning must be examined, often combined with running drills, sparring and extreme physical

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ON THE MAT fitness requirements.

The length of a test can be affected by the number of students testing at one time and whether an instructor or panel of instructors tests the student. It may be the only time the out-of-town examiner can see the student for a while.

It’s up to you. Pass/fail or demonstration, 30 minutes or several days — what do you need to accomplish testing your students in their skills for promotion to the next belt level?

Students often ask, ‘Why can’t I test more frequently?’ or ‘Why can’t I test this month with everyone else?’

Instructors have the task of balancing these many factors to determine when to test students: Student readiness: If several students are ready to meet the requirements of a new belt level, it can be scheduled and announced. Regular attendance, timeliness and a minimum number of classes is normally needed in between tests, so even if the student captures the knowledge quickly, there is time to practise and become proficient.

School size: Smaller schools sometimes have flexibility. My program is kids-only, so I’m able to announce that a test has been scheduled just a few weeks before it happens. Larger, more mature schools with varied programs and age groups hold tests every two or three months.

Demonstration/promotion: There can be a set schedule, such as once per month or bimonthly, and as students are ready, they are signed up and expected to participate in the demonstration.

Only annually: For Black-belts a school may only test annually. This builds anticipation and allows the students to specifically focus on their upcoming test.

Limited frequency: Associations that require a panel of registered examiners or other association instructors who need to travel from other parts of the country may limit the frequency that testing can be made available.

BELTS AND CERTIFICATES

For styles that offer belt systems, solidcoloured belts are normally awarded 48 • www.martialartsbusiness.com.au

THINSTOCK

TESTING FREQUENCY

Time limitations on children’s gradings might require careful prioritisation of what to include

until Black-belt. There are some that use interim belts with stripes between the full colours to let the student know he is halfway there. For kids’ classes, children may be given belts with a stripe through the middle to signify a child-specific rank (e.g. a junior Black-belt).

Whether you award certificates to Black-belt candidates or lower-belts, too, belts and certificates can be ordered through various retailers. Certificates can be printed on a computer and the student name generated electronically, or handwritten on pre-printed certificates.

For Black-belt testing, a custom certificate and embroidered Black-belts are common, and depending on the style of art, simple or elaborate.

For those who have exceptional demonstration of skills, a trophy can be awarded, such as ‘Best Exam Performance’, for example. Such things are a way to award, motivate and inspire students.

COSTS AND PRICING

It may seem surprising, but many schools do not charge fees for testing — it is included in the fee commitment for taking the classes. In other schools, the

student is tested free but purchases his own belt.

There are valid reasons for charging fees for tests, though. An association may determine the price point for the exam, especially if others have to travel in for the test. Generally, testing fees can cover registration fees with an association, certificates and belts, space rental, boards, travel and other miscellaneous overheads.

One Black-belt candidate’s test cost $400 because several highly ranked Black-belts came from around the country to monitor and grade the test.

Another test cost $100, which included the Black-belt rank with the association, and the special belt.

For kids in our program, the test fee of $10 includes a belt, certificate and possibly a board to break. Charging a fee, even if nominal, gives a sense of ownership and responsibility to the test-taker. On the flip side, schools that test students consistently to generate a ‘profit’ or that promise a Black-belt within a certain time frame can undermine the validity of testing in the martial arts industry. Fees should be relative to the test but not necessarily limited to covering overhead expenses either.

TRACK YOUR PATH

For the student, testing shows progress. For the instructor, it is a measure of the knowledge and skill you have imparted to your students. There is no right or wrong way to test your students; in fact, effective testing takes many forms. It’s up to you to decide if you need to add something to your existing testing approach or like it just the way it is. Define your purpose, then narrow your focus or expand your approach as necessary. The choice is yours.

THINSTOCK

THE SET-UP

A test can be as simple or elaborate as you choose, with one or several instructors there to assist. Either way, setting up in advance will take some of the stress away by limiting what you need to do on exam day. Here are some items to consider in your planning: • A sign or placard directing family and friends to the testing location • A table for instructors/ examiners • A table for students to register/pay for the test • Payment options: cheques, cash, credit card; a box to collect money or a smartphone or other device to accept credit card charges • A program handout with information about the test and the candidates • A table for belts, certificates and trophies • A list of students testing/ roster

• Notes on information you will share with the audience • Chairs/seating for audience members • Mats for sparring, throws or falls • Punching or kicking bags • Boards or other items for breaks • A camera or photographer (and a sign outlining any rules on taking photos) • Sparring gear • First aid kit • Bottles of water • Promotional items • Hand sanitiser and sanitised wipes for equipment

Andrea F. Harkins is a 2nd Degree Black-belt in Tang Soo Do and has been practising and teaching martial arts for 24 years. She and her husband, David, currently teach their Family Martial Arts program at a YMCA in Parrish, Florida. You can reach her at: daharkins1@ hotmail.com or at www.twitter.com/aharkins1.

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ON THE MAT

UPSKILL:

EXTREME MARTIAL ARTS

Wayne Abbott is a pioneer of martial arts performance programs within Australia. As the creator of the ‘One MA’ program and father of Australia’s Got Talent performer Jared Abbott, he gives the low-down on what this acrobatic expression of martial arts skills can bring to your club.

INTERVIEW BY BEN STONE

50 • www.martialartsbusiness.com.au

W

ayne, since you started teaching a program of extreme martial arts skills in your school, what benefits have you seen, in terms of what it brings to the students in their development?

It has been an interesting journey that I started with my son, Jared, over 10 years ago. I first saw the concept in some martial arts marketing material I was subscribing to and I thought, ‘This might just catch on.’

So I began researching and found lots of material from Mr Mike Chataurantabut [aka Mike Chat], who is the founder of XMA World Headquarters in Los Angeles, a very successful competitor and instructor in extreme martial arts who has influenced my program and my son’s performance style greatly. Eventually we made contact and have since been to his school, and he has also been to my school numerous times to deliver instructor training.

Extreme martial arts has helped Jared tremendously and I see similar benefits for many other students in my school, along with tournament competitors that I have seen improve over the years. It kept Jared’s enthusiasm levels up and taught him to set goals. He has learnt to persevere through the challenges of learning complex combinations and tricks, and increased his speed, endurance, reflexes and coordination. It has shown him how to embrace the struggle that is dropping [a weapon] time and time again, and failing — only to pick up, repeat and try again until he succeeded.

However, Jared has never lost sight of his traditional martial arts background and is an accomplished competitor in traditional forms and weapons also.

How does your performance stream, called ‘One MA’, work in with the rest of your syllabus? Is it complementary to the style/s you do?

Our original program is taekwondo and all students take part in this program.

It is important for students to have a solid foundation and understanding of traditional martial arts technique, whatever style that might be. For example, the main difference in a side kick performed in combat as opposed to

performance is the follow-through, but the move still needs to be technically sound in its execution.

Extreme martial arts performances are a fusion of different styles of martial arts, blended with music, gymnastics, ‘tricking’ and choreography — the ‘art’ in the term martial arts. Overall it has complemented our school syllabus, giving us greater depth and options in our programs for students to choose from. This style of training can never replace traditional martial arts technique and I sometimes see some misunderstanding there. The program has allowed me to take traditional martial arts technique and old-school values and blend them with modern-day speed, power, athleticism and training techniques.

Times have changed and so have training methods. As martial arts instructors, we should always be honing our skills to become better coaches that bring out the best in our students and it has forced me to do just that. I look at each student differently, trying to understand their strengths and weaknesses.

On the open tournament circuits we are seeing various forms of karate, taekwondo, kenpo, kung fu, hapkido and others being adapted for extreme martial arts performance.

How about the business side of things — has One MA helped with attraction and retention of students?

The reality for now is that rarely does someone contact your school and ask whether you teach extreme martial arts — at least, not yet. But people have seen the concepts in social media and it is throughout modern pop culture and in movies, which generates the question: where do they learn those skills?

Most importantly we teach martial arts, anti-bullying and self-defence — especially vital if you are a school that specialises in children’s programs. From an attraction standpoint, though, when conducting martial arts performances and demonstrations, you are able to involve the audience, get them engaged and deliver a more entertaining experience with extreme martial arts. They will realise that what they see in the movies can be done in real life, no special effects www.martialartsbusiness.com.au • 51

ON THE MAT required. The audience will most definitely stop and look, which is your opportunity to then educate them about your basic traditional program and the steps to what is possible with dedicated training.

On the retention side, team performances help the students bond together, understand teamwork and challenge each other to excel. They often compete, which leads them to setting goals for new techniques and combinations to learn. They learn and share from their performances, and make adjustments to their training plans. I have seen many students who would otherwise plateau and perhaps drop out, instead lift their game and change up their work ethic.

Many students are starting at a much earlier age, as young as three or four, and this can be the tool for keeping them engaged in the martial arts. Young people are looking for something different, ways to express themselves — authenticity.

Their reality is social media, so they see extreme martial art almost every day. As an instructor I can choose to ignore it, or I can learn, adapt and implement. Done the right way, it can be a lot of fun.

Taekwondo has an obvious link to high-kicking, acrobatic demo performances, whereas those teaching a very pragmatic core system such as krav maga may not see this type of performance as being of value. What sort of systems do you think it is complementary to?

Even though I teach a traditional taekwondo program, I was always open to new ideas, especially since my school was specialising in children’s programs and I was seeing a shift in student numbers towards these age levels. There lies the challenge: how to keep younger students motivated to train for longer in an age of increased information and technology that is influencing them more and more each day.

Of course, in an extreme martial arts program we are looking at the ‘artistic’ side of martial art, where performance routines last from 45 seconds to a little over a minute. The truth about performing is that it’s not what you do, but how you do it. A stand-up martial art like taekwondo, karate, kung fu, etc.

52 • www.martialartsbusiness.com.au

Abbott with his son Jared, a top performer in NAS and ISKA

does serve as a useful base to start with.

From there you can build techniques and combinations of increasing difficulty and complexity to suit the students’ abilities.

Remember, this is about a fusion of styles where the only limit on creativity is the limit you set. So I am now seeing many competitors bringing in unique styles and moves into their forms; moves from krav maga, muay Thai, etc. — like knee strikes, elbows, superman punches and more. And the most advanced elite-level competitors are finding ways to blend this not just in open forms competition but also weapons competition. There really is no limit.

How does an instructor go about setting up an extreme martial arts program in their school?

One way is to hire an instructor with the

skills and bring them in to run regular classes, but this can cause business issues if you are not in control.

The second method, which is how I did it, is to design your own program to suit the culture of your school. Acquire the knowledge from various sources, develop leaders within your school who are keen to drive the program, and then perhaps bring in guest instructors or consultations to give you a kick-start. I get approached regularly at tournaments and this is where I am willing to assist school owners: in developing your customised school program and providing a couple of guest instructors to get you and your instructor team started.

Basically, we train your trainers so at a school level the program is yours and not someone else’s. You and your instructors get the credit, which is important.

The first step is to be open-minded to the concept. If your young students express a desire to learn, then perhaps it’s time to consider learning how to be an extreme martial arts coach. If you don’t, they may eventually get what they want elsewhere. I did it quite late in my martial arts career and so can any other instructor that has been in the industry for a long time.

Given performances are based on the core art, how vital is it to have specific coaching skills to this area?

Here is the risk: from time to time I have discussed programs with fellow instructors and been told, “I just give the students some space to practise and tell them to do whatever they want.” There is no guessing what result you will get and if your student becomes dissatisfied with their competition results due to lack of instruction, then they are at risk of migrating to a school that offers the instruction they desire to achieve a higher

competitive level. It is not a question of developing ‘tournament kids’ who just want to win, but people certainly desire to be able to improve consistently and achieve their best ability.

As martial artists, the answer is right in front of us. Our traditional programs like karate and taekwondo are successful because they have structure, and so your program for extreme martial arts must have structure for it to succeed. From there you acquire the knowledge, develop the skills with passion, and create a legacy within your school as students pass on their skills.

Is there much of an outlay and does the structure offer an opportunity for immediate return?

The initial outlay would include instructional videos from a variety of sources and training your instructors who are going to champion the program.

Typically, schools with an extreme martial arts program integrate the

TAP TO WATCH TO JARED ABBOTT’S DOUBLE SWORD FORM

additional classes into a ‘Black Belt Club’ type program or something similar.

Your program may include a different uniform and of course there are additional equipment sales. Training seminars with guest instructors who are successful competitors can also be fun, so in my experience, the return on investment was very quick.

From there it depends on what direction you want to take; if you have some students that want to pursue ‘tricking’ and gymnastics to improve their skills, you can either outsource to a nearby gymnastic school if you can come to an agreement, or you can bring the program inside with a guest acrobat instructor and some tumbling mats (in my case, we purchased a 6 m x 8 m air track).

Do you consider extreme MA performance skills an investment in the school’s marketing given that these are the types of activities that attract viewers at demonstrations, and have even made the likes of Australia’s Got Talent?

Someone once told me, “Everything has a place — and there is a place for everything.” So extreme martial arts is just one of the services we offer in our marketing mix. As we see fulltime schools continue to evolve, they will offer all varieties of martial arts training from stand-up to ground work, to fitness and now extreme martial arts performance training.

As you know, my son was ‘The Extreme Martial Artist’ on the 2016 Australia’s Got Talent show and there have been many awesome martial arts performers here in Australia and overseas before him. This does help with the marketing of the school but I think we need to look at the greater picture for our industry. In Australia our major sports are [rugby] league, netball, soccer, cricket.

These sports get all the exposure in mainstream media.

If extreme martial arts performers like Jared Abbott and those before and after him can raise the profile of martial arts by making it to television, then this should be celebrated, supported and encouraged by all martial artists.

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OH, BEHAVE! KIDS’ CORNER | MELODY SHUMAN

If you stick with the common, old-school teaching method, chances are you will limit your results with today’s youthful generation — as instructors, we must be careful how we approach building behaviours within children.

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well-known professor and author of behavioural science, Douglas McGregor, examined the methods for prompting proper behaviour, and concluded that there are two types of theories that people hold regarding the manner in which behaviour and responsibility is taught.

These two types are called Theory X and Theory Y. Each includes a very different assumption on the approach. By understanding both types of theories, one can become a better motivator and build good behaviour and better responsibilities within children.

THEORY X McGregor concluded in his studies that people who use authoritative methods for establishing discipline fall under the Theory X assumption. These people demonstrated many beliefs, including the belief that discipline should come from the top down, and that all people beneath must follow accordingly or be reprimanded for their actions, or lack thereof. McGregor believes that this theory is inadequate for full development of human behaviour, especially pertaining to child behaviour.

Theory X, related to children, is based on the following assumptions: • The average child does not like good behaviour and will avoid it at all costs.

• The average child wishes to avoid responsibilities.

• Because Theory X people believe that children have a natural dislike for good behaviour and responsibility, they must be coerced, controlled, directed, or threatened with

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Is tough love the only way to solve child discipline issues on the dojo floor?

punishment in order to establish discipline.

These assumptions are not specifically stated by all people that fall under the Theory X beliefs, but their actions seem to lean towards these thoughts.

Those people who have some type of Theory X belief usually are sterner with children and may have some characteristics similar to that of a drill sergeant. In most cases, this type of martial arts instructor will have very limited results when working with the average child in today’s generation.

THEORY Y McGregor also concluded that the other type of approach, Theory Y, is more consistent with building good behaviour and responsibilities within the average child. People that fall under this category are considered motivators, leaders and goal-oriented educators. The central principle of the Theory Y assumption is based on leading others to success through consistent direction and collaboration.

Theory Y followers can transform most behaviours into a positive one without the need for consistent threats and/or punishments.

Theory Y, related to children, is based on the following assumptions: • The average child likes the feeling of good discipline.

• The development of physical and mental growth is a natural process in children.

Negative approaches to discipline only make children dislike the concept of good behaviour; positive approaches reinforce the child’s motivation to have good behaviour.

• Children will become more responsible if they have a clear guideline to follow on a consistent basis.

These assumptions carry the momentum of children’s growth and development into a very positive direction. Theory Y encourages growth and development without the need for force.

In the average martial arts classroom, instructors that follow the Theory Y

REAL

“SPEAK OF BEING RESPONSIBLE AND HAVING GOOD BEHAVIOUR AS BEING VERY EASY, A LOT OF FUN, AND VERY COOL TO FOLLOW.” assumptions maintain much better discipline and can easily motivate children to have exceptional behaviour.

Here’s how you can increase your students’ behaviour and responsibilities at the dojo using the Theory Y approach: • Catch the students doing things right. Say his or her name and what they did to make you proud.

• Speak of being responsible and having good behaviour as being very easy, a lot of fun, and very cool to follow.

• Consistently provide proper guidance on how to have good behaviour and responsibility. If one falls out of line, provide them with positive feedback on how they can get back on track.

• Prompt good behaviour by pointing out other children who are demonstrating the proper behaviour.

• Reward good behaviour with tons of smiles, high-fives, and fun time during class.

SELF-PROTECTION SKILLS FOR WOMEN & KIDS Give yourself & your kids more than a fighting chance: get the expert knowledge needed to stay safe, for life Empower Your Kids to Be Safe…For Life 170 pages of invaluable, expert information for parents, teachers and martial arts instructors on children's safety and selfdefence methods. It covers: awareness principles; kidnapavoidance and escape tactics; unusual physical strategies that work against adults; bully-prevention; online safety; ways to teach kids these concepts to empower rather than frighten them; and much more.

TIPS & TAKEAWAYS Key tips to remember when building behaviour and responsibility are: • How a person attempts to motivate others depends on how a person views others.

• People that follow Theory X assumptions believe that children need to be controlled and reprimanded in order to establish good behaviour and responsibility.

• People that follow Theory Y assumptions believe that children will build good behaviour and responsibility through encouragement and proper guidance.

Establishing and maintaining good behaviour does not have to be a chore. Your perception of how children learn behaviour is very important. If you follow the Theory X assumptions, then you are limiting your success. If you follow the Theory Y assumptions, then you will increase your ability to motivate your students. By following the Theory Y suggestions provided in this report, you will notice your students’ behaviour constantly improving.

Melody Shuman holds a 6th Degree Black-belt in taekwondo and has over 20 years of experience researching childhood development as it relates to sports, coaching and parenting. Her innovative age-specific curriculums and drills, known as SKILLZ, are used in hundreds of martial arts schools around the world. She lives with her family in St. Petersburg, Florida, USA and can be emailed at melodyshuman@skillzconnect.com

Every Woman’s Guide to Being Safe… For Life A complete guide to personal protection for women. Covers psychology of attackers, survivor mentality, sexual harassment, men to watch out for, behavioural cues, verbal abuse, belief systems and much more.

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MASTER TEACHING A WILL & A WAY | JOHN B. WILL

Whether you’re a teacher of martial arts or on the lookout for one, knowing the elements of effective instruction can only make you better equipped to succeed.

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eaching. It’s such a simple, ordinary word, but to me, it’s imbued with meaning and importance. We are all teachers in some way, shape or form, at some time or another. We teach our friends, we teach our students, we teach our children — we teach ourselves. But what does it mean to be an effective teacher? What makes a teacher rise from competent to great, from great to extraordinary?

John Will getting his point across at one of his recent Brazilian jiu-jitsu seminars

Over my martial arts career, I’ve studied what it means to be a teacher. I have always been driven, to some extent, by outcomes. I want to get results; I want to see improvement, an evolution, a step forward. In applying effective teaching strategies and developing unique and better teaching methodologies, we can achieve better outcomes, and that has always been important to me.

PASSION INSPIRES ATTENTION Teaching begins with passion. If we are passionate about our subject matter, we can infect others with our enthusiasm and set them on the road to effective learning. This sounds easy, but I’ve seen many a teacher become bored with their chosen field of expertise, which all but guarantees that they begin teaching on autopilot mode and just ‘go through the motions’. Teachers who wind up here have forgotten the cardinal rule: firstly, know thyself. An effective teacher must first keep themselves motivated and enthusiastic about their own subject matter (i.e. their training); if the teacher is bored with what they are teaching, they cannot be effective. So, as teachers we need to continually invest in our own development and learning — we are students ourselves and we cannot afford to forget that. We need to stay curious, inventive and always aware of the fact that while we may know a good deal, there is always much more to know, both about our chosen disciplines and ourselves.

TRUST ENABLES LEADERSHIP A good teacher should, in my opinion, know how to engender trust. There is a very simple formula for this: Make small promises and keep them; such a simple thing, yet so powerful. If we tell a student that we will do something for them (lend them a book, send them a web link, etc.) then we need to follow up and actually do it, every time! If we make a promise and fail to keep it, we engender distrust, and that is the beginning of the end for anyone wanting to be an effective teacher.

A good teacher should be congruent, as much as possible, in all things. That is, if we are preaching health and fitness, we should be healthy and fit.

If we are talking about loyalty, then we ourselves

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should be loyal. If we are telling others to invest in themselves, then we too should be investing in ourselves. Being incongruent comes across as not genuine, which, again, destroys trust.

The upshot is that a good teacher, to the best of his or her ability, should lead by example. At times this isn’t easy, or always necessary in every sense — you can be a great swimming coach without needing to win any swimming events, for example — but if you can lead by example wherever possible, then you become all the more credible. If the advice we give as teachers is good advice, then we should start by taking that very same advice for ourselves.

In taking the advice we give to others, we better ourselves, and to some extent, show that the advice is effective and worth taking.

Why, for example, would I listen to a financial advisor that doesn’t take his or her own investment advice? No, I am much more likely to take advice, of any kind, from someone who has taken the same advice themself, and made it work in their own circumstance.

“A GOOD TEACHER SHOULD, IN MY OPINION, KNOW HOW TO ENGENDER TRUST. THERE IS A VERY SIMPLE FORMULA FOR THIS: MAKE SMALL PROMISES AND KEEP THEM; SUCH A SIMPLE THING, YET SO POWERFUL.” COMMUNICATION IS KEY A good teacher constantly experiments with alternative methods to get their ideas across to the students — furthermore, the teacher should constantly be looking to learn and improve, not only in the skills they teach to students, but in their method of teaching as well. People learn in different ways, and to teach effectively we try to deliver our message by various means to cater for a variety of learning styles. No two people learn exactly the same way.

A good teacher is always training to be a master of communication. This encompasses a whole range of sub-skills; from knowing how to engage the students from the very outset to establishing and maintaining a positive learning culture/ environment, to knowing how to have students take real ownership of the information we are trying to present.

A good teacher gets his or her students to think. This, at the end of the day, may be the most important thing an effective teacher can do. By teaching his or her students to think critically, a teacher is empowering the student and giving them far more than what they probably came looking for. Teaching people to think for themselves goes right to the heart of what it means to be a truly exceptional teacher.

John B Will is head of BJJ Australia and teaches Brazilian jiu-jitsu, shootfighting and self-defence solutions around the world. Check out his regular blog at www.bjj-australia.blogspot.com.au

BJJ AUSTRALASIA AUSTRALASIA’S ORIGINAL BRAZILIAN JIU JITSU ORGANISATION

With over 80 official branches and associated schools we have organically grown to become one of the largest single BJJ organizations in the world. We are unique in the BJJ community in that we place emphasis on technical practice, highly structured classes and in the way we put our focus on the students emotional and physical needs. Our mat culture is warm and welcoming.

VICTORIA: Altona: 9369 2662 Geelong: 03 5244 3084 Gladstone Park: 0420 826 145 Kensington: 0448 667 008 Knoxfield: 0412 148 509 Oakleigh: 03 9564 7900 Pakenham: 0400 788 921 Point Cook: 03 8368 2007 Preston: 0405 516 460 Richmond: 03 9429 5978 St Kilda: 0419 006 411 Sunbury: 0419 321 650 NEW SOUTH WALES: Ballina: 0410 463 009 Castle Hill: 0409 911 945 Coffs Harbour: 0402 572 316 Concord: 02 8765 8526 Goulburn: 0409 302 883 Kingsgrove: 0416 002 120 Hunter Valley: 02 4956 8876 Liverpool: 02 9824 1003 Nth Manly: 02 9939 3706 Penrith: 0418 290 819 Raymond Terrace: 0423 221 685 Singleton: 0414 750 349

WESTERN AUSTRALIA: Hedland: 0419 594 723 Midland: 0438 223 963 Mirrabooka: 08 9344 7221 Victoria Park: 0412 234 991 Wangara: 0419 197 083 QUEENSLAND: Burleigh heads: 0438 353 349 SOUTH AUSTRALIA: South Coast: 0424 310 396 NT: Darwin: 0432 874 821 TASMANIA: Launceston: 0428 865 664 ACT: Canberra: 0403 130 975 NEW ZEALAND: Christchurch: 02 7285 7215 Napier: 02 5285 7215 Wellington: 02 7442 6902

CONTACT US: john@bjj.com.au Ph: 03 5244 3084 For a complete list of associate schools both here and overseas, as well as other information, please visit our website:

www.bjj.com.au

SAFETY FIRST…AND LAST THE PHYSICAL | MATT BEECROFT

So, you have started group martial arts classes and want to keep your students safe — or have been running them for a while and want to reduce your rate of injuries.

Here, strength and conditioning expert, krav maga instructor and muay Thai khru Matt Beecroft offers 15 ways to help keep students injury free.

T

he reality is that if our students get injured, they don’t train. If they don’t train for a while or are inconsistent with it, they’ll be dissatisfied with their progress and may terminate their membership.

If our students don’t train, we also lose income, so it is a lose/lose situation for everyone. And with the world becoming more litigious, it’s more important now than ever that we have procedures and protocols in place to protect both the student and the business.

As the business owner, you have a duty of care.

With this in mind, here are 15 standard operating procedures (SOPs) to consider in order to keep your students safe, injury free and training consistently… and to cover your backside.

1. STUDENT SUITABILITY

Ensure that all sparring is closely monitored and that students are partnered up appropriately

Make sure the student is suited to your school. All things aren’t for all people. If a prospective signee is recovering from a double hip replacement, then possibly your taekwondo club isn’t the place for them.

If a pregnant woman with scant exercise experience is looking to become a member of your MMA school, maybe now is not the time for her to start realising her dream of becoming the next Ronda Rousey. Part of running a martial arts school is having the integrity to admit to someone that maybe your school isn’t their best choice.

2. SAFETY ASSESSMENT Completing a pre-exercise health and safety questionnaire and assessment (and training liability waiver) with your prospect is vital before you agree to train them. This form should cover everything from emergency contact details, long-term previous and current injuries, general health, medications they are currently taking (which may also need to be administered in a class, such as a puffer for asthma, an Epipen for anaphylaxis, etc.), communicable diseases they may have (e.g. hepatitis B or HIV), and even a clearance from their GP or physiotherapist to train.

There are many things to consider about someone’s training, health and medical history prior to them hitting your mats.

3. INJURY PLANS Following the health assessment, you need to consider how to deal with the info you now have. The biggest pre-indicator of injury is previous injury — even injuries from many years prior can resurface. A classic example is a student who continually sprains or strains their ankle and never rehabilitates it properly, or someone who complains about their wrist hurting every time they hit a bag, until they get it x-rayed and discover that the wrist fracture from falling off their bike as a kid has healed badly.

Looking at the legal side of such planning, a recent court case saw a student of a personal training institution insist that their injured knee was good to go for a leg workout. The lecturer allowed them to do the workout only for the student to considerably re-injure the knee, and so the lecturer was then subsequently

58 • www.martialartsbusiness.com.au | ON THE MAT

THINKSTOCK

sued. The judge came to the decision that the lecturer was at fault for letting the individual do the workout, as they had a duty of care. While you would think that the student knew the risk and insisted on completing the workout so the responsibility was theirs, the judge still held the lecturer responsible. That means sometimes you need to make the tough decision as a business owner and instructor to protect a student from their own stupidity, and yourself from a lawsuit.

4. PRE-CLASS CHECKS Ask if there are any injuries prior to class commencement — this is usually SOP for any group fitness instructor. Just because your student wasn’t injured Monday night at training, doesn’t mean they are good to go on a Thursday night. Sometimes, students don’t want to complain or be seen to be requesting special treatment, so they may just keep quiet about an injury unless you ask.

5. CULTURE AND ATTITUDE Safety in training comes down to the culture and attitude that is established by you, the owner and/or the instructor. You need to instil an attitude of concern for one another in your students — each needs to be mindful of the safety of their training partners. This builds mutual trust and respect so that when you want students to go hard in training, they can trust that the person they are sparring, rolling or training with is able to be controlled enough not to seriously hurt them, even though they could. I can usually determine the culture on the mat of most BJJ schools by the high number of serious joint injuries from submissions that could have been let go or not cranked on as hard or fast. For some, ego and winning can take priority over

Encourage students to get their injuries assessed by a qualified professional, and take heed of the assessor’s recommendations

their partners’ safety and longevity in training, and instructors need to nip this in the bud.

“YOU NEED TO INSTIL AN ATTITUDE OF CONCERN FOR ONE ANOTHER IN YOUR STUDENTS — EACH NEEDS TO BE MINDFUL OF THE SAFETY OF THEIR TRAINING PARTNERS.” 6. APPROPRIATE EQUIPMENT Wearing the appropriate training attire or uniform, footwear and protective equipment is mandatory. For example, a glove weighted/sized proportionate to the student’s weight should be non-negotiable if they wish to spar, along with groin, mouth and shin protection, irrespective of gender. This may also include headgear (although the use of headgear is still hotly debated).

It is also important that the kick-shields, focus mitts and other training gear are in good condition and disinfected regularly.

7. SAFE ENVIRONS It’s a no-brainer: ensure the training environment is safe to do what you need to do in it. Ensure there are no tripping hazards or generally sharp objects/ corners in the room, and if there are (and they cannot be removed), pad and/or sign them to protect people.

Collision hazards such as poles and columns — and

ON THE MAT | www.martialartsbusiness.com.au • 59

your students to contract a disease such as hepatitis B (which is more contagious than HIV) from a spillage. All students should have hep B shots (hep B can be passed on through sweat) and when it comes to cold and flu season you may even have to ‘quarantine’ sick students and send them home despite their good intentions of making the effort to train.

even in some places, walls — should be padded too.

Slipping hazards need to be addressed, like mats and uneven surfaces. If training is done barefoot, even an ill-fitting jigsaw mat edge can catch and break a toe.

8. SUITABLE PARTNERS Depending on the technique or drills to be covered, students need to be partnered up with others of appropriate size, weight and aggression/force levels.

Instilling a culture of self-control and care for each other will make this easier to manage and less of a concern.

12. SUPERVISION Ensuring there is adequate supervision according to class numbers is vital. Teacher–student ratios are often activity-specific and depend on the type of class that you run. For example, with children’s classes, there are specific requirements for teacher–student ratios (more instructors per student than in an adult class) that need to be adhered to. Do you think you can provide a good service, let alone keep everyone safe, when you are the only instructor for 30 students? Guidelines say that in adult classes the ratio should not exceed 1:30 but personally I don’t feel comfortable with this, nor do I feel I can provide a good service, so at my club the ratio is higher.

The second point to this is instructors need to teach within their scope of knowledge, experience and qualifications. An extreme example of this is asking an instructor to run a hard-contact sparring session for the first time if they have never shadowed another instructor conducting one, or are not being supervised by a senior instructor. They must have learned how to build students up to hard sparring and what to look out for during these sessions. There was a disaster in NSW where a student died in a school after a hard sparring session.

9. WARM UP, COOL DOWN All classes being with an appropriate warm-up that is specific to the activity to follow, looks to increase body temperature, improves joint health and tissue quality, improves range of movement and aerobic uptake, and prepares students both mentally and physically for the session to come. Both warm-ups and cool-downs are the most underrated and underdone things in many clubs because many instructors think that they are wasting time, when in fact, if structured correctly, they can most certainly build desirable skills and attributes within students.

“BOTH WARM-UPS AND COOL-DOWNS ARE THE MOST UNDERRATED AND UNDERDONE THINGS IN MANY CLUBS BECAUSE MANY INSTRUCTORS THINK THAT THEY ARE WASTING TIME.” 10. FIRST AID Do you or your instructors know what to do if someone has an asthma attack, an epileptic fit or goes into anaphylaxis? Do you know what to do if they are knocked unconscious? Sprain an ankle? Has a heart attack? I have had to resuscitate people in the gym, and they fortunately survived. Don’t think it won’t happen to you. Ensure that all instructors have Senior First Aid and CPR qualifications, and you have an adequate size first aid kit for the number of students you have.

Prepare for the worst and only the best can happen.

11. INFECTION PROTOCOLS You must have procedures in place to deal with spillage of blood and bodily fluids with infectious disease in mind. Ensure there are disposable gloves and anti-bacterial/disinfectant products available, and separate disposal units for the cleaning up of blood and other spillages. The last thing you want is one of

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13. HYGIENE Mat cleanliness and personal hygiene are particularly important for close-contact training such as grappling

Having high standards of personal hygiene is important, along with fingernails being trimmed and the removal of watches and jewellery (including piercings) so they don’t get caught on things.

Bringing changes of uniform and towels in hot weather is a must, just like any regular gym (no one wants to train with that guy who gives you a salty shower every time he moves). Pads, equipment and mats in particular need to be disinfected and cleaned regularly to avoid infections like herpes simplex, scabies, impetigo, folliculitis, ringworm and staphylococcus — a potentially very serious infection — being contracted and spread among members.

VIDEOS

SEMINARS

14. PROGRESSIONS AND PLANNING How things are taught can play a big part in safety. Krav maga, for example, has a very specific ‘ramp learning method’ that is followed to ensure a structured and effective learning experience for students, and which caters for the different learning styles of people (auditory, visual, kinaesthetic). This system of teaching starts with showing the problem, using analogies and metaphors to tie previous techniques or experiences to the current one, then several fast demonstrations, several slow ones breaking down the technique into key checkpoints, then dry drilling and questions before partnered or group work begins. Again, a recent court case determined an instructor was negligent for a student in their class who kicked and lost balance on the edge of some matting and injured their wrist.

The judge felt the instructor hadn’t shown due diligence teaching the technique effectively.

EVENTS

15. BACKGROUND CHECKS As a business owner, if you aren’t comfortable training someone for whatever reason, then don’t do it. Trust your gut instinct. Our initial forms (the exercise history and safety questionnaire, and training liability forms) ask other valuable information that keeps our students safe — for example, criminal records. If a prospect has a history of violent crime and assault, I would say they aren’t going to be a fit for most MA businesses. I once had someone enquire about classes who had recently been charged with having a taser and plastic ties in his boot, so I politely declined our services. On the other hand, I had a great long-term student who had, years earlier before contacting us, been involved in an incident and was charged with assault. He came to classes wanting to work through his issues and anger problems, so we helped him do that. Our lad who won an Australian muay Thai title had a history of being in and out of juvenile detention; if he hadn’t found muay Thai and the discipline and attributes that are learnt from the nature of hard training, he’d probably be in the big house now. Again, it comes back to protecting your club culture and whether a new member will be the right fit.

Sitting down and working through a risk assessment is a step in the right direction to ensure that your students are safe. Safety in training is not separate to performance in classes; it is part of improving performance, and is mostly about awareness and exercising good judgement. I hope these 15 SOPs provide useful guidelines for improving your students’ experience with you and protecting your business as well.

Matt Beecroft is an RKC team leader and Functional Movement System-certified strength coach with over 13 years’ experience as a trainer. He’s an Expert Level krav maga instructor, nationally accredited boxing coach and national fitness presenter. He also coaches amateur and professional muay Thai fighters. He can be contacted via his website www. realitysdc.com.au

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GET UP, STAND UP! DRILL MASTER | LIAM RESNEKOV

This handy drill is good for martial artists of any style, and teaches a most important street survival skill: getting back to your feet in a fight.

THE DRILL

1

Establish your base on your opposite hand and foot (in this case, left hand and right foot); your free hand protects your face.

3

FINISH

2

Lean to the base hand, keeping your eyes on your opponent, and create the base with your legs in one motion.

Note: Both feet are facing away from one another.

Establish your desired stance.

Stand-up Drill #1 1

START

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TSU Solo Drill

START

Getting to your feet is an integral part of training and fight strategy for any MMA academy, but is often neglected in traditional martial arts schools. The good news is that it’s easy to learn and just requires some repetition and experimenting.

The first step is to become proficient at the ‘technical stand-up’ (TSU), or what is commonly referred to as the ‘Gracie get-up’. The most important details are to make sure that you post (support yourself) on the opposite hand and foot and never forget to protect your head.

Many strikes can be delivered from this position but they are largely distractions to create distance between you and your attacker.

Once your base is established, you can get to your feet in one movement. This is the hardest part for most people, as they trip over their own foot. The key is to lean forward slightly then take your foot under your bottom and plant it behind you at a 45-degree angle, as shown here. Your feet should be facing away from each other.

The key to mastering the technical stand-up is to practise it every time you disengage from the ground, whether in training or in front of the television. Once this is mastered, you can then practise against a resisting opponent, in one of three most basic scenarios: • The opponent has their head down and is pinning you.

• The opponent is postured up and striking.

• The opponent has you pinned near a wall, car etc.

Try each one without striking initially so you can get the technique right, then gradually build up the intensity.

Your partner on top can start to wear boxing gloves and strike you as you try to get to your feet.

Remember, this is not supposed to be easy once pressure and resistance are applied. Your main goal is to create space to stand, so attacking first with strikes or submissions will always make it easier once they respond. Elements like eye-gouging, elbowing and biting will have the desired reaction too, and can be added once the TSU movement is mastered.

These three tips will make it easier to succeed: 1. Don’t try to get straight to your feet. Build your base one step at a time: first the elbow, then the hand.

Then you build to the knee, and then the feet.

2. Seize control of your opponent’s wrist/s as soon as you can, to prevent strikes or losing dominant control positions such as an underhook.

3. Gaining head control is the most important step after

TAP FOR A PHYSIO’S VIDEO GUIDE TO A BETTER LEG GUARD

As your opponent postures up to strike you…

2

…make a frame across his neck to stop him following you while creating a base with your rear hand and opposite foot…

Stand-up Drill #2 2

START

1

Drill Followups 1

START

Before your opponent can re-establish his base, clinch his neck and deliver some knee strikes. (Note: this is illegal in MMA while they are down.)

3

…and palm the top of his head while making base with your right hand and left foot.

Drive his head to the ground as you release your non-base leg — the key is to push the head across your body, away from where you wish to stand up, and place all your weight on it — and then…

FINISH

4 …stand up in base in one step.

3

FINISH

Your opponent has you pinned on your back. Control his head and free arm to avoid strikes…

3 2 Turn towards his head and swing your leg as if kicking a football.

Continue by either turning back towards your opponent to deliver a strike, or continue to run.

If the opponent tries to take you back down, they will often expose their neck to a choke.

In this case we have used a modified twisting guillotine, as it is fast, devastating and hard to escape.

establishing base. If he has postured up, push his head away. If he is holding you down, post on his head and keep it on the ground.

Once you have established base, you can experiment with followups as the opponent desperately tries to put you back on the ground.

This is the time in which they are at their most vulnerable.

Some examples of follow-ups are: • Twisting guillotine-choke • Knees from clinch • Snap-down • Re-shoot or takedown • Running

THE RESULT After a few rounds of isolating the position, your partner should start to find it difficult to hold you down, but you will also be more able to open them up to many counter-attacks. If your art has a base in striking, then this drill is a necessity and a life-saving skill to add to your, and your students’, repertoire.

FINISH

…and drive back and up to quickly stand up in base.

Liam Resnekov is the the co-owner of VT-1 Academy in Chatswood, NSW with his brother, former world muay Thai champion Dylan Resnekov. He teaches Gracie jiu-jitsu as well as the Israeli System of Krav Maga (under Israel’s Dr Rony Kluger) and is the coach of UFC fighters Richie Walsh and Alex Chambers.

ON THE MAT | www.martialartsbusiness.com.au • 25

TAKE THE CLASS YOU TEACH PEER TO PEER | ANDREA HARKINS

‘Do as I say, not as I do’ doesn’t work for the martial arts teacher — and has it ever worked for anyone? Tang soo do instructor Andrea Harkins explains why an instructor should participate in every class they teach.

O

n any given day, you walk through the door of your martial art school with one thing in mind: what you are going to teach? Some instructors make copious notes ahead of time about what skills and techniques they wish to impart, and what messages they want to relay. Others walk in the door and wing it — they have years of experience and knowledge under their belts, and feel perfectly comfortable teaching off the cuff. Neither is right or wrong. Both have positives and negatives. Something, however, might be missing, and it is not the lesson plan or thorough preparation. Is it you?

Many instructors fall into the trap of instructing without participating. They stand at the front of the class, bellow commands and watch less experienced instructors run the stretching/warm-up session, explain skills and oversee the student body. That teaching assistant needs to gain experience and knowledge, but he or she can never take the place of you. On occasion, at least, but ideally more often, put yourself out there with the students. Reassure them that you are human, vulnerable and still learning, just like they are. Always be professional, knowledgeable and efficient, but allow a small glimpse into your own training so students know they can accomplish their dreams and their goals, just as you have.

When you participate, you set the stage for believability, which just means that students see your strengths in front of their own eyes. They see a martial artist who is accomplished and successful.

They suddenly believe that they can achieve, and they are excited about it. You are a role model, not because you can use words, explain or pinpoint mistakes, but because you have the skills and techniques to back it up. You are an excellent instructor because you work at it. When students see your effort and talent, they believe that you are the best instructor for them, and they will want to stick around.

Along with the believability factor is another factor on the opposite end of the spectrum. When you show a skill — be it a kick on the bag, a fighting drill or even a slow and steady technical breakdown — you run the risk of making a mistake. Is that a bad thing when it comes to student retention?

Not necessarily. While for the most part you will be seen as a hero and martial art guru in the eyes

64 • www.martialartsbusiness.com.au | THE COOL DOWN

Being a physical example of the skills and attitude expected of students is incredibly motivating for them but also gives your teaching credibility

of your students (whether you want to or not), if they see that you falter on occasion, it strengthens their truth about their own desires to learn. They start to accept that learning takes place not through perfection, but through mistakes. You should be competent, of course, but if something doesn’t go your way, it’s a good lesson for all.

I was at a workshop recently where a world-record concrete break was going to happen. I remember the instructor saying one thing before he performed the break that really stuck with me. He said, “You can’t be afraid of failure.” By pushing yourself beyond your own boundaries to assist your students in perfecting a technique with which you may have always struggled, you will be creating a truthful account of what it means to be a martial artist. Everyone struggles and has challenges in their training, so this helps to squash that myth at the get-go.

“IT IS IMPORTANT TO BE A STUDENT YOURSELF, ALONGSIDE YOUR OWN STUDENTS. THROUGH THIS ROLE REVERSAL, YOU WILL LEARN ABOUT YOUR STUDENTS. ” Another thing I’ve noticed — and I realise that this is a touchy subject for some — is that some instructors no longer teach or train enough to keep fit. They are so busy operating a school, taking care of finances, preparing lessons, dealing with advertising and keeping other commitments that their fitness levels start to wane. Photos from younger days show them as svelte competitors, martial artists and champions. Later, in mid-life, they have lost the fitness battle.

When you train with your students and engage in all the stretching, warm-ups and techniques, you equip yourself with fitness and flexibility that can otherwise be lost. In your participation, you also can create an exuberant energy in class that helps sustain your students and keeps them coming back for more.

By taking the class you teach, you are able to see a new perspective. What do the students really notice when the instructor is teaching? Do they feel positive, empowered and renewed, or do they struggle with concepts or techniques that are too difficult? For one class, stand with the students as they line up, and have another instructor teach. Go through the basics with the class. This reminds students that, at any rank, the basics are important and always worthwhile. Become the student and see what he/she sees. It may open your eyes to new ideas and insights about teaching.

What you teach is not always as important as how you teach.

Retention of students comes about when students love their instructors and crave to learn what they have to offer. It comes from students knowing that they have the right leader. Prepare your class ahead of time, or wing it, but bring the content that makes sense for the age groups and rank levels of those attending.

It is important to be a student yourself, alongside your own students. Through this role reversal, you will learn about your students. You may learn a thing or two about yourself, as well, and how to be a better teacher.

Andrea F. Harkins, 2nd Degree Black-belt in Korean martial art tang soo do, has been practising and teaching martial arts for 24 years.

She and her husband, David, teach their Family Martial Arts program at a YMCA in Parrish, Florida. Contact her via daharkins1@hotmail.com or at www.twitter.com/aharkins1.

TEACH LIKE THE DRAGON!

JEET KUNE DO CONVERSATIONS

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ENCYCLOPEDIA OF JEET KUNE DO FROM A TO Z

BY JOSE M. FRAGUAS

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BRUCE LEE’S FIGHTING METHOD

BY BRUCE LEE

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GOODWILL HUNTING BUDO IN BUSINESS | RICARDO VARGAS

Long-time martial arts instructor and business ethics lecturer Ricardo Vargas reveals why social responsibility should be top of mind for professional instructors.

O

rganisations around the world, and their stakeholders, are becoming increasingly aware of the need for, and benefits of, social responsibility and ethical behaviour. The objective of social responsibility is to contribute to sustainable development. An organisation’s commitment to the welfare of society and the environment has become a central criterion in measuring its overall performance and its ability to continue operating effectively. This, in part, is a reflection of the growing recognition that we need to ensure healthy ecosystems, social equity and good organisational governance. Ultimately, people and organisations alike depend on the health of the world’s ecosystems — and these days, organisations are subject to greater scrutiny by their various stakeholders.

The martial arts industry is not an exception. By definition, martial arts’ purpose is to defend/protect life, and history (at least two thousand years) has taught us that its practice helps individuals and communities to develop their potential in a multi-dimensional approach — physically, mentally and spiritually. In the roots of martial arts tradition, we discover a deep connection between the individual and nature — the ‘cosmos’ if you will. From this perspective, the aim of our practice is not to become a warrior, a fighter, but a guardian, a protector of our sacred lives, and to be able to guide/ teach others to acknowledge this reality.

OUR STRENGTHS It is amazing to see the current popularity of martial arts in all its possible expressions — selfdefence method, fitness activity, sporting pastime, entertainment, philosophy and lifestyle. Martial arts’ endurance for over 20 centuries is due to the intangible benefits acquired by practitioners. Through martial arts training, an individual can achieve any and all of the following: • Self-development (discipline, confidence, etc.)

• Harmony of both body and mind • Stress reduction and relaxation • The capacity to feel good and have fun • An increase in fitness level • Loss of excess body weight • Improved protection against injury and disease • Self-defence skills.

Generally, the longer students practise martial arts, the more pro-social they are. Martial arts training

66 • www.martialartsbusiness.com.au | THE COOL DOWN

The capacity for martial arts clubs and their members to improve our communities should not be underestimated. Is your club or organisation giving back?

promotes peacemakers! The more the students train, the less violent they become. It is all about the development of self-knowledge in order to achieve selfcontrol. It is extensively demonstrated that there are strong links between martial arts training and increased confidence in personal/professional performance, alongside the more obvious improvements in health and fitness. In order to be more specific, here are some key traits of a legitimate martial arts approach: We promote physical and moral virtues. Our students are taught to be strong and skilled, but also prudent, patient, temperate and generous.

Our demanding workouts, breathing drills and meditation take physical energy and sublimate it into restraint and grace instead of mere brutality.

“THE MORE THE STUDENTS TRAIN, THE LESS VIOLENT THEY BECOME. IT IS ALL ABOUT THE DEVELOPMENT OF SELF-KNOWLEDGE IN ORDER TO ACHIEVE SELF-CONTROL.” Our ethical principles encourage reflection and make our social duties and responsibilities clear.

Training can reveal our physical limitations and build humility alongside resilience; it allows us to better understand our own emotions, such as fear and rage, and thus manage them.

THE THREAT Unfortunately, martial arts practitioners/ instructors and school owners do not always understand and practise these values, and some only focus their efforts on the physical and combat side of martial arts, caring little about the rest. Some others only want to make money, become popular, be the champions, attract more clients and grow their business at any cost, including at the expense of the reputation of the style or system they practise, at the expense of the reputation of the industry, and at the expense of the mental and physical health of their students/clients.

OPPORTUNITIES AHEAD Martial arts instructors and school owners need education in all dimensions of the business.

And, at this particular stage of the industry’s development, we need to raise awareness of the social responsibility implications.

What benefits can be achieved by implementing social responsibility and ethical behaviour principles? An organisation’s performance on social responsibility can influence, among other things: • Competitive advantage • Public reputation • The ability to attract and retain workers, members, customers, clients and users • The maintenance of employee morale, commitment and productivity • The perception of investors, owners, donors, sponsors and the financial community • Relationships with companies, governments, the media, suppliers, peers, customers and the community in which it operates.

I have been in this industry for more than 20 years, developing activities and programs

in three different countries (Colombia, USA and Australia), playing different roles such as student, instructor and business owner.

Based on my professional and academic (philosophy, specialising in business ethics) background, in all the projects and programs I have led, I have applied the principles of corporate social responsibility with great results, expressed in terms of benefits for the community and the good reputation of the martial arts industry, even from the business perspective.

I have been working as a consultant in this important area and I now have the opportunity to share with the martial arts community this knowledge and experience thanks to this new initiative of Martial Arts Business magazine.

In this column, I will discuss the key elementsC of the ‘Document Guidance Standard on Social M Responsibility’ (ISO 26000), published in 2010, Y which can be incorporated in the strategic plan of any martial arts school, club or business. CM These are: MY

1. Identifying the impacts of martial arts CY activities on society and the environment.

CMY 2. Contributing to sustainable development, including the health and welfare of our K communities and society.

3. Taking into account the expectations of stakeholders.

4. Promoting transparent and ethical behaviour by martial arts instructors.

5. Complying with applicable law and in ways consistent with international norms of behaviour.

6. Integrating these steps throughout the organisation and in its relationships.

Martial arts are a vital part of humanity’s heritage. They carry a legacy of care for the individual, society and the world we inhabit, and cannot be reduced exclusively to body conditioning for combat. They are like a finger pointing to the moon: do not concentrate on the finger or you will miss all that heavenly glory…

Born and raised in Colombia, Ricardo Vargas became a philosophy lecturer at the country’s top university and a leading Jeet Kune Do instructor under USA’s Grandmaster Richard Bustillo before immigrating to Adelaide, SA. Vargas now resides in Melbourne and oversees JKD clubs in both Vic. and SA.

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