March/April 2020

1000 Century Blvd.

Oklahoma City, OK 73110 Oklahoma City, OK 73110 (866)626-6226 (866)626-6226

MARCH/APRIL 2020

Professional Karate Schools of America

THE MARTIAL ARTS SUPERSHOW IS PROUD TO ANNOUNCE

2019 2019

CYNTHIA ROTHROCK

Distinguished guest Distinguished guest

First Stop: USA Next Stop: the World

SCIENCE ON YOUR SIDE

as the

Best Way to Teach Children

2020 lifetime achievement award recipient

LEGAL BRIEFS

Witness her induction into our legacy of individuals who have greatly impacted the martial arts during Opening Night, June 30, 2020.

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99 S P O N S O R ED BY:

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PRESENTED BY: PRESENTED BY:

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OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE MARTIAL ARTS INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION

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MAR/APR 2020 • $5.99 US

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CONTENTS FEATURES

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22 PROFESSIONAL KARATE SCHOOLS OF AMERICA: BORN IN THE USA BUT NOW TAKING ON THE WORLD

BY RICHARD BLAINE

Follow the path that has made PKSA, under the leadership of founder Richard Collins Jr., a force to be reckoned with in the international martial arts community.

34 PRESKILLZ WILL CHANGE THE WAY YOU TEACH MARTIAL ARTS TO CHILDREN!

BY MELODY JOHNSON

Drawing from her knowledge of neuroscience, an experienced instructor discusses the human brain’s early developmental stages from a sensei’s perspective.

MARCH/APRIL 2020

COLUMNS 30 BLACK BELT LEADERSHIP

BY NGUYEN “TOM” GRIGGS

Showing Versus Helping

32 IN THE CLASSROOM

BY DAVE KOVAR

5 Keys to Long-Term Success, Part 1

64 TURNING POINT

BY HERB BORKLAND

Rick Moneymaker: Seeing One Touch Knock a Man Out!

66 HEALTH KICK

B Y E R I C P. F L E I S H M A N

Monster Marketing Methods — Don’t Be Scared, Be Scary!

68 YOU MESSED UP! NOW WHAT?

BY BETH A. BLOCK AND ANDREW J. HORNER

Wise instructors will want to familiarize themselves with the impact of this landmark legislation, both to better protect children and to avoid legal consequences.

50 TREE OF SHAOLIN

BY ROBERT W. YOUNG

When Shaolin monk Wang Bo teaches his ancient art, he organizes the techniques and drills into three categories: roots, trunk and branches. Learn how they pertain to your practice as much as they do to trees.

4 MASUCCESS

06 FROM THE

DIRECTOR’S DESK 10 IN THE KNOW 14 HEAR FROM

YOUR PEERS 16 PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT 18 THE MAIA REPORT 20 MARKETING RESOURCE 70 SCHOOL SHOWCASE

BY K AT H Y O L E V S KY

Let Them Go

72 CONSULTANT’S CORNER

MAXIM OF THE MONTH

BY MIKE METZGER

Plan Your Summer Now!

42 TWO YEARS LATER: THE YOUTH SAFE SPORTS ACT

DEPARTMENTS

74 MASTERFUL RETENTION

BY CHRIS RAPPOLD

The One Instructor Ability You Need in Order to Retain Students

76 THE KICK YOU NEVER SAW COMING

BY BETH A. BLOCK

Obstacles

78 THE LEGAL LANDSCAPE

BY PHILIP E. GOSS JR., ESQ.

Electronic Document Storage: Do Ya Feel Lucky?

82 INSPIRATION OVATION

BY KAREN EDEN

1930s Supermodel

“We refer to our art as the art of the blade. Even though it is blade, we do stick and empty hand, as well. We don’t differentiate between the various implements too much. We don’t say, ‘These defenses are for empty hand, these are for stick and these are for blade.’ When you learn one, you learn them all.

Why do things twice?”

— APOLO LADRA, PEKITI TIRSIA

34 22 50 42 MARCH/APRIL 2020 5

FROM THE DIRECTOR’S DESK

Do You Think You’re Doing Great?

BY FRANK SILVERMAN

MAIA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

“It’s like being is a jiu-jitsu student and learning a technique we’ve never seen before. Running a business is no different. If we don’t know there’s a better technique, we can’t apply it.”

O

ver the past few months, I’ve done quite a bit of shopping and buying: holiday gifts, upgrades and repairs to the house, a new car, kids’ birthday gifts and more. I was in an in-store and online buying frenzy — my own perpetual Black Friday.

My overall experience with all this shopping was great. Ultimately, I was able to purchase every item I wanted or needed. I paid what I consider fair prices, and I’m enjoying my purchases. That said, when I put on my consultant’s hat afterward, I couldn’t help but evaluate my transactions. How is the quality of the items I bought? How was the service leading up to the purchases? Do I have any buyer’s remorse? Was my shopping experience as good as it could have been? Was it better than expected? Were the salespeople friendly and the online retailers straightforward?

Evaluating everything in detail made me think of my schools in Orlando, Florida. I think I offer a great product. I think my schools have super customer service. I think everyone who signs up will want to train for years. I think my team does great follow-up after the sign-up. I think everyone enjoys the experience at my schools. I say I “think” all the above are true because that’s what people tell me.

Then I thought back again to my own shopping experiences. Keep in mind that shopping is shopping, whether you’re looking for a car, a shirt or martial arts lessons. When we shop for a product, we all want a good experience, a great product, a fair price, good service and so on. Although my purchases went smoothly overall, the experiences were not outstanding. However, I suspect that if you asked the retailers I visited, they would think everything was A-OK. That’s when it dawned on me that those involved in providing a product or service are probably the least qualified to decide how good a product or service actually is.

Let’s be honest: If I asked all the martial artists reading this column if they think their product or service is horrible, not a single hand would be

raised. But we all know that no one is perfect. We don’t deliver perfection in every interaction, which is to be expected. But when we assume that we’re doing great overall, we miss the chance to improve smaller problem areas that might not be so great.

The point is, we don’t know what we don’t know.

It’s like being is a jiu-jitsu student and learning a technique we’ve never seen before. The world changes in that moment. Running a business is no different. If we don’t know there’s a better technique, we can’t apply it. And that could keep us from offering a better customer experience or a higher-quality product. It could keep us from earning a higher income or making our students into better martial artists.

So how can we learn to be better at business?

Where can we go to be better teachers? Where can we meet and train with the best martial artists in the industry, whether they’re in MMA, jiu-jitsu, taekwondo, karate or another art? The answer is the Martial Arts SuperShow in Las Vegas.

The SuperShow has it all: training, teaching, marketing, business and networking. It will take place in an all-new venue that’s sure to please. Even better, more classes are scheduled to support you as a business owner and a martial artist. All this means 2020 is a must-attend year.

Whether this is your first or your 19th year at the SuperShow, rest assured that there will be a seminar for you. Call (866) 626-6226 today to sign up. Let’s work together to build an incredible industry.

To contact Frank Silverman, send an email to teamcfck@aol.com. Find him on Twitter and Facebook at @franksilverman.

6 MASUCCESS

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8/1/18 5:18 PM

STAFF

FROM THE DIRECTOR’S DESK

F R A N K S I LV E R M A N I S T H E E X E C U T I V E

MELISSA TORRES IS THE DIVISION

Director of the Martial Arts Industry Association, and the owner and operator of 11 martial arts schools in Orlando, FL. He’s also the author of Business Is Business: Passion and Profit in the Martial Arts Industry. Follow Frank on Twitter and Facebook @franksilverman.

Contact him at teamcfck@aol.com.

Manager of the Martial Arts Industry Association. She is a practitioner of kung fu san soo, Cage Fitness and yoga. She is passionate about helping school owners succeed and achieve their goals.

She can be reached at mtorres@masuccess.com.

THE MAIA REPORT

DAVE KOVAR OWNS AND OPERATES NGUYEN “TOM” GRIGGS, ED.D.,

BLACK BELT LEADERSHIP

is a sensei in Japanese jujitsu at TNT Jujitsu under Hanshi Torey Overstreet in Houston, TX. He’s the owner of Lead Connect Grow, LLC. Organizations hire him to develop black belt-level professionals in the areas of Teams, Leadership and Conflict Management. Feel free to email him at tom@ntgriggs.com.

IN THE CLASSROOM

a chain of successful martial art schools.

Additionally, he operates Pro-Mac (Professional Martial Arts College), dedicated to helping martial artists become professionals in Business Management, Mat Mastery, Sales Mastery, Wealth Management and CuttingEdge Classroom Concepts. In 2010, he was the recipient of the Martial Arts Industry Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

Contact him at dave.kovar@kovars.com or check out his blog at kovarsblog.kovarsystems.com.

HERB BORKLAND WAS ONE OF

TURNING POINT

Jhoon Rhee’s original white belts at America’s first taekwondo school and, later, a closeddoor student of Chinese “soft” styles pioneer Robert W. Smith. For three years, starting on ESPN, he hosted the weekly Black Belts TV show. He did the screenplay for Cynthia Rothrock’s HBO-featured Honor and Glory and is an Inside Kung-Fu Hall of Fame martial arts writer. He can be reached at herbork@comcast.net.

CHRISTOPHER RAPPOLD IS THE

MASTERFUL RETENTION

founder of a successful martial arts organization, Personal Best Karate, headquartered in Norton, MA. He’s a five-time world karate champion and is currently the executive director of the world-renowned Team Paul Mitchell, a championship team supported by sport-karate’s longest-running sponsorship.

Rappold is the author of the landmark MAIA program Retention Based Sparring. He can be reached at founder@personalbestkarate.com.

MIKE METZGER IS A MARTIAL Arts Industry Association consultant and the owner of 14 martial arts schools. He has consulted for various school owners around the world. He can be contacted via email at mmetzger@masuccess.com.

BETH BLOCK, A 4TH-DEGREE BLACK

CONSULTANT’S CORNER THE KICK YOU NEVER SAW COMING! 8 MASUCCESS

belt in karate, is the president of Block Insurance in Orlando, FL. Block has protected businesses that serve children for the past 24 years. She is the writer of Martial Arts Minute, a weekly riskmanagement newsletter. You can reach her at (800) 225-0863 or beth@blockins.net.

STAFF MASUCCESS IS PUBLISHED BY

SARAH LOBBAN IS THE ASSOCIATE

IN THE KNOW

Publications Editor for the Martial Arts Industry Association. She has trained and fought in MMA and muay thai, and currently trains in jeet kune do. She can be reached at slobban@centurymartialarts.com.

VOL. 21, NO. 2 // MARCH/APRIL 2020 MAIA LLC, 1000 Century Blvd., Oklahoma City, OK 73110;

EDITOR EMERITUS

John Corcoran

YOU MESSED UP! NOW WHAT?

KATHY OLEVSKY AND HER

EDITOR

husband, Rob, own and operate Karate International in North Carolina. Kathy is the managing partner in their five-school operation. She’s an 8th-degree black belt with 32 full-time years of teaching and operating martial arts schools. She can be reached for questions or comments at kathy.olevsky@raleighkarate.com.

Robert W. Young

(866) 626-6226.

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR MARTIAL ARTS INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION

Frank Silverman MAIA DIVISION MANAGER

Melissa Torres ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Sarah Lobban

E R I C T H E T R A I N E R ( E R I C P.

HEALTH KICK!

Fleishman) is a Hollywood-based celebrity personal trainer with over 28 years’ experience. He has worked with top actors and musicians, MMA fighters, and the military. He hosts the popular TV show “Celebrity Sweat,” which you can watch on Amazon Prime. His enthusiastic message of living a healthy life has been adopted by many groups, most recently the American Culinary Federation. For questions or comments, contact Eric the Trainer at Mainemonster@gmail.com.

PHILIP E. GOSS, JR., ESQ. IS a member of the Florida and several other

THE LEGAL LANDSCAPE

Federal Bar Associations. Phil welcomes any e-mail comments or questions at PhilGosslaw@gmail.com and will attempt to respond personally, time permitting.

M A I A I N T E R N AT I O N A L C O N S U LTA N T S Kurt Klingenmeyer Robby Beard Mike Metzger Jason Flame Adam Parman Antonio Fournier Shane Tassoul Cris Rodriguez ADVERTISING DIRECTOR

Donna Diamond ART DIRECTOR

Paul Duarte COLUMNISTS & CONTRIBUTORS

David Barnett

Sarah Lobban

Beth A. Block

Mike Metzger

Herb Borkland

Kristin Miller

Karen Eden

Kathy Olevsky

Jason Flame

Suzanne Pisano

Eric P. Fleishman

Christopher Rappold

Antonio Fournier

Frank Silverman

Philip E. Goss Jr., Esq.

Shane Tassoul

Nguyen “Tom” Griggs

Melissa Torres

IBISWorld.com

Dwight Trower

Perry William Kelly

KAREN EDEN IS A 6TH-DEGREE

INSPIRATION OVATION

master of tang soo do. She’s a broadcast journalist who has appeared nationally on CNN, FOX and Animal Planet as well as on local affiliates for NBC and PBS. Karen is also a published book author and magazine columnist who has written for or been featured in every major martial arts magazine globally. Contact her at renedenherdman@gmail.com.

Kurt Klingenmeyer Dave Kovar CORRESPONDENTS

Herb Borkland (VA) Karen Eden (CO) Andrea F. Harkins (AZ) Andre Lima (CA) PUBLISHER

David Wahl

Perry William Kelly (CANADA) Terry L. Wilson (CA) Keith D. Yates (TX)

Return postage must accompany all manuscripts and photographs submitted to MASUCCESS, if they are to be returned, and no responsibility can be assumed for unsolicited materials. All rights for letters submitted to this magazine will be treated as unconditionally assigned for publication and copyright purposes and as subject to the editorial staff’s right to edit and to comment editorially.

MAIA, its owners, directors, officers, employees, subsidiaries, successors and assigns are not responsible in any manner for any injury that may occur by reading and/or following the instructions herein.

As publisher, MAIA makes no endorsements, representations, guarantees or warranties concerning the products and or services presented or advertised herein.

We expressly disclaim any and all liability arising from or relating to the manufacture, sale, distribution, use, misuse or other act of any party in regard to such products and/or services. MASUCCESS is a trademark of the MAIA. © 2020 MAIA LLC. All rights reserved.

Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.

The mission of MAIA is to grow, promote and protect the martial arts industry, and to provide benefits to its members to help them become more successful.

MARCH/APRIL 2020 9

IN THE KNOW

BY ASHLEY LUGRAND

WORDS OF WISDOM THERE ARE TWO WAYS OF EXERTING ONE’S STRENGTH; ONE IS PUSHING DOWN, THE OTHER IS PULLING UP. — BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

MARTIAL ARTS TRIVIA 1

In which martial art is biting a common technique?

2

For her role in the 2015 film Spy, actress Melissa McCarthy studied kali. Who was her teacher?

4

What weapon does the character Sun Wukong, aka the Monkey King, wield in the Chinese epic Journey to the West?

A) bokator B) krabi krabong C) kino mutai D) okichitaw

3

Which teaching rank in the Japanese martial arts is highest: kyoshi, renshi or hanshi?

ANSWERS: 1) kino mutai 2) Diana Lee Inosanto 3) hanshi 4) staff 10 MASUCCESS

HOW DOES YOUR SCHOOL STACK UP?

ress was

un d in ?

Take the Martial Arts Business Health Quiz Today Once you have a clear picture of how healthy your academy is right now, connect with a coach to see how MAIA can help you get where you want to be.

MAIAHub.com/Business-Health-Quiz

© 2019 MAIA, LLC. #17799

YOU ASKED DO YOU REQUIRE YOUR STUDENTS TO PURCHASE UNIFORMS AND/ OR GEAR FROM YOUR PRO SHOP?

STATS SPEAK

THE AVERAGE MARTIAL ARTS STUDIO IN THE UNITED STATES HAS

1.1

EMPLOYEES.

Yes. To progress in rank, students are required to have an official Lead By Example uniform. Equipment purchased outside of our pro shop must be approved before being used in class.”

— T O M M Y L I G H T F O O T, L E A D B Y E X A M P L E T A E K W O N D O , F A I R F A X , V A

Yes! Nothing else is allowed on the floor.”

— CHRIS HAMM, LEGACY MARTIAL ARTS, HARKER HEIGHTS, TX

Yes, there is a package that they must purchase for their level of training. They also need to purchase weapons or sparring gear if they participate in those classes.”

— KRISTIN MILLER, CHAMPIONSHIP MARTIAL ARTS, NORTHBROOK, IL

12 MASUCCESS

Aikido TO Zui Quan

FROM

WE ARE. MARTIAL ARTS. TRAINING EQUIPMENT & FACILITY DESIGN

ZebraAthletics.com

HEAR FROM YOUR

PEERS 14 MASUCCESS

1 2

HOW MANY STUDENTS ARE ENROLLED IN YOUR SCHOOL?

18

28

%

Fewer than 25

26

26-50

19

%

51-100

%

8

%

101-200

%

More than 200

WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING DISCIPLINES DOES YOUR SCHOOL TEACH?

11

16

%

Boxing

8 17 %

Kung Fu

11

%

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

%

MMA

52

%

Judo

%

SelfDefense

41

52

%

7

%

Karate

%

Taekwondo

Tai Chi

MARCH/APRIL 2020 15

PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT

CENTURY STRIVE GLOVES Century®

www.CenturyMartialArts.com

1

Strive Gloves were made to go places other gloves can’t — specifically, the washing machine! Having clean gloves ready for every class is as simple as throwing them into the washer with the rest of your workout clothes, followed by a cycle in the dryer.

These 10-ounce gloves are ideal for partner training with Thai pads or focus mitts, as well as solo bag work.

Now, Strive Gloves are available in six new designs. The bright colors won’t crack, and they resist fading — even with multiple washes.

For more information on this and other great Century products, call a helpful Century Sales Representative at (800) 626-2789 or visit www.CenturyMartialArts.com.

CENTURY STRIKING TARGETS Century®

www.CenturyMartialArts.com

2

Century’s new Custom Double Paddle Targets are the perfect tool for the versatile fighter. The angled, double-sided striking surface is ideal for quick changes in attacks, allowing for varied combinations that rely on fluid movement — with each blow landing with a satisfying snap. For a personal touch, get your artwork silkscreened on any of the color options.

For more information on this and other great Century products, call a helpful Century Sales Representative at (800) 626-2789 or visit www.CenturyMartialArts.com.

16 MASUCCESS

ww

KICKING! INTRODUCING

KicKing® training products help teach kids correct kicking forms at home or in class with kid-friendly shields that guide kicks to the correct position.

Learn more about kicKing® and a variety of other youth training products by visiting our website at CenturyMartialArts.com www.CenturyMartialArts.com (800) 626-2787. “Century” is a registered trademark of Century, LLC. All rights reserved. © 2019 Century, LLC. #14933

THE MAIA REPORT

An Extra-Super Show for 2020!

BY MELISSA TORRES

MAIA DIVISION MANAGER

“Now you can craft your own trip to the SuperShow based on your budget and how much you want to enjoy the nightlife and the dining and entertainment options while you’re there.”

18 MASUCCESS

I

t’s hard to believe that we’re only four months away from the world’s largest martial arts industry event. If you haven’t been following the updates for the Martial Arts SuperShow on social media or through our emails, you’ve missed out — but there’s still plenty of time to get up to speed before the doors open.

We’re excited to hold the 19th annual event at the brand-new Caesars Forum in Las Vegas. By the time you read this column, the Forum will have just opened its doors for its first event.

Not only does the Forum hold the world’s largest pillarless ballroom (in which part of the SuperShow will take place), but it’s also close to numerous restaurants and entertainment facilities located in The LINQ Promenade. The Forum is right in the center of the Las Vegas strip, so there’s no shortage of things to do in the evenings after the SuperShow closes — if you have the energy after absorbing a full day’s worth of martial arts training and business education.

Something else we’re thrilled about this year is the great deal we have for you at not one but four different hotels. The SuperShow has always taken place at a single hotel in the past, but the Forum is close to all the properties owned by Caesars. We have a discounted room block available for you at Caesars Palace, The LINQ, Harrah’s and The Flamingo.

Now you can craft your own trip to the SuperShow based on your budget and how much you want to enjoy the nightlife and the dining and entertainment options while you’re there. But don’t forget to book your rooms soon! Our special rates will expire in early June. Reserve your room now to make sure you get exactly what you want.

Another exciting announcement is our Lifetime Achievement Award recipient. We will be honored to present the 2020 award to martial artist and actor Cynthia Rothrock. She’s had an incredible impact on bringing martial arts to the mainstream

through her films. She also holds black belts in seven different styles. We couldn’t be more thrilled to have her in Las Vegas as our honored guest.

With Cynthia Rothrock, a brand-new venue and multiple hotel options — plus our business classes, instructional clinics and physical-training sessions — this year is shaping up to be the best yet.

To make sure you’re staying up to date on all the latest information, including new speaker announcements, pre-conference events, the daily schedule and much more, follow the Martial Arts SuperShow on Facebook. Or check MASuperShow. com. Ticket prices will increase soon, so be sure to lock in the necessary tickets for yourself and your instructors. Make this event a chance to grow your business, learn new actionable skills, train with industry legends and come back renewed with a clear vision of your future.

To contact Melissa Torres, send an email to mtorres@masuccess.com.

N M H

A

T a i

H

T c

F

I a a

V

E t

Never been to the Martial Arts SuperShow?

Here’s what to expect.

ACTIONABLE BUSINESS & MARKETING CONTENT The number one reason school owners and instructors come year after year is for the business, operations and marketing education. There are two seminar tracks dedicated to giving you actionable steps you can implement at your school.

HIGH-LEVEL INSTRUCTOR & PHYSICAL TRAINING SESSIONS There is no doubt you are in this industry because you are passionate about the martial arts. This is your chance to train with the best, learn elements of a new style, and become a better instructor.

FUN & INSPIRATION AMONG A PASSIONATE COMMUNITY It’s hours upon hours of education and content, but don’t forget to have fun! One of the most valuable aspects you can get out of the show is networking and building lifelong connections with a group of martial arts school owners just like you.

VENDORS & EXHIBITORS TO HELP WITH YOUR BUSINESS Everything you need is in one place. Explore dozens of vendors and exhibitors with products and services that will help you improve your business.

REGISTER AT MASUPERSHOW.COM

PR E SENTED BY:

S P O N S O R ED BY:

© 2019 MAIA, LLC #18019

MARKETING RESOURCE

Key to a Better Life!

WHEN PARENTS KNOW THE BENEFITS OF MARTIAL ARTS TRAINING FOR THEIR KIDS, THEY’RE MORE LIKELY TO SIGN THEM UP FOR LESSONS.

I t t I a

SE YO

G N P She enrolled in martial arts classes three months ago and she’s never been happier or healthier. She not only learns self-defense and keeps fit, but she’s met so many new friends!

Enroll your child today!

School Information Here

To get your free customizable monthly Marketing Resource, visit MAIAHUB.com or get the download link from our Facebook page: fb.com/masuccess.

20 MASUCCESS

© 2019

It’s one thing to WANT to take your business to the next level.

It’s another to actually DO IT. Expires: 03/31 SEE THE FUTURE OF YOUR BUSINESS CLEARLY.

GET YOUR TICKETS NOW BEFORE THE PRICE INCREASES!

Save $300

REGISTER AT MASUPERSHOW.COM

Future in Focus _ #MASS2020

PR E SENTED BY:

© 2019 MAIA, LLC #18020

PR E SENTED BY: S P O N S O R ED BY:

© 2019 MAIA, LLC #18020

Photos Courtesy of PKSA

PPROFESSIONAL KKARATE SSCHOOLS OF AAMERICA

BORN IN THE USA BUT NOW TAKING ON THE WORLD!

Photos Courtesy of PKSA

by Richard Blaine

Profes

Born i

by Ric

I

t’s not easy to have a large, successful franchise of martial arts schools run entirely by your own students, doubly so if you’re having those schools maintain a fairly traditional curriculum. But Professional Karate Schools of America, or PKSA, has managed to buck the odds and do just that thanks largely to the vision of its founder Richard Collins Jr. Collins, along with his father, started training in the Korean art of tang soo do back in 1969. After several years, they began running their own class in the basement of their house. The “school” became a very well-attended, if not prosperous, enterprise for them. Although they never advertised, classes were always packed thanks to word of mouth. The younger Collins was still working a regular job as an aircraft mechanic when a Korean master named C.S. Kim suggested he try teaching martial arts full-time.

24 MASUCCESS

“I had a passion to teach, so I decided to take the leap,” Collins recalled. “I quit my job and said, ‘Let’s try this in a commercial facility to see if it will take off.’ Within only a few months, I had made more than I made with the airline in an entire year.”

ROUGH SEAS

Although Collins found quick success when he opened that first commercial school, it wasn’t all smooth sailing. “I had to learn through experience, and a lot of the mistakes we made in the 1970s and 1980s we were still making even into the 1990s,” he said.

One of the biggest errors was letting the bank handle his accounts receivable, collecting large tuition payments up front.

Besides having to give the bank a percentage of each transaction, Collins believes receiving a single lump-sum payment is not always the best way to run a school.

“You’re not getting any monthly receivables after the first payment, and if you spend it all up front, then you’ve got nothing coming in after that,” he said. “We tried doing it like that in the beginning, but I’ve never done it that way again.”

Collins recalled that when he opened his school in 1989 in his native Michigan, the martial arts weren’t big business there.

They were still mostly taught in basements or at the YMCA. So with few business models to go on, he had to experiment to find out what worked.

“Nowadays, kids and families are obviously a priority,” Collins said. “But when I started, I was one of the only kids in the class.

Everyone was in their 20s and 30s. So we had to go through a lot of changes on the teaching side.”

One of the biggest things he realized was that the way he’d learned tang soo do wasn’t the same as the way it needed to be taught in a commercial facility. There were many techniques and

forms in the style, but it hadn’t been firmly established when they should be taught to a student or what a student necessarily would be required to know to earn a promotion. That prompted Collins to establish a curriculum that divvied up techniques into what each student needed to know for his or her next belt.

He further refined it by taking note of where and why his schools were losing students. Noticing that one of his main issues was students quitting after they’d reached green belt, he started examining which elements of the curriculum might be too challenging for green belts to learn and switched those to higher-belt requirements. At the same time, he looked for techniques he could teach green belts that might hold their attention longer.

“One of the big problems was that they were learning a form that was too difficult for them at that level,” he said. “The curriculum had been weighted too heavily on the forms side but was MARCH/APRIL 2020 25

kind of lean on the self-defense side, so we removed the form and added more self-defense techniques plus a weapon.”

BIG WAVES

Collins continued this approach up all the way through the black-belt ranks, where he said even his Korean instructors didn’t have a real strategy — and that forced him to come up with his own curriculum that would give experienced students a goal to shoot for.

In this way, he figured, his business would continue to expand.

“In America, people have to see growth, or they’ll just get bored and quit,” he said.

Perhaps the main thing Collins came to understand was that there weren’t enough incentives to keep students training under the old model, which led to one of his key innovations, what he calls “vision casting.” He looked for ways to inspire his green belts to want to earn a red belt, the next rank in tang soo do,

then searched for ways to inspire those red belts to push forward to black belt.

“We made images and posters to motivate students,” he said.

“Whenever we held an event, we’d talk about achieving a black belt and what it means. They knew a black belt was something cool to achieve, but we had to define it better. So we said these are the benefits of a black belt: being able to teach, learning new weapons, etc.

“Giving vision and clarity on exactly what students would be achieving by earning a black belt was important,” he said. “Then if you back that up a bit, you can do the same with achieving a red belt. In our organization’s tournaments, we really highlight the black-belt and red-belt groups now so people will want to become one. You want to inspire people to go to the next level, but you have to give them the vision to do it.”

“WE MADE IMAGES AND POSTERS TO MOTIVATE STUDENTS. WHENEVER WE HELD AN EVENT, WE’D TALK ABOUT ACHIEVING A BLACK BELT AND WHAT IT MEANS.”

26 MASUCCESS

STRONG CURRENTS

Collins was onto something. By the early 2000s, he had a dozen schools affiliated with his. Finally, he incorporated PKSA and transformed the organization into an official franchise system. However, he made sure to always have one of his own students or a student of a student at the helm of each facility. PKSA grew to 46 locations, and another four schools are scheduled to open by mid-2020.

Collins’ vision has produced tangible results with respect to keeping students on board for the long haul. Although he said it generally takes four to five years to earn a black belt in a PKSA school, his numbers show that of the nearly 6,000 students the organization currently has, almost 1,000 of them wear the coveted rank.

A key to PKSA’s growth is not just producing black belts but producing black belts who are capable of running their own school and who have the desire to do so.

“We’ll have our corporate events, like training seminars and in-house tournaments, where our students come together as a family from all our locations,” Collins said. “And we’ll do vision casting there that includes discussing the benefits of becoming a school owner. We even include children as part of this to let them know they can continue the legacy, too.”

Although mostly located in Michigan, PKSA now has branches in California, Florida, Mississippi and Pennsylvania. John Prosch, the organization’s vice president of operations, is in charge of maintaining the standards of instruction at each school. That entails traveling every three months to out-of-state locations to keep an eye on quality control, as well as conducting monthly video training for instructors, all of whom are required to undergo regular recertification.

“Though there are a couple of challenges with video training, overall I think it’s better because we’re doing regular checkups

with our instructors,” Prosch said. “Video keeps them more connected and motivated. We’re very much involved with all our franchisees and try to keep that consistent level of quality.

“All our instructors have to do this monthly training — handson in Michigan and connected via video outside of Michigan — so they’re all doing the same curriculum correctly. If the quality starts to lag, people don’t see the worth there, and it becomes easy to quit. But our goal isn’t to focus on money; it’s to create a positive experience for all our students and to end up with the best black belts we can on the back end.”

DISTANT HORIZONS

In the quest to expand PKSA’s reach, Collins has opted to open overseas franchises. On a recent trip to India, he tested the waters to gauge interest in martial arts in this vast market.

28 MASUCCESS

“The greatest thing about India is its population,” Collins said.

“There’s huge potential there. They have a lot of interest in martial arts because of movies. And there’s a big interest among girls in learning self-defense because sexual assault is a common problem. Fathers all want their daughters to learn some kind of self-defense because of that. So there’s a great interest in martial arts but still not a lot of opportunity to learn it.”

After speaking with government officials, Collins held several public demonstrations, which drew thousands of spectators.

He canvased the crowds for anyone interested in becoming an instructor and school owner and instantly had 40 people sign up. He whittled that list down a bit and has since had a handful of Indian students pass the first phase of training and become authorized to teach white belts. He continues to train his Indian instructors via video and flies there regularly to teach in person.

With four schools on the subcontinent now, PKSA has nearly

“OUR MOST SUCCESSFUL SCHOOLS ARE THE ONES THAT CAN CREATE A SENSE OF COMMUNITY SO THAT THE PEOPLE WHO COME INTO THE SCHOOL WILL VIEW IT AS PART OF THEIR EXTENDED FAMILY.” 500 Indian students, and Collins said he’s received inquiries from around the country to open additional facilities.

“Everyone in India wants to own their own business,” he said.

“And they love the idea of anything that has to do with America.

I was going to change the name of the organization we have over there to Professional Karate Schools of India, but professionals in the country told me not to change it from PKSA. They said people in India are specifically looking for American franchises.”

With India already in the fold, Collins plans on traveling to nearby Nepal soon with an eye on opening franchises there. But the backbone of PKSA’s success remains the children and families that train in America.

“We maintain a very family-driven philosophy,” Prosch said.

“As I go around to our different schools, I ask the adults training there what made them start doing this. They usually say they started with their children. They wanted something they could

do with their whole family.”

Collins echoed this, noting that many of the organization’s best schools are run by women. “We’re seeing more success from our female instructors. They’re often bringing in more revenue. Most of the time, we’re seeing them come out ahead of our male instructors.

“Our most successful schools are the ones that can create a sense of community so that the people who come into the school will view it as part of their extended family. It makes sense female instructors are so successful because women do tend to be a little more nurturing than men and capable of drawing people into this community.

“But male or female, the success of the school all boils down to the instructor.”

For more information about PKSA, visit pksa.com.

MARCH/APRIL 2020 29

BLACK BELT LEADERSHIP

Showing Versus Helping

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BY NGUYEN “TOM” GRIGGS

“Leaders are called on to help and show on a daily basis. I wrote this column to help them understand how to best develop their followers by not confusing these two related concepts.”

want to share some insights regarding the distinctions between two concepts that are often confused: helping and showing. Both relate to leadership and teamwork.

We are often asked by our students for assistance with techniques, combinations, kata and so on.

But when we assist them, what’s the difference between helping and showing?

“Helping” means giving tips and critiques.

“Showing” requires giving a demonstration of the task. The reason I’m pointing out the difference is that too often, conflict and frustration result from confusing the terms.

For example, suppose you needed people to help you move. However, when you asked for help, you probably expected that people would give you some amount of their time and show up ready to pack boxes and carry things.

Now imagine if the people arrived, and instead of packing and lifting, they decided to show you how to lift your couch. Maybe you would appreciate the demonstration, but what you really needed was physical assistance getting your stuff moved.

Continuing the hypothetical scenario: Suppose that even after you said, “Thanks,” and asked the people to assist with lifting and carrying, they said, “But we’re helping you by showing you how to move.” How would you feel?

Great Teams and Helpful Leaders Leaders are called on to help and show on a daily basis. I wrote this column to help them understand how to best develop their followers by not confusing these two related concepts.

Suppose you have a staff member who asks for help using your school software to enroll students, take payments, etc. You start by showing him how to open the program and enter the personal and payment information. Later that day, a new prospect walks in. You find the staff member who needed help with the software and show him how to enter the prospect’s information. This process plays out several times, but no matter how often you show him, he continues to have problems.

Does this scenario sound familiar? Perhaps the problem isn’t the software. Maybe the staff member

30 MASUCCESS

is struggling with the sign-up process (the sales portion) and forgetting how to use the software.

You can see where frustration, confusion and a bit of anger might appear. You may feel upset because the problem was with the staff member being nervous about signing up people and now you’ve wasted time on software training. Clearly, it’s the staff member’s fault. Well, not necessarily. I would argue that you didn’t ask the right questions to understand the struggles your team member was having. Here are some tips regarding questions that could help you in the future.

• Ask precise questions. When the staff member asked for help, you jumped right in and started with a software overview. Instead, you could have asked, “What part of the process is problematic?” This would have helped you find out that it wasn’t about the software.

• Ask related questions. We all know that part of the enrollment process is data input. But obviously there’s a human-interaction component. You can’t get to the enrollment process until after a successful enrollment experience. Consider asking the staff member, “How comfortable are you with talking to prospects in person and over the phone?”

• Ask neutral questions. A neutral question seeks information without making things seem personal. You could ask the staff member, “Which part of the signup process seems most difficult?” That’s much better than asking, “Which part of the sign-up process is too hard for you?” This approach allows the staff member to speak freely because you aren’t zeroing in on his deficiencies. You may have noticed that even back in the “Ask precise questions” section, the question focused on potential problems with the software, not the person.

• Ask reciprocal questions. When you’re done, ask if the staff member has any questions for you. This demonstrates that you’re willing to help and serve as a resource. It also indicates that you’re interested in the person’s growth and success.

Nguyen “Tom” Griggs is a professional consultant/ speaker on subjects that include teams, leadership and conflict. To contact him, send an email to tom@ntgriggs.com.

IN THE CLASSROOM

5 Keys to Long-Term Success, Part 1

BY DAVE KOVAR

“It may not be realistic to think you can spend your whole life at your best, but you certainly can increase the amount of time you spend there.”

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A

s we all know, nothing in life, including the success of your martial arts school, is guaranteed. However, with the right mindset and the right habits, you can stack the odds in your favor.

I have found that five habits are essential for longterm success. Although I’ve seen some people fail despite adhering to a few of these behaviors, I have never known anyone to succeed without them.

• Pillar No. 6: Recharging. Recharging refers to the importance of scheduling enjoyable downtime in your life, which helps keep everything in balance.

Once your health is in order, maintaining emotional composure becomes much easier. The next step is being mindful of your emotions. Becoming aware of the fact that you’re experiencing a negative emotion, rather than just reacting to it, means you’re getting better at maintaining your center.

Keep Your Center It’s been said that the mightiest person is the one who has control over his or her emotions. That’s essentially what it means to keep your center. I named my school the Satori Academy of Martial Arts. Our definition of satori is “in the moment, at your best.” This refers to a present-minded state in which you have mental clarity, physical energy and emotional tranquility. In Western sports, this is referred to as “being in the zone.” Imagine how much you could accomplish if you lived the majority of your life in this state! How enjoyable would life be?

It may not be realistic to think you can spend your whole life at your best, but you certainly can increase the amount of time you spend there. A good way to start is to focus on the six pillars of health each day.

• Pillar No. 1: Exercise. Try to do something physical every day, preferably involving strength, flexibility and endurance.

• Pillar No. 2: Rest. Do your best to get adequate sleep. Sleep deprivation can have an extremely negative effect on your health.

• Pillar No. 3: Nutrition. Take time to learn which foods your body thrives on and which you should avoid.

• Pillar No. 4: Stress management. Everyone experiences stress, but the ability to manage it effectively is the key to good health.

• Pillar No. 5: Risk avoidance. This refers to actions like wearing your seatbelt, washing your hands and minimizing your exposure to dangerous activities.

Value Your Relationships Above All Else It’s always preferable to have friends rather than enemies. Having friends and friendly acquaintances not only makes life more enjoyable but also opens more doors wherever you go. A key ingredient to expanding your circle of friends is to go out of your way to bring value to all your relationships. Instead of asking yourself what a relationship can do for you, ask what you can do for that relationship.

Another crucial ingredient in strengthening your relationships is to make other people feel important when you’re with them. People appreciate being appreciated and value being valued.

Know Where You’re Going It’s hard to know if you’re doing well if you don’t know where you want to go. That’s why creating a clear vision for yourself and your future is important. Make sure your vision has a purpose because when that purpose is clear, it’s much easier to maintain motivation. Don’t concern yourself too much with the details at this point; just dream big.

Create a vision and visit it often.

(In the next installment of this column, I will address the final two keys to long-term success.)

To contact Dave Kovar, send an email to dave.kovar@kovars.com.

T E M

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Here’s What You Need to Know.

by Melody Johnson

E

SOMETIMES PARENTS DON’T REALIZE HOW TRAINING CAN ACCELERATE THEIR CHILD’S OVERALL DEVELOPMENT.

CAPITALIZING ON A GROWING MARKET Millions of children participate in martial arts for an obvious reason: Parents across the globe are recognizing all the benefits that martial arts training can offer kids, especially those who are 6 years old and younger.

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The best part of this expansion is it’s only the tip of the iceberg. The number of kids practicing martial arts will continue to soar. Consequently, it’s essential for school owners and instructors to boost their ability to explain the benefits of regular training to parents.

You may know there are countless benefits, but sometimes parents don’t realize how training can accelerate their child’s overall development. For example, a simple drill that involves repeatedly kicking a pad without placing the kicking foot on the floor — while reciting the letters of the alphabet instead of counting — can boost a 5-year-old’s learning ability beyond the norm for kids that age. The Alphabet Drill bolsters physical, intellectual, emotional and social development in the following ways: • The children’s physical development is enhanced because they must balance while

kicking.

• The children’s intellectual development is enhanced because they must focus on the sequence of the letters of the alphabet while maintaining their balance and kicking.

• The children’s emotional development is enhanced because they’re motivated to challenge themselves by executing more kicks each time they try the drill.

• The children’s social development is enhanced because they must show good sportsmanship when the drill becomes a healthy competition.

In this way, a simple drill can be turned into an exercise that has great value for children. This concept can be applied to other

Photos Courtesy of MAIA

very Tuesday after school, my son has a playdate at a local park. I like to watch him interact with other kids from the neighborhood so I can observe their behavior. I’m a fan of the way kids play, in part because I’m in awe that we adults don’t engage with our peers the way children do.

Unfortunately, the kids almost always exhibit behaviors that prompt their parents to weigh in on how they’re playing. Most of the parental feedback is negative. Not surprisingly, most of the kids’ responses to this are equally negative.

Many times, it’s just a case of mistaken “stage of development” identity. The parents don’t understand that the children’s behavior is natural and common for their age and therefore shouldn’t be addressed so negatively. At the same time, I see many occasions when a good martial arts program could make any parent’s job easier and more enjoyable.

One example comes from a child I’ll refer to as Paul. He’s 3 years old, clumsy and prone to crying. He doesn’t listen to his mom and doesn’t get along with most kids on the playground.

I know this because his mother constantly informs us of his issues by shouting things like “You’re going to fall,” “Stop running,” “Why are you crying now?” and “Go make friends.” In my opinion, she’s making his job as a 3-year-old harder than it needs to be.

I’m able to say this because I know things she doesn’t know. I know he has insufficient muscle tone, so he falls a lot — which is why his mom keeps predicting that he’s about to tumble.

Technically, he’s supposed to fall because his muscles can’t keep up with his gross-motor skills and his desire to move. A better comment would be, “Let’s see if you can make it through the entire playdate without falling.” Think about how that could change the way Paul’s brain focuses as he plays!

This is where a program like PreSKILLZ comes in. It can make a big difference in the life of a child. If you’ve taken my seminar at the Martial Arts SuperShow, you know that I like to break down the stages of development and discuss ways to help kids develop using proper verbal feedback. Sadly, many parents miss the mark because they aren’t trained to do this — which is why PreSKILLZ has tremendous value beyond mere kicking and punching.

drills as long as you know how to modify them to deliver agespecific benefits.

MAXIMIZING EACH STUDENT’S POTENTIAL

Photos Courtesy of MAIA

To better understand all that PreSKILLZ offers, it helps to break down some of the program’s developmental milestones for children ages 6 and younger.

The top physical-development milestones include demonstrating balance by performing high repetitions of kicks without putting the kicking foot down, showing good control while keeping the body in motion and exhibiting better fitness by applying techniques in exercises that extend beyond five reps.

The top intellectual-development milestones include demonstrating good focus on the task at hand despite the presence of distractions, exhibiting good memory by retaining three commands — and eventually more — in the proper order, and showing coordination by performing various strikes and kicks, as well as combinations, that use both sides of the body.

The top emotional-development milestones include demonstrating discipline by following directions after being told once

and by not acting silly when performing activities that require leadership, as well as by showing sufficient control of the mind to work through difficult tasks.

The top social-development milestones include demonstrating good teamwork in competitive situations, showing control by not interrupting and having the focus to sit still when appropriate.

With PreSKILLZ, you transform martial arts training into game-based learning to help kids develop the aforementioned skills beyond what’s typical for their age. The program has worked in hundreds of schools around the world, and more and more parents are noticing. They’re enrolling their children because they see much more value than can be acquired from other sports and activities. Consider: Most kids over age 7 participate in sports like soccer, baseball and basketball because they’re at the developmental stage where they have the skills to excel. At the same time, kids ages 6 and younger struggle because coaches’ (and parents’) expectations are typically very high, which means it’s not usually fun for the kids. They need a program that’s more developmentally appropriate and fun. This is why PreSKILLZ was developed.

MARCH/APRIL 2020 37

MAKING LEARNING AND TEACHING FUN One of the primary instructor-training resources for PreSKILLZ participants is the program’s breakdown of the physical, intellectual, emotional and social stages of development for children ages 6 and younger. It covers expectations for the challenges kids face during class while explaining the triggers behind those challenges, then provides strategies for addressing them in a positive and productive manner. This helps them learn in a fun way, which also makes teaching more fun.

The following is an overview of the common challenges children face in the classroom, as well as notes on triggers and strategies: PHYSICAL STAGE OF DEVELOPMENT — EXPECTATIONS: Kids typically struggle when executing more than five kicks in a row. They often stumble when trying to control their body as it moves, such as when switching feet and kicking. They frequently have trouble with inadequate strength when performing more than five reps of an exercise.

PHYSICAL STAGE OF DEVELOPMENT — TRIGGER: Kids’ vestibular and proprioceptive systems are still maturing. These systems are responsible for balance, coordination and fundamental movements such as skipping.

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PHYSICAL STAGE OF DEVELOPMENT — STRATEGY: The program shows you how to get them to focus and perform better with extrinsic motivation. For example, you promise that if they can do 10 kicks without putting their foot down, you will do five push-ups.

INTELLECTUAL STAGE OF DEVELOPMENT — EXPECTATIONS: Kids can have a hard time remembering a large amount of information that’s presented at one time. They can have difficulty compartmentalizing more than four commands given at one time.

They can have issues performing multiple left-side and rightside applications.

INTELLECTUAL STAGE OF DEVELOPMENT — TRIGGER: Kids’ cognitive skills are still maturing. These skills include category formation, which is the ability to organize information according to whether a technique is a block, strike, kick or stance. This also includes paying simultaneous attention to two or more tasks.

INTELLECTUAL STAGE OF DEVELOPMENT — STRATEGY: The program teaches you how to encourage children to put forth more mental effort with intrinsic motivation, which engages their cognitive

PRESKILLZ TAKES THE TASK OF TEACHING CHILDREN TO A WHOLE NEW LEVEL

BY DIGGING DEEP INTO OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THIS AGE GROUP.

skills. For example, you have them pick how many moves they want to memorize at one time: three, four, five or more.

do win. They may cheat if they think they can get away with it.

They’re often very talkative during class.

EMOTIONAL STAGE OF DEVELOPMENT — EXPECTATIONS: Kids may interrupt you to get your attention. They may act silly or scared when they’re nervous or anxious.

SOCIAL STAGE OF DEVELOPMENT — TRIGGER: They desire positive attention. The lateral prefrontal cortex plays a role in reward processing, and it’s still under development. That’s why this portion of the brain often exhibits strong activity.

EMOTIONAL STAGE OF DEVELOPMENT — TRIGGER: They have a high emotional desire to make their role models proud. This desire can overwhelm their self-regulating abilities, which are controlled in the prefrontal cortex, a part of the brain that’s still maturing.

EMOTIONAL STAGE OF DEVELOPMENT — STRATEGY: The program helps you help them self-regulate through redirection. For example, when they interrupt you or act silly, you ask them to stand or sit quietly like their favorite superhero.

SOCIAL STAGE OF DEVELOPMENT — EXPECTATIONS: Kids may get upset when they don’t win. They may get overexcited when they

SOCIAL STAGE OF DEVELOPMENT — STRATEGY: The program teaches you to give kids positive attention by getting them to do things correctly, with trickery if necessary. For example, you might say, “When I say go, let’s see who can sit better than Johnny. On your mark, get set, go!”

As you can see, PreSKILLZ takes the task of teaching children to a whole new level by digging deep into our understanding of this age group. This is precisely the time when most other sports fall short. It’s no surprise that schools which run a comprehensive age-specific program like PreSKILLZ are able to capitalize on this lucrative niche market.

MARCH/APRIL 2020 39

FOSTERING LEARNING WITH A CLASS PLANNER A common reason school owners avoid teaching children younger than 6 is they don’t believe the students are learning enough — which gives rise to those instructors being referred to as “babysitters.” PreSKILLZ instructors avoid this by following a class-planner format that maximizes learning though the use of science.

In PreSKILLZ, classes are divided into five parts. Each part works to set up the student for the next part of the class so that by the time the session is over, the mission of creating a cool experience for every student during every class (while also helping them become better) is accomplished. This is not an “overnight” revelation; decades of research and development stand behind the PreSKILLZ strategy.

PART 1: Class begins with a routine that has a variety of agespecific warmups so students are never bored.

How this leads into the next section of the planner: A good warmup gets blood flowing to the brain. That’s crucial because if students are bored during the warmups, they won’t invest much effort, which leads to diminished blood flow to the brain. That translates to an absence of brain fuel.

PART 2: This part of the class is the mat chat, in which you explain the skill you’re about to cover, including its main benefits and how it applies to their training, as well as how it can be used at home and at school.

How this leads into the next section of the planner: It activates their desire to learn because now they understand what they’re going to do next and why it will help them.

PART 3: This part of the class is composed of skill-building drills, or game-based learning. They’re not randomly selected drills put together to fill class time. They are skill-based and incorporate age-specific training.

How this leads into the next section of the planner: The right drills influence the brain’s “working memory.” Basically, this means the brain is trying to activate more neurons, which in turn 40 MASUCCESS

leads to the production of proteins that enable new connections to be wired (known as neural growth). In other words, the kids’ brains are primed for them to start learning and to retain information more efficiently.

PART 4: This part of class includes the martial arts training. You rotate through one category (stances, strikes, kicks or blocks) per class to ensure students aren’t overloaded while their cognitive skills develop.

How this leads into the next section of the planner: Now that the brain is firing at optimal levels, crystalized intelligence is kicking in. This is the process in which the brain rewires itself to function at a higher level. That means it can pick up new material faster and then store it for long-term use.

PART 5: The final part of the class involves playing a game. You rotate though a collection of age-specific games geared toward one main goal: having fun.

How this brings us back to the big picture: Students leave with big smiles on their faces. When they walk out the door, you want the last thing they remember to be that they had fun because in the eyes of a child, fun equals cool.

As you can see, a lot of science went into developing the PreSKILLZ class planner. What looks like a bunch of kids playing games is really a structured program that targets their stage of development in more ways than any other sport or activity.

Learning is maximized, but it’s strategically disguised as 45 minutes of fun.

MOVING FORWARD Running a martial arts school is no easy task. Teaching classes is equally challenging — unless you have the resources to make your job easier and more enjoyable. PreSKILLZ does just that, and it’s available for less than the average monthly tuition payment of just one student.

If you would you like to give it a free test drive, text PreSKILLZ to 26786. We will send you a sample class planner to try out.

LEARN HOW TO TEACH — WITH THE COGNITIVE BRAIN IN MIND! Several years ago while I was studying neuroscience, I stumbled across an aha moment as it pertains to children learning from a cognitive perspective. In the past, we were taught that children learn in three ways: auditory, visual and kinesthetic. Some students will excel in one of those categories more than in others, so we were told we needed to modify our teaching styles to accommodate all three.

At the same time, many of us looked at children’s cognitive skills and placed them in one of two categories: Either they were smart or they were slow learners.

The problem with this concept is it limited our expectations for students, particularly slow learners.

The solution I came up with was to identify the top eight cognitive functions of the brain so I could tap

into each student’s development more clearly and intentionally.

The term “cognitive” pertains to the functions of the brain that foster learning. For example, there is speed of processing, which is the ability to respond accurately and quickly; attention control, which is the ability to stay engaged during extended periods; and inductive thinking, which is the ability to find patterns and predict what will come next.

You know that drills are great for learning, but you may not have investigated which specific cognitive functions a drill helps develop. By identifying the top eight cognitive functions, we can help you facilitate your students’ development. This results in better practitioners and a higher value for your program, one

that extends beyond just the technical aspects of your particular martial art.

So how does this work?

When teaching a drill, you select a cognitive skill or two that match the purpose or intention of the drill. If you cannot identify a specific skill, you need to rethink the drill — it may be squandering an opportunity to help students advance. While this is not an easy task, it’s part of the beauty of the concept. Most sports and extracurricular activities fail to go this far, which is an advantage for martial arts programs that do because our biggest competitors are those sports and activities.

Imagine this: Mrs. Johnson approaches you about pulling her daughter out of your class so she can learn the piano. You recall what you learned from Brain SKILLZ, then explain how

your curriculum improves specific cognitive skills that will help her daughter thrive in piano class because of the benefits she’s getting from your martial arts class. Those benefits include things like speed of processing, attention control and inductive thinking.

Mrs. Johnson reconsiders and keeps her daughter in your class.

Sound interesting? If you think so, be sure to attend my seminar at the 2020 Martial Arts SuperShow. It will be titled Teaching With the Cognitive Brain in Mind.

I will cover all eight cognitive skills from my Brain SKILLZ program and show you how simple it is to integrate them into your martial arts curriculum.

— Melody Johnson Go to masupershow.com to sign up.

MARCH/APRIL 2020 41

Two Years Later

THE YOUTH SAFE SPORTS ACT AND WHAT IT MEANS FOR THE MARTIAL ARTS INDUSTRY

by Beth A. Block and Andrew J. Horner

M

any people involved with youth sports programs don’t know what the Youth Safe Sports Act (YSSA) is, despite the fact that it’s almost two years old.

This legislation is important for two reasons: First, it’s designed to keep our students safe from sexual predators, which is something we all want. Second, failure to comply with the law can result in severe consequences for martial arts school owners — even if the failure was merely one of ignorance and no actual assault occurred.

We’ll start with a brief review. Congress passed the YSSA in February 2018. The legislation was written in response to the abuse scandals that surrounded Jerry Sandusky (Penn State), Larry Nassar (USA Gymnastics) and Kristofer Bland (Pop Warner). The bill passed with bipartisan support and was signed into law by President Donald Trump. With the enactment of this law, all businesses that teach, train or work with youth, as well as all employees within those businesses, became directly responsible for safeguarding children from assault.

Abuse of child athletes is a worldwide problem.

Canadian authorities estimate that 2 percent to 8 percent of young athletes are victims of sexual abuse within the context of their sport, and American authorities give similar numbers. Childhelp, a nonprofit that works to prevent child abuse and help victims, estimates that 40 percent to 50 percent of all young athletes have experienced sexual harassment in connection with their sport in situations that range from verbal harassment to physical abuse.

These numbers are staggering. They mean that, at a minimum, two of every 100 children under age 18 have been sexually abused.

Kids who train at our schools may be victims of abuse even though the people who work in our studios are doing nothing wrong. Many young martial arts students also play soccer, basketball, football and other sports. Although we may scrupulously follow assault-prevention policies — no instructor is left alone with a student, no students are left by themselves and so on — we cannot control what happens when students are not in our care. Still, it’s our privilege and responsibility to protect our students, and we must be aware of the signs of abuse so we can report it, regardless of where it originated.

“When confronted by unjust threats, martial artist(s) will fight back with an absolute resolve,” the Taekwondo Bible says. “Fighting for a cause is

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the essence which differentiates between a common fighter and a warrior.”

Martial arts instructors are warriors. We teach our students to be warriors. However, most of those students haven’t reached that level yet. While they are under our instruction, we are their warriors. According to the YSSA, this is more than a responsibility; it’s a legal requirement.

What does the YSSA require of us? At its most basic level,

YOU MUST TRAIN NOT ONLY YOURSELF BUT ALSO YOUR INSTRUCTORS AND EVEN YOUR VOLUNTEERS.

MARCH/APRIL 2020 45

the law states that we must enforce a standard of care to protect children. The frustrating part is that this standard is clearly defined only when it comes to student athletes competing across state lines or to athletic programs that feed into Olympic programs (which have even tougher standards). There has yet to be a court case that sets a precedent for what constitutes a reasonable standard of care for the daily operations of a martial arts school.

This article focuses on the standards that apply to studios that have kids competing across state lines. However, we recommend that all martial arts schools abide by the guidelines even if their students don’t compete. It may not be a legal matter, but we should view it as a moral duty.

Recognition Sexual Abuse Awareness and Prevention Training lies at the heart of the new requirements. If you cannot recognize warning signs of child abuse, you cannot do anything to help the victims.

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Training will teach you how to recognize abused children, which children fit a victim profile and what signs indicate a child is being “groomed� by a predator (see sidebar).

There are many different training programs available through various legal and nonprofit entities. Some are less expensive on the front end but require a lengthier investment of time. Some include the cost of the training certificate, while others charge extra for it. Whichever option you choose, we recommend that you invest in a course that will provide you with proof of completion.

Most important, you must train not only yourself but also your instructors and even your volunteers. The new legislation requires that all adults over age 18 who interact with your athletes receive this training. The training prepares you and your team to be on the lookout for potential danger and protects your students. This applies to all studios.

The second requirement of the YSSA is the federal imposition of mandated reporting. This law does not apply to studios

YOUR PROFESSIONAL POSITION AS A MARTIAL ARTS INSTRUCTOR MAKES YOU A MANDATED REPORTER UNDER FEDERAL LAW. that don’t have athletes competing across state lines; however, many states have already made us mandated reporters. If your state law requires you to be a mandated reporter, the competition aspect makes no difference. You must follow your state’s requirements. If you don’t know which agency is the appropriate one in your location, I suggest searching for “abuse hotline” in your state. Then prominently post that phone number in your studio.

What does it mean to be a mandated reporter? According to Merriam-Webster, it’s “an individual who holds a professional position … that requires him or her to report to the appropriate state agency cases of child abuse that he or she has reasonable cause to suspect.” We now will break that down.

Your professional position as a martial arts instructor makes you a mandated reporter under federal law. You therefore must report any cases of child abuse that you have a reasonable cause to suspect. The same rules apply to your employees and volunteers.

An important phrase to highlight is “reasonable cause to suspect.” You don’t wait to report until you have proof that the child has been abused. Your responsibility is to make the report to authorities and then leave the investigation to them.

The YSSA addresses your freedom from liability for making reports. This means that even if it turns out that there was no abuse and the person who was investigated is angry and wants to sue you, that person cannot. The law states, “An applicable entity shall not be liable for damages in any civil action for defamation, libel, slander or damage to reputation arising out of any

action or communication … except any action in which an applicable entity acted with actual malice.”

In other words, you cannot be successfully sued for reporting suspected abuse unless you deliberately make a false claim with the intent of harming someone else. It’s your responsibility to report anything you see, anything a child tells you and anything you suspect, based on the training you’ve completed, to the appropriate agency in your state.

It’s important to understand what abuse is so you know what you’re required to report. The organization Childhelp says child abuse occurs “when a parent or caregiver, whether through action or failing to act, causes injury, death, emotional harm or risk of serious harm to a child.” There are many forms of child maltreatment, including neglect, physical abuse, sexual abuse, exploitation and emotional abuse.

Prevention One part of reasonable standard of care involves your jobscreening process. After years of working with the martial arts industry, I feel confident in saying that 90 percent of studios hire current or former students as instructors. Often, we hire them as part-timers while they’re still in school and allow them to grow into instructor roles. We’ve known these individuals since they were kids, we reason, so we don’t need a background check.

Besides, if they’re still under 18, what could a background check possibly tell us? Most of us also haven’t put together a formal job description and don’t keep notes from formal interviews.

This, of course, is ill-advised.

Imagine that you’re on the witness stand in court. One of the children in your program has been molested by an instructor at your school. You’re reminded that an 18-year-old instructor having consensual sex with a 16-year-old student still constitutes statutory rape in many states and, thus, is child abuse.

The plaintiff’s attorney asks you to describe the process you used when hiring the accused molester. You answer that you hired your student without any background screening or objective job standards.

Next, the plaintiff’s attorney asks what your work policies state regarding abuse, what they state regarding one-on-one MARCH/APRIL 2020 47

another. I mention this incident because it time with students, what your social media leads us to a discussion of what the YSSA policies state regarding instructor interachas not addressed: children abusing other tion with students and what training you children physically, mentally or sexually. The provided to your instructors to prevent probdefinition of child abuse given earlier in this lems. How will you answer these questions? article doesn’t apply to children abusing chilThe time to prepare is now, not after your dren. However, you should be equally prompt unwanted day in court. in reporting this kind of abuse. It’s no less Many of the training programs availdamaging to the victim, and by reporting, able for you and your team also provide you’re validating that you believe the child. background-screening services, sample You’re acting within your capacity as your job-description forms, sample interviewstudent’s warrior role model. documentation forms and sample policies Chances are you didn’t know there was for your team. These forms and policies are a law placing these new responsibilities on also available for volunteers through some you. Many of the law-enforcement services. officers in your state may not A word of warning: BackBY THE know about it either. Some ground checks are often NUMBERS instructors I’ve spoken ineffective. That doesn’t with have talked to legal mean you should not Statistics show that 86 professionals who told do the check, however. percent of child molesters them that they weren’t You still need to have are male. Nevertheless, responsible for anything evidence of one in the you shouldn’t rule out the imposed by this law. employee’s file. Just be threat of sexual predaSome people have told aware that you cannot tion by women. me they knew about the depend on a background law but didn’t want to go to check alone to protect your the effort to comply if there was students and your business. One no enforcement. Of course, none of this studio I know of ran a background check matters in court. on a man (whom they went on to hire) but Ultimately, the question we all must ask didn’t think to do a simple online search. ourselves is, “Will I be my students’ warrior?”

After a student was abused, a Google query No warrior is completely self-sufficient. We all revealed that the man’s niece had accused need the backup of our support system. One him of molestation two years earlier. This easy first step you can take now is to learn did not play out well in court. how to talk to a child who’s been molested.

It’s best to be able to tell the plaintiff’s According to Parents Protect!, the way adults attorney all the procedures that you’ve implerespond to such situations is vital to ensuring mented and followed. It’s also important to the child’s safety. The recommendations are know what can happen if you don’t follow the as follows: Believe the child, be supportive, requirements of the YSSA. You can be sued stay calm, be caring, face the problem and as a studio. Civil liability for abuse is nothing re-establish safety. new in the martial arts world, but now we For more information about this imporalso can be held liable for criminal penalties. tant legislation, Google “Youth Safe Sports The YSSA is a federal law, and many state Act.” Many experts have weighed in on the laws make us mandated reporters. Failure to subject and the impact it’s having on the report is a criminal matter. youth sports world. The text of the YSSA is also available online. Feel free to reach Case Study out to us if you have specific questions. Our Fifteen years ago, I watched a trio of instrucemail addresses are beth@blockins.net and tors go to jail for failing to report sexual andrew@blockins.net. abuse that one student perpetrated on

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WHAT IS GROOMING? As distasteful as it seems, being able to prevent child abuse at the hands of pedophiles requires insight into how such individuals prey on their victims. Understanding “grooming” is one such important measure we must take.

According to Greg Love of Abuse Prevention Systems, grooming is the process by which the abuser prepares the future victim and any adult gatekeepers to get access. The gatekeepers are you, the child’s parents, his or her teachers and anyone else who has responsibility for the person.

The typical grooming act has several components. The abuser will gradually expose the child to nudity to build up his or her comfort level before the more aggressive victimization begins. The abuser also will seek to become a trusted helper to the adult gatekeepers.

Interviews with convicted child molesters indicate that the average pedophile victimizes 150 children before being caught. I asked myself how that could possibly be true. Every time one of these cases ends up on the nightly news, the abuser’s coworkers and neighbors say, “I never would have thought he would do that.” That’s because the abuser is grooming the adults, as well as the kids.

If you want an example of just how insidious grooming can be, look no further than the case of Larry Nassar. The serial predator used his position as a USA Gymnastics doctor to assault more than 300 young people. But what makes his case even more disturbing is that on multiple occasions, he assaulted victims during sports-therapy sessions — with their parents in the same room!

The purpose of this anecdote is not to push blame onto the parents. It’s to point out how thoroughly predators can cultivate rapport, build trust and render even the most watchful eyes blind if we don’t know what to look for.

Don’t let dirt and germs chase your business away.

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A Shaolin Kung Fu Monk Teaches the Essential Concepts, Techniques and Exercises of the Ancient Art

BY ROBERT W. YOUNG PHOTOGRAPHY BY PETER LUEDERS

Many Shaolin stances can be held — and even exaggerated — to serve as exercises intended to build the roots that are needed to excel in the art.

I

t’s not hard to envision an 8-year-old boy from rural China being entranced by a giant tree, especially when that tree is more than 1,500 years old, when it has a girth so great that encircling its trunk takes five men with arms extended, when its root system is said to extend under half the temple complex in which the youth lives.

That tree, a Ginkgo biloba, was planted at Shaolin shortly after the temple was founded in the fifth century. It was there when young Wang Bo began his Shaolin training in 1997, and it’s there now. For one and a half millennia, it’s provided shade and sus52 MASUCCESS

tenance for the monks of Shaolin, not to mention inspiration for the propagation of their style of kung fu.

The difference between Shaolin temple and other temples is that Shaolin temple embraced the warrior-monk culture, whereas other temples were strictly religious establishments.

— George W. Alexander, Ph.D.

“What makes our martial art different is it’s designed to teach you how to protect yourself and to keep you from getting hurt as

you work to develop your body and skills,” Wang Bo says. That’s a lot to learn, to be sure, but it’s doable because the monks have organized their training in a way that parallels the anatomy of the famed tree of Shaolin.

“When you want to plant a tree, first you have to place the seed in the soil, and then the roots start to grow until you have a thin trunk rising out of the ground and finally the branches develop,” Wang Bo says. “Shaolin kung fu is like that because you need all three parts to thrive: your roots, which means stable stances, fast steps and powerful kicks; your trunk, which is a strong, mobile and flexible body; and your branches, which are your arms and the techniques you do with them to shield yourself and counterattack.”

The way of Shaolin is to train your entire being, to look for and improve imperfections, to forge and sharpen all elements.

— Rob Moses

ROOTS Just as they do for trees, roots in Shaolin kung fu serve as a connection with the earth. As such, they form the base on which everything else is built. It all starts with strength and stability in the legs, Wang Bo says. Together, they enable you to maneuver out of danger when possible, to withstand an attack when necessary and even to balance on one leg should you choose to kick as a counter to an assault.

It’s not just your roots that are important, Wang Bo says.

“Sometimes the most powerful thing you can do is attack the other person’s roots. We say, ‘If you cut the branches — the other person’s arms — they’ll grow back, but if you cut the roots — the other person’s legs — he won’t be able to stand back up.’ Attacking an enemy’s lower legs is the same as cutting his roots.”

The best way to keep that from happening to you is to strengthen your roots with bodyweight exercises, he says. “You

In Shaolin kung fu, the concept of roots includes kicks.

For training purposes, they can be aimed as high as your flexibility allows.

For selfdefense, they’re usually kept low, Wang Bo says.

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The single-leg squat is a preferred Shaolin method for strengthening the roots while improving balance.

If you practice stances only for a minute at a time, you will never surpass the pain and fatigue part of the training, and you may be programming your body with a tight and counterproductive physiological response. Stance training must lead you into an almost meditative state so you feel as though you’ve been “poured” into the position. Only then will your stances become truly natural.

— Ted Mancuso

Kicks: In Shaolin kung fu, the concept of roots also encompasses kicks, perhaps the most fundamental and versatile of which is the front kick. “The low front kick with the toes is effective for striking weak areas of the body such as the groin — which affects your opponent’s roots,” Wang Bo says. “It’s good for when you might not have the power of your opponent.”

The technique can be used after a rapid retreat, he adds.

“When your opponent attacks, step back and toe-kick his groin while leaning backward to protect your upper body.”

Whenever you’re fighting, you want to target your opponent’s vital spots. You aren’t scoring points; you’re defending your life. The martial arts are not a sport; they’re deadly battlefield skills for defeating an opponent.

build yourself up naturally by doing practical things like singleleg squats. Stances also develop the muscles and the balance you need for this.”

Stances: Consider the single-leg-up stance, Wang Bo says.

“One leg is straight and supports your bodyweight, and the other leg is straight and held horizontal. To pass the time at the temple, we would do this while chanting. Each chant would be about two minutes long.” Non-monks should start with 15-second sessions per leg, he advises.

— Buck Sam Kong

The roundhouse kick is another component of the temple’s teachings on roots. “The kick can go high or low and be done with either leg,” Wang Bo says. “The kick with the front leg has speed, and the kick with the back leg has power, which comes from turning your body.”

The monks must bring their bodies to the same level of advancement as their minds, and they achieve that by fusing meditation with physical exertion. The result is physical and mental hardening.

— Steve DeMasco

The cat stance is also recommended for rapid root growth.

“Your weight is on one leg, and your other leg is slightly bent with the toe of the foot touching the floor,” Wang Bo says.

“Turn it into an exercise by lowering your body on your support leg, then rising up. This improves the balance you need to kick dynamically and builds the strength you need to move forward explosively.”

When discussing roots and stances, he’s quick to mention the horse stance. “It’s very important whether you’re a beginner or master because it gives you better balance while building strength in your legs, as well as your knees, ankles and hips,” he says. “At the temple, to build our roots, we would sometimes eat while in the horse stance. Try doing it while watching TV.” 54 MASUCCESS

Having good roots and a fast, powerful trunk enables the execution of defensive movements that are effective even though some might consider them unorthodox.

When the calf is flexed to extend the foot, the low front kick can use the toes to target the groin.

Wang Bo (left) demonstrates.

The side kick, another staple, also can be fired high to attack the trunk or low to target the roots, he says. To make it more effective when you need to cover distance, couple it with a slide.

“The sliding side kick is fast, simple and direct,” Wang Bo says.

“Don’t jump or take a big step that forces you to cross your legs.

Instead, lift your front knee and slide forward on your support leg to close the distance. This makes it more difficult for your opponent to detect the kick. It’s good to use while your opponent is approaching or attacking.”

Next step: Study the Shaolin tui fa form to grow your roots, including your stances, kicks, mobility and balance.

TRUNK In Shaolin kung fu, the term “trunk” refers to your head and body — basically, anything on your centerline, Wang Bo says.

It fits into his tree metaphor because the tree trunk is what’s exposed and, therefore, vulnerable. When people want to harvest the timber or simply cut the tree down to remove it, the trunk is where they focus. “It’s what gets ‘attacked’ because the roots are buried and the branches are too high to reach,” he says.

“It’s the same in martial arts because your trunk is what gets attacked. An opponent won’t punch your hand, but he will punch your stomach or chest.”

Almost every defensive movement you make in a fight is to preserve the well-being of your centerline targets, he says. “You use your branches to protect your trunk. You use your roots to be able to hold the ground while you move. When you improve your arms — your branches — and your roots — your legs — you can better protect your trunk.”

Mobility: A properly conditioned trunk needs to be strong and flexible so it’s sufficiently mobile to enable the branches to act MARCH/APRIL 2020 55

“When an animal confronts a monkey, the monkey moves its whole body before it counters, which for a monkey usually means stealing your stuff. To mimic the monkey in a fight, you make this big thing — your torso — as small as possible by bending your spine, ducking your head and turning.

That makes it harder for your opponent to hit you.”

The posture of the monkey, with the arms tucked in and the cross section of the trunk minimized, facilitates movement while reducing the opponent’s options for attack.

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Wang Bo assumes a low stance, then shifts to the center and the opposite side before reversing the exercise. It’s designed to build leg strength, flexibility and balance for better roots.

and so it can keep up with the movements of the roots, Wang Bo says. “Trunk, roots and branches all need to function as one.”

When an attacker lashes out, of course you want to prevent him from getting to your centerline, he continues. “One way you do that is by moving your trunk like a monkey. When an animal confronts a monkey, the monkey moves its whole body before it counters, which for a monkey usually means stealing your stuff. To mimic the monkey in a fight, you make this big thing — your torso — as small as possible by bending your spine, ducking your head and turning. That makes it harder for your opponent to hit you.”

A benefit of making your trunk smaller is that it enables you to move more quickly — just like spinning figure skaters who retract their arms, he says. “When you’re standing upright [with your arms extended], you can’t move as fast. But if your spine is curved forward and your arms are near your chest, you can move and counter faster.”

Speed: “If you develop your leg strength and stances so you can move fast, that’s great, but if your legs are fast but your body is slow, you’ll get hit,” Wang Bo says. “Likewise, if your hands are fast but your body is slow, you’ll get hit. The secret of

being a good martial artist is being equally fast with your roots, trunk and branches.”

While the [karateka] delivers his punches and kicks straight forward with little side-to-side maneuvering, the kung fu stylist is on the move, whirling and twisting swiftly, coming at his opponent from all directions with a barrage of techniques.

Speed is considered as important as power.

— Anthony DeLeonardis

To boost speed in all three areas, Shaolin kung fu relies on traditional training methods for empowering the body. “One of the best ones for beginners is to have a partner attack you,” Wang Bo says. “You must avoid his strikes while moving your trunk, but you cannot punch or kick. You’ll discover that moving your trunk and making it smaller at the same time means you’re less likely to get hit.”

Flexibility: “For the trunk, we also can learn lessons from the snake,” he says. “First, a snake is very soft, but at the same time, it can attack and squeeze. When you hold your opponent, you’re like a snake that’s squeezing its prey.

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“Second, the snake’s body moves from side to side like a wave.

When your opponent attacks, don’t move straight backward because that’s what he expects. Instead, move your trunk in a wave — tilting to the side to avoid the attack and then stepping forward so you can counter from in close.”

Next step: Study the Shaolin shen fa form to improve your mobility, speed, strength and flexibility. It will help your trunk keep up with your roots and branches.

When somebody says forms have no usefulness in self-defense training, that person doesn’t understand the martial arts.

— Steve DeMasco

BRANCHES “You use your branches to protect your trunk. When you improve your arms — your branches — and your roots — your legs — you can better protect your trunk. The secret of being a good martial artist is being equally fast with your roots, trunk and branches.”

Those wise words from Shaolin monk Wang Bo sum up the concept of the tree analogy he uses to teach kung fu. Since he was 8, they’ve been drilled into him by senior monks, and they now form the basis of his teaching method.

Protection isn’t the only function of your branches, he adds.

As anyone who’s familiar with the animal techniques of the monastery’s martial art knows, the hands and arms are capable of pre-emption via a myriad of offensive techniques. One second your arm might block a strike, and the next moment it might issue an attack to prevent your opponent from following up.

In the beginning, the old masters studied the animals and adopted many of their habits.

Those habits included how they rested, how they gathered and released their chi (internal energy), how they stalked their prey and how they fought.

— Eric Lee

“Because your arms are shorter and lighter than your legs and because you’re holding them closer to your trunk — remember what we learned from the monkey (see Part 1 of this article) — you can move them faster than you can move your legs,” Wang Bo says. “Your branches have to be fast so you can move them wherever you want. Because they have so many functions, the more branches you have, the better off you are. If you punch high and it’s blocked, you can follow up with a punch to the body, which might get through.

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If that doesn’t work, you can use an eye strike. You want to have hundreds of branches, which means you can strike at many different levels with a variety of techniques.”

You also can block, grab and squeeze things when necessary, he adds. That means your branches need to be powerful and flexible, as well. Because you probably don’t have to worry about an opponent attacking your branches, you need not think about defending them like you do your trunk. That freedom lets you move your limbs wherever they’re needed to protect your head and body, he says.

Before delving into the animals of Shaolin, a brief examination of the temple’s approach to punching is in order.

Punches The horizontal punch of Shaolin kung fu is similar to what’s taught in most martial arts. “You can initiate it from a ready stance like a boxer or from your hip,” Wang Bo says. “Like with the roundhouse kick, a lead-hand punch is fast, while a rear-hand punch is powerful. To generate that power, you have to move your shoulder and twist your hip.”

In other styles, most of the power comes from above the waist, but in Chinese boxing, the power comes from the entire body. When you punch, all your bodyweight hits the target at the same time.

— Steve DeMasco

The vertical punch is less common in the martial arts world, but it’s a staple of wing chun, Wang Bo says. It’s also a part of Shaolin kung fu. “The straight vertical punch requires speed because you

TIGER: The Shaolin tiger claw uses the palm to strike or push and the fingers to catch or scratch. A prime target for the technique, executed here after an evasive move that lowers the body, is the attacker’s groin.

MANTIS: This technique can be used defensively to deflect punches, says Shaolin monk Wang Bo (right). An offensive follow-up entails extending the right arm to thrust the fingers into the opponent’s eyes.

have to strike, often repeatedly, like a wheel that’s turning,” he says.

“It’s mainly used to attack the nose and throat of your opponent.”

The technique is delivered with a vertical fist fired at high velocity along the opponent’s centerline. It uses the shortest-distance-between-two-points-is-a-straight-line concept to respond quickly to a threat. The shock power of the punch is delivered perpendicularly to the target, allowing

makes contact, the follow-through brings it back in an arc.

The seldom-seen Shaolin back punch is executed with an inverted vertical fist, he says. It can be used to strike the ribs if you’ve taken evasive action that causes you to lower your torso.

If you’re down there because you’ve been hit, a back punch executed from the same position and at the same target or the groin can serve as a steppingstone to recovering your posture and regaining your composure.

the practitioner’s weight to penetrate the attacker and driving the punch in faster and deeper.

— Dr. Mark Cheng

The vertical punch also can be fired like a hook, Wang Bo says.

It travels out to the target along a slightly curved path. Once it

Animal Strikes Shaolin kung fu is renowned for its animalinspired techniques, Wang Bo says. Perhaps the best-known is the tiger claw.

The weapon is composed of two parts: the palm and the fingertips, he says. “It can be used to scratch, push, catch or block. Have MARCH/APRIL 2020 59

LEOPARD

1. Wang Bo (right) faces his opponent.

2. When the man kicks, the Shaolin monk moves off the line of attack and blocks by executing a snapping leopard claw to his lower leg.

3. He immediately transitions into a leopard-claw thrust to the throat.

you ever watched a cat use its paws to stop something from hitting it? That shows you one way you can use the tiger claw.”

The chi power generated by the snake helps activate profound sensitivity and enables all the muscles to work as one.

— Rob Moses

The tiger is the most popular animal because of its strength, agility and power. When you study how the tiger attacks, you notice that it goes right through its enemy. There’s nothing subtle or technical about its method; it uses brute force.

The tiger isn’t choosy about the parts of the body it targets.

Instead, it goes for the first part it can reach.

— Steve DeMasco

Another popular Shaolin animal technique is the snake hand, which is effected by extending the fingers and positioning the thumb alongside the middle knuckle of the index finger and forming your hand like you’re holding a small egg, Wang Bo says.

From there, use your fingertips to strike your opponent’s throat, which is soft enough not to damage your digits, he says.

Or use your cupped hand to block an attacker’s punch. That close-range blocking is facilitated, he says, by the conditioning your trunk gets from practicing snake movements.

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In contrast to the snake hand, which uses all five digits, the Shaolin eagle claw uses just three: the index finger, the middle finger and the thumb. “You can use the technique vertically on your opponent’s neck, or you can rotate your hand to the left or right to attack other weak areas like the throat, the groin and pressure points on the ribs,” Wang Bo says.

One of the most famous of all the Chinese arts is called, menacingly enough, the eagle claw. And menacing it should be, for this system adopts as one of its more potent offenses a series of claw-like rakes to the eyes and throat.

— Anthony DeLeonardis

“After striking, you can use the eagle claw to grab or crush,” Wang Bo says. “In the old days, they used to practice on trees and build their hand strength by breaking walnuts using their

MONKEY

2. Wang Bo slips under the man’s right arm and out of his hold using a monkey move that retracts the arms and lowers the body.

1. Wang Bo (right) and his adversary engage in clinch range.

3. The Shaolin monk then diverts the assailant’s arm.

4. Wang Bo pivots to send a vertical-fist hook to the jaw.

fingertips. Imagine someone who does that using the technique on your throat!”

The leopard is also part of the Shaolin menagerie. You form the leopard claw by bending your fingers halfway to where they would be in a fist, with your thumb tucked in tight, he says. “The technique is used mostly for blocking. The knife edge of the hand makes contact. Because your fingers are bent, it protects them when you block a strong technique like a kick. The leopard claw also can be used to strike downward like a hammerfist or outward like a thrust.”

and middle fingers can be used to jab the throat,” he says. “The bent wrist can be used to strike or block. You can even do both in a chain, then follow up with a twisting elbow strike using the same arm.”

With praying mantis kung fu, you can wrap, squeeze, and use twisting and spiraling movements to execute efficient chin-na techniques. You can pinch or trap with your arms or legs while your hands are ready to strike or do more twisting.

The way of the leopard revolves around strong, accurate

— Rob Moses

strikes that are often a total surprise to the person being confronted. The whipping motion and explosive striking that come from beginning a technique with relaxed muscles are the hallmarks of the leopard. Effectiveness is enhanced whenever preferred targets — the soft areas of the body — are hit.

— Steve DeMasco

Wang Bo identifies the mantis hand as one of the most versatile branches of the fighting art of Shaolin Temple. “The index

“The mantis is known for its reach,” Wang Bo says. “For example, using your rear hand, you can deflect a punch with a mantis strike to the forearm. Then you extend your lead arm, first spearing the throat with the fingertips and then thrusting into the throat with the back of your wrist.”

Next step: Study the Shaolin shou fa form to fine-tune your animal techniques while building your stamina.

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Because Shaolin forms are so low to the ground and use wide

EAGLE

stances, they require you to move all your bodyweight. That develops your balance and agility, and it trains your muscles to move in certain ways that are very useful in combat.

— Steve DeMasco

SHAOLIN TRIPOD Think of the roots, trunk and branches of Shaolin kung fu as three parts of the whole, Wang Bo says. “After you’ve strengthened your roots, improved the flexibility of your trunk and expanded your branches, your body becomes like a tripod. Your head, which is mounted on top, is like the camera. When all three legs are properly developed, you’re ready, you can move fast, you can avoid and you can counterattack.”

Tranquilize the mind to attain awareness, and exercise the body to become healthy and agile. Without tranquility, you cannot attain enlightenment. Without good health, there will

1. When the opponent attacks with a push (or grab), Wang Bo first stabilizes his roots.

not be good circulation throughout the body. Adequate exercise makes the body strong and the mind healthy. Without it, you will always suffer from pain and poor health.

— Bodhidharma

Even better, you will have developed those skills in a manner that fosters good health and longevity, Wang Bo says. “The important thing is to learn and practice in a natural way that won’t hurt your [body] — like the way a tree grows its roots first, then its trunk and then expands its branches. This is why there are masters who are 80 years old and still able to practice kung fu.”

ABOUT THE EXPERT: Wang Bo began training in the martial arts when he was 3. At age 8, he moved to Shaolin Temple to continue his martial education. A Black Belt Hall of Famer, he now lives in Southern California. For information about his Tree of Shaolin online video course, in which he teaches everything discussed in this article and much more, visit madrills.com.

YOUR SHAOLIN JOURNEY BEGINS ON YOUR CELLPHONE Thanks to Black Belt’s collaboration with Wang Bo, the Shaolin monk featured in this article, you can now learn techniques from this 1,500-year-old art of self-defense on your smartphone, tablet or computer — whenever and wherever it’s convenient. Learn tui fa, shen fa and shou fa, the three Shaolin forms mentioned in this story. Listen as the martial monk covers the concepts of roots, trunk and branches. See the drills the senior monks had him do at Shaolin Temple. Follow along as he demonstrates defenses for common attacks. Go to madrills.com now to sign up.

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He then raises his arms and drives them downward to displace the opponent’s limbs.

3. Securing the arm that presents the greatest threat, Wang Bo counterattacks with a Shaolin eagle claw to the neck.

4. The technique can crush the assailant’s throat and destroy his balance.

MARCH/APRIL 2020 63

TURNING POINT

Rick Moneymaker: Seeing One Touch Knock a Man Out!

BY HERB BORKLAND

“In this column, we examine the pivotal point in a prominent black belt’s career, the event that launched him or her toward success in martial arts business, sports or films.”

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ick Moneymaker is a torite-jutsu nerve-strike expert. Hailing from Virginia, the ninth-degree black belt co-founded Dragon Society International (along with 10th-degree Thomas Muncy) in 1989. DSI is a martial arts technical resource center for acupuncture-based self-defense. Moneymaker is a hall-of-fame inductee of the World Martial Arts Federation, International Shurite Yudansha-Kai, International Karate and Kickboxing Association, and Combat magazine. An instructor on the international seminar circuit for more than 40 years, he’s also the author of the Torite-Jutsu Reference Manual and the Torite-Jutsu Technical Manual.

MASuccess: Where did you grow up, and what did your dad do?

Rick Moneymaker: I grew up in Stuarts Draft, Virginia, and my father was the vice-president of a bank.

MAS: Do you remember how you first heard about the martial arts?

Moneymaker: I saw a karate movie on TV that made me want to learn more. I lettered nine times in high school and was an Amateur Athletic Union gymnast — athletics was always a part of my career. I left high school to become a National Electrical Union apprentice. [There were] no sports at our trade school, so one of the electricians invited me to a class in 1974 taught by Tom Muncy.

Grandmaster George Dillman watched me fight on the Region 10 circuit — I won 25 black-belt heavyweight championships — and asked us to join his organization. He invited Seiyu Oyata to do a seminar, and Muncy and I went. We saw Oyata pick out a 6-foot-9-inch, 300-pound guy, tap him on the neck … and the big dude hit the floor and went to sleep. Shocked me!

I’m an industrial electrician, a superintendent, and I grew up in the heavy-construction business.

The body’s electrical system doesn’t match the nervous system. The meridian system lines the fascia (the body’s connective tissue) and signals 100 times faster than a signal from the nerves.

Once you learn the angle and direction of a strike, you can use it in a street fight. You can teach a knockout to a green belt in an hour and a half.

Safety is the problem. The amateur strikes with force; the grandmaster uses a light touch.

After 40-plus years of doing seminars, 95 percent of the audience still shows up to prove me wrong.

They cannot because it is a medical fact that shorting out the meridians of the body causes pain or unconsciousness. I once held 133 seminars in one year. Nobody can fake that much.

Many things make pressure points work. It’s not so much where you strike but … change of angle, vibration, muscle stretching and plane of attack.

There are 200 ways to make the hurt worse.

And, yes, this is all based on science. Dragon Society International researches and educates on the martial science behind martial arts. If an old redneck construction worker can read a few books and travel around the world, the science is true.

MAS: What does the future hold?

Moneymaker: The future lies in the science of the martial arts. I once wrote, “Knowledge is not power.

The application of knowledge is power.” When our science is integrated into traditional arts, we have a complete system of fighting. Or, as the Asian masters said when demonstrating pressure points, “The nature of man is understood.”

MAS: What was your turning point?

Moneymaker: That was my turning point. Muncy and I bought thousands of dollars’ worth of acupuncture books and became good at healing. Today, when To contact Herb Borkscientists see what we do, they are baffled because land, send an email to their science doesn’t explain it. But my science does. herbork@comcast.net.

64 MASUCCESS

Learn about Billy’s BoomBoxing®!

Come train with me Feb. 22nd-23rd or June 13th-14th.

Visit Taebo.com for information.

“Let me help you attract more excitement and membership for your gym in 2020”

7

HEALTH KICK

Monster Marketing Methods — Don’t Be Scared, Be Scary!

BY ERIC P. FLEISHMAN

“Sometimes, seeking nontraditional partners helps gain media exposure. For example, aligning with a popular local coffee shop doesn’t seem like a slam dunk, but it could be a goldmine for recruiting new members.”

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ou started this journey years ago as a student with a deep desire to learn all the beautiful subtleties of your martial art while simultaneously capturing its grandeur. Eventually, you transitioned from student to teacher. In this new role of instructor, you implored your followers to embrace the martial arts with the same passion and commitment as they would a spouse. It was your mission to be the best, to communicate to others the form and function, and to keep ancient traditions alive with you as their advocate and protector.

And now, as the proud owner of your own dojo, you not only have the ability to shape the minds of those around you, but you also can impact their lives physically, emotionally and spiritually.

However, to impart your teachings, you must have students. They are the lifeblood of every martial art and every school. In this day and age of smartphones, digital media and increased stress, attracting and retaining students can be a daunting challenge. But with the right marketing strategy in place, you’ll boldly defeat this worthy opponent.

To begin a strong marketing effort, start with low-hanging fruit: Enlist a celebrity. Now, I’m not saying you should mortgage your house and hire one of Hollywood’s elite. Instead, reach out to a local celebrity, perhaps a newscaster or weatherman.

Invite him or her to your dojo for a special guest appearance. Make the person a part of your dojo’s family and share the power of martial arts! A celebrity presence may help you get on the air. From a marketing perspective, having an influential person telling the public how great you are is much more powerful than having you sing your own praises.

You also can take your message directly to the masses with a demo team that performs at street markets and local festivals. Often, the visibility of a school will rise dramatically when members participate in community events. Many times, this is a catalyst for extended media coverage. Look for opportunities to attend meetings as a guest performer/speaker so you can share your art and your ways of achieving success. Remember that the martial arts represent a fascinating, foreign

universe to those who don’t train. Sharing lessons and traditions in a public forum is an excellent tool for drawing in those outsiders.

Another fun and creative way to promote your dojo is to post short-form videos online. These take a little work — you’ll have to shoot and edit them yourself, unless you plan on hiring a service. Either way, the videos will help showcase your school. If you happen to make a video that goes viral, the value will increase exponentially.

Videos can be powerful marketing tools. They also provide an exciting platform to issue a challenge to your local community and the larger online audience. It could be a kata, an exercise or a charity-based activity — everyone loves to accept a fun challenge. Encourage people to share their results online. It’s a simple way to garner interest, get lots of views and expand your online community. Once you have more viewers hooked, you can offer them more content.

In times of stress or natural disasters, answering the call for help can distinguish your dojo from other organizations. The martial arts teach us strength, discipline and order — all excellent qualities that are needed to tackle big problems. Establishing partnerships with local academic schools or nonprofit entities can bring potential students your way, and it gives you and your students a way to give back to the community.

Sometimes, seeking nontraditional partners helps gain media exposure. For example, aligning with a popular local coffee shop doesn’t seem like a slam dunk, but it could be a goldmine for recruiting new members.

Finally, working directly with parents can be the most effective method for filling kid and adult classes. All schools and sports teams have active associations for parents. The parents’ desire to provide the best for their children becomes your gain.

Eric P. Fleishman — aka Eric the Trainer — is a Hollywood-based trainer of celebrities. In the 28 years he’s worked in the industry, he’s taught actors, musicians, MMA fighters and military personnel. He hosts a popular TV show called Celebrity Sweat, which is available on Amazon Prime. His message of healthy living has been adopted by many groups, most recently the American Culinary Federation.

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THE PROBLEM

THE SOLUTION

For a long time, Paul Brown ran his business the way a lot of trainers do: using the industry giant, MindBody. “It was probably the biggest one out there at the time, trading on the stock exchange, the whole nine yards.”

After looking at multiple options on the market, WellnessLiving stood out from the crowd. Paul even took a call with Sasha Davids, the COO of WellnessLiving to discuss his goals and his expectations. “I like their management style, and they have a great attitude. That’s what really sold me.”

After that, Paul was ready to take his business elsewhere; somewhere closer to home that respected and valued him.

“I’m not the type of person that likes to be under someone else’s control, and I like to know that you appreciate my business. I want to be a valued customer.”

And so, he made the switch.

After WellnessLiving migrated all of Paul’s data from MindBody, the team at Paul Brown Boxfit delved excitedly into their new software. “We were very happy with it.

WellnessLiving’s system makes sense and is very logical.

Everything we need is there.”

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It didn’t take long for Paul’s decision to pay off. “WellnessLiving showed me they were willing to try to keep my business, and that was a big plus for me. They are continuously growing, getting better and looking for new ways to serve their clients. You can’t go wrong with them.”

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But it didn’t take long for third-party platforms and exorbitant costs to affect his bottom line. “If you wanted to get this feature, you had to pay a little bit extra.” And soon those little bits started to add up, but even that wasn’t enough for MindBody. “They sent me a notice that they were going to raise our rates by 25% for no apparent reason. That was it.”

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YOU MESSED UP! NOW WHAT?

Let Them Go

BY KATHY OLEVSKY

“We had one fabulous young student who was with us for many years but lacked the ability to get along with others. … By the time she was a young teen, she was using her skills to discourage others.”

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’ve operated a martial arts school full time for 45 years. I may have made every mistake that can be made in this business. The reason I’m still in business, I believe, is I asked for help. I learned quickly that others before me had already found solutions. In this column, I’ll point out key mistakes I made in my career, which are common errors among school owners, both large and small, throughout our industry. And I’ll share the solutions I used to overcome them.

We all know someone who seems to stir up drama like it’s their job. There’s one in every dojo.

Sometimes this person is your most talented student, so you try to overlook the attitude you get on or off the floor. Sometimes this person is the family member paying for several of your students, so you grin and bear it for the sake of income.

Sometimes this person is the parent of a student who excels in class and who personally does not give you any problems. Whoever he or she is, such a person is the cause of “dojo drama.”

You can ignore the person or make excuses, but sooner or later you have to make a decision. In the second scenario, you might decide that the monthly tuition for multiple students is worth putting up with the drama-causer who’s footing the bill.

However, the decision is more difficult when it involves a student who has talent you want to keep but an attitude you want to lose. When a student belittles others in class, taunts others in the locker room or constantly brags about his or her prowess, it’s time to take action. The reason is this situation, left unchecked, can lead to other parents complaining or even students quitting to avoid confrontation.

You don’t need to jump straight from noticing bad behavior to exiling a student, however.

The first step is to have a conversation with the offender. The student needs to know which behaviors are positive (hard work, passion for martial arts) and which are negative (reprimanding or teasing others). Your job is to create good leaders and role models, and having such a conversation is essential to achieve that.

At our school, we strive to make sure our staff isn’t reinforcing negative behavior. Our strategy for promoting good behavior is to have our staff ignore minor instances of bad behavior while complimenting the good behavior of someone who’s near the perpetrator. Usually, students will take the cue and emulate the good behavior.

This method works with some, but not all, students. We also have had to take the next step and let a parent know that we’re having issues. Parents can be valuable allies in reinforcing correct behavior.

If the problem continues after all these steps have been taken, it’s time to sit down with the parent(s) and the student for a conference. Such meetings are often painful. They require equal measures directness and diplomacy. We praise the student’s positive attributes but continue to spell out the behavior that cannot continue. Interestingly enough, we usually end up dealing with these issues when the student is a brown belt: The student has enough skill to be quite talented and enough to be a bully in the dojo.

We had one fabulous young student who was with us for many years but lacked the ability to get along with others. She always needed to be the best, and quite often, she was. The problem was that by the time she was a young teen, she was using her skills to discourage others. We tried to teach her how to be a good mentor and a good partner to others rather than a person who’s out to dominate them.

However, we failed to instill the right mindset.

After many parents came forward on separate occasions to complain about her behavior, we realized that we had entire families lined up to quit if the problem wasn’t fixed. We then had to tell the parents of a very talented student that we needed her to leave our dojo. It was a hard call to make, but it was the right one. The level of tension in the school decreased, and we returned to a positive learning environment.

Sometimes the hardest decisions are the ones that actually help you grow.

To contact Kathy Olevsky, send an email to kathy.olevsky@raleighkarate.com.

School Showcase March/April 2020 School Owner

Jose A. Ramirez II School Name

Christian Taekwondo League Location

Photos Courtesy of Andrew Torok

San Antonio, Texas Styles/Disciplines

Taekwondo, tang soo do, escrima 70 MASUCCESS

Why did you begin teaching martial arts?

When I was 17 years old, I was bullied and had low self-esteem. God used martial arts to safe my life.

What is your school’s motto or student creed?

Our motto is, “Do your best and God will do the rest!” Our creed is, “Faith (in God); focus (in the word of the Lord); finish (in the name of Jesus).”

What is your personal teaching philosophy?

We work to share the word of God through martial arts as we build respectable, strong and sound black belts and leaders for our community.

How long have you taught?

Eleven years.

How long have you owned your school?

Five years.

Who or what inspires you?

God, first of all, and seeing children and adults alike achieve goals that they never thought they could, as well as seeing our students doing great things outside the dojo.

What is something unique that your school or your student body does well?

We truly focus on the development of the family as a whole, not just martial arts. We know our students and parents personally; our dojo is not just a business but a family.

What do you find most rewarding about working in the martial arts?

Seeing the students work hard and earn their belts. Nothing is given in our dojo; everything has to be truly earned.

If you could give one bit of advice to fellow martial arts school owners, what would it be?

Treat your students and parents like you do your family. The dojo stays open because of them. Without our students and parents, we would be a building, not a dojo.

MARCH/APRIL 2020 71

CONSULTANT'S CORNER

Plan Your Summer Now!

BY MIKE METZGER

MAIA CONSULTANT

“Regardless of when summer break starts in your area, you can offer a private-lesson package for eight weeks. Bundle those private lessons as oncea-week hourlong sessions and offer as many or as few as you have time to teach.”

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hen I speak with school owners about the challenges they face, one of the most consistent themes is the struggle to keep business thriving during the summer months. One way, of course, is to run daylong camps. These camps can last for one week or several and are a great way to generate revenue. However, not every school owner wants to or can spend all day at his or her dojo. It’s for these martial artists that I offer the following four ways to create value, excitement and revenue during the summer while working normal afterschool hours.

Private-Lesson Packages Regardless of when summer break starts in your area, you can offer a private-lesson package for eight weeks. Bundle those private lessons as once-a-week hourlong sessions and offer as many or as few as you have time to teach. An eight-week, eight-lesson private training package can sell for $480.

To make this package even more appealing, offer different themes. For example, students can have the option to buy a package for sparring, weapons or curriculum — or a combination package that includes training in all areas. If you sell just five such packages, you’ll generate an extra $2,400 over the eight weeks.

mini-seminars. These can focus on different techniques you use in your curriculum, or you can offer students the chance to try something new. For example, if you run a traditional karate dojo, you might have six seminars on karate concepts (kicking, punching, blocking, weapons, etc.), one on selfdefense and one on grappling.

Charge students $10 per seminar, or offer a bundle that lets them buy all eight for $49. (This deal is nonrefundable. If they sign up for all eight but miss four, they don’t get money back for the skipped seminars). If you convince 10 students to sign up, this will net almost $500.

Christmas-in-July Sale Holding a big sale in July is a great way to increase revenue, blow out stock and save your students money on not only retail products but also programs, events, private lessons and anything else you offer. Make this sale run for one week only during your regular classes in July. Place items, along with Century catalogs, on tables and let your students know that for one week only, they can save big on products and services. Take several orders during the week if you’d rather not preorder a bunch of items at the same time. Without much extra work, you’ll bring in hundreds and perhaps thousands of dollars.

Adult Self-Defense Series If you want to earn extra money by working just one additional hour per week, offer an eight-week selfdefense program for adults. Like the private lessons mentioned above, this class should be held one day a week, with sessions lasting an hour. Adults can sign up for the entire eight-week program for just $99. If you enroll just 10 people, this will bring in nearly $1,000. Make sure to hand out a flier letting people know what will be covered each week.

I hope these suggestions have given you ideas for generating revenue without working long hours during the summer months. Summer is typically a time when school owners struggle financially, but with these simple programs, this can become one of your best times of the year.

If you have any questions or would like to chat with a MAIA consultant to get additional details, call (866) 626-6226. We are more than happy to help.

Mini-Seminar Series Using the same one-hour-a-day, one-day-a-week setup, create an eight-week course composed of

To contact Mike Metzger, send an email to mmetzger@masuccess.com.

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MASTERFUL RETENTION

The One Instructor Ability You Need in Order to Retain Students

BY CHRISTOPHER RAPPOLD

“Compassion is what gives instructors the ability to meet students where they are — mentally, emotionally or physically. It allows them to connect with their students and work on building them up.”

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n case you’re not the title-reading type, I’ll state my claim again: There is one ability that instructors must have in order to retain any students at all for any length of time.

It’s a bold statement, I know. It seems like there are hundreds of abilities that instructors and coaches need: the ability to construct a curriculum, to demonstrate techniques, to teach multiple classes without fatiguing and so on. But no matter how skilled the instructors are in these areas, without this one ability, all the rest will amount to nothing.

That ability is — drumroll, please — the capacity to show compassion.

I’ve had the privilege of visiting dozens, if not hundreds, of martial arts schools in my 35 years of teaching. I’ve seen almost as many ways of running a school. Just when I think there’s nothing new under the sun, someone comes along with a unique approach.

Not all these schools have achieved the same level of student quality and financial success. However, I often find that the most successful schools are those with owners and instructors who excel at showing compassion.

Before you dismiss this answer as sentimental or wishy-washy, let me explain my logic. Compassion means that someone shows kindness, caring and a willingness to help. Compassion is what gives instructors the ability to meet students where they are — mentally, emotionally or physically. It allows them to connect with their students and work on building them up.

On the other hand, enforcing a rigid standard of success that only a few of your top students can meet will result in most of your pupils growing discouraged and leaving. The sad thing is, many of the students who leave have the potential to reach the same high level — they just are unable to get there as quickly. But because their instructor showed no compassion for their situation, whether it was a health issue, life getting in the way or simply a different learning style, they elected to quit.

To this day, I still encounter coaches and instructors who lionize the old-school “drill sergeant” approach to

teaching. I admit that this kind of training holds a certain appeal, even to me. But the truth is, there are very few students who thrive in this environment. You’re not preparing Navy SEALs for battle. Your students are people who have signed up to get in shape or learn self-defense, not people who have enlisted with knowledge that there’s a chance they’ll die during training, that there’s a 60-percent dropout rate and that there’s a 100% chance of being in combat should they succeed.

While we’re on this topic, I’d like to point out the difference between sympathy and compassion. Sympathy means that you understand what the other person is feeling, even without feeling it yourself. Compassion means that your feelings have prompted you to take action to relieve the suffering of another. As martial arts school owners and instructors, we need to be prepared to counter all forms of suffering in our students. It could be the suffering of embarrassment or self-consciousness.

It could be the suffering a student feels if he thinks he can’t understand a move or keep up with the class. It also could be something greater, such as the suffering associated with having endured the trauma that often spurs students begin training in the first place.

These are the very real human conditions that our students could face. We can keep these students if we show compassion. Or we can lose them — to their detriment and ours — if we elect not to show it.

For the past 29 years, my organization has made it a weekly practice to review attendance cards. These cards are the single best way I’ve found to track the progress of each student and ensure that nobody falls through the cracks.

Whether or not you use cards, as a responsible martial arts school owner and businessperson, you should have some system in place for reviewing attendance. As you do so, take an extra second to think about all your students. Are they struggling? Consider what you can do for them to meet them where they are. Show them that you have their back. The greater the compassion, the greater the action and the greater the welcomed push toward individual excellence.

To contact Chris Rappold, send an email to founder@personalbestkarate.com.

THE KICK YOU NEVER SAW COMING

Obstacles

BY BETH A. BLOCK

“Most martial arts instructors tell me that their No. 1 job is keeping students safe.

Problem is, they always imagine dangers caused by other students — and not inanimate objects.”

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he next time you’re in your school, set aside five minutes for a tour of the space. Look at everything: the entryway, guest area, office, bathrooms and floor. Try to see it all through the eyes of someone who’s never been inside your building. Take some notes on what you see. When you’re done, come back and pick up this column again.

OK, ready? Check your notes. Do they include the need to clean the entryway floors? Did you see a leaky faucet in the bathroom? A leak in a ceiling tile? An exposed sharp counter edge? Did you notice whether plug protectors are in the unused electrical outlets? Are there support pillars from the floor to ceiling? If so, where are they located, and are they padded?

During my years in martial arts studios, I’ve seen students and guests get hurt in many ways. One incident involved a studio that had a 15-year-old fall against a steel support pole. This student was participating in the adult class. On this particular evening, they were working on sparring drills. The instructor had transitioned the class from no-contact drills to bag drills and partner drills.

The students were having a blast. They were inspired. Although there was no actual sparring, everyone was working hard. The head instructor was excited to see how successful the lesson was. He also knew it would be an extra-safe class because there was no contact.

In the final phase of the class, the 15-year-old was incorporating footwork into a kick-punch combination. Perhaps because of bad luck or bad balance, the student tripped over his own feet. He fell backward — right against an exposed support pole.

He hit headfirst and ended up with a concussion.

The studio did everything correctly from that point forward. Someone called 911. An incident report was written. The student’s family was told that a doctor’s note would be required before the student could return to class.

None of that stopped the parents from suing the studio. In the lawsuit, several issues were brought up. All of them provide lessons that can help us avoid the problems that this unfortunate studio was forced to weather.

First was the issue of the unwrapped support pole. A steel cylinder — or wood or whatever material you may have — in the middle of your studio is an accident waiting to happen. This school had experienced a close call several months earlier when someone fell and barely missed the pole. There was no way the owners could claim they didn’t know the pole was dangerous.

Second, the instructor teaching the class was glued to the front of the mat. She wasn’t moving around the floor. During the deposition, the family’s attorney asked her where she was when the child fell. She responded truthfully, as she should have. Ultimately, however, that added to the case against the studio.

The attorney argued that the instructor, who was ostensibly responsible for the student’s safety, wasn’t in position to prevent the student from hitting the pole.

Third was the issue of long-term liability. This column previously has dealt with the health consequences associated with concussion. The complications of sustaining repetitive concussions have been studied in boxers and football players and the results widely publicized. The fact that this is now common knowledge played a role in the lawsuit. The studio was judged to have known about the risk presented by the unwrapped steel pole. The school’s insurance company ended up paying a seven-figure settlement.

How can you avoid this kind of claim? Take an objective look at your studio. If you have an exposed support beam, wrap it. Basketball-pole wraps work wonderfully for this. Make sure that any wraps you buy are rated by the ASTM. If you have a cracked tile in your entryway, guest area or bathroom, replace it. If you have a ceiling tile that’s leaking, find the source of the leak and stop it — and check for mold while you’re having that done.

None of us can fix everything at once. We can only figure out what we need to do and prioritize it.

Most martial arts instructors tell me their No. 1 job is keeping students safe. Problem is, they always imagine dangers caused by other students — and not inanimate objects.

To contact Beth A. Block, send an email to beth@blockins.net or call (800) 225-0863.

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THE LEGAL LANDSCAPE

Electronic Document Storage: Do Ya Feel Lucky?

BY PHILIP E. GOSS JR., ESQ.

“It’s acceptable to allow a third party to maintain your electronic documents and information, but protect this information as you would cash money!

Remember that no person or entity cares more about your business than you do.”

78 MASUCCESS

I

am all at once amazed, befuddled, frightened and impressed by one of the most common things I see people do: rely completely on their cellphone for maintaining their schedule, paying bills, navigating unfamiliar terrain and God knows what else. They do all this with the apparent confidence that every action they complete, including executing legally binding agreements, is made valid by the mere fact that it’s accomplished through technology.

Much of my hesitancy to develop comfort with a paperless world was hardwired into me by my early office experiences. My formative years occurred when fax machines were the size of small refrigerators and printer paper was secured by steel teeth running on parallel tracks, requiring the removal of perforated edges before use. If you really needed to get a document somewhere in a hurry, you had to use a company that guaranteed overnight delivery.

No email for the masses in the early 1980s!

The definition of what constitutes an “original document” has morphed, as well. In the past, a party seeking enforcement of a written obligation was tasked with establishing that the obligation existed. This was done by producing the original executed document (or establishing a lost document) because this was considered the “best evidence” for evidential purposes.

Therefore, the key message from my columns of the past 17 years — never throw away any original document — remains. If a document has inked signatures or initials, it simply must be preserved.

This caveat is why we’ve all seen offices where a majority of prime space is dedicated solely to metal file cabinets.

Today, however, most business owners accept electronic signatures, execute electronic contracts and collect electronic data. Where is the digital information that makes up these e-documents stored? How can we ensure that something we can’t even touch is secure?

Several federal and state laws were enacted in the early 2000s when people foresaw what the internet would develop into. These laws provide legal protection to parties who sign documents electronically

under a broad range of circumstances. The parties must agree to electronic signatures. Notarization, if required, also must be delineated on the document, not attached thereto. Typically, the document must be related to a commercial transaction.

A long-term school owner/client recently asked for advice regarding the retention of electronic documents.

He was considering the use of a data-information service. As a perk, the company guaranteed free access to all electronic documents for the next 10 years.

While the world demands that I accept the existence and use of electronic documents and signatures, it doesn’t compel me to advise my clients to accept off-site data storage unless complete and irrevocable control over the storage and access to the documents and digital materials are guaranteed.

Many such companies that once held promise have ceased operations. If that happens to you, even if the information is somewhere, can you guarantee you can access it?

I strongly suggest that whatever entity you choose to generate or store commercial documents for your school be required to automatically and simultaneously direct courtesy copies of all digital information to you. It is then your sole responsibility to immediately secure all such information.

My fellow MASuccess columnist Beth Block has done an excellent job of warning readers about how the timeframe to bring a lawsuit can be greatly extended for a minor’s injuries. Four years past the date of the minor turning 18 is the standard in Florida, for example. I say this because if ever you need to review a document or waiver executed years ago, you’ll be ecstatic you have ready access.

The lesson here is simple: It’s acceptable to allow a third party to maintain your electronic documents and information, but protect this information as you would cash money! Speak to your insurance carrier and purchase negligent-disclosure coverage. Remember that no person or entity cares more about your business than you do.

To contact attorney Philip E. Goss Jr., send an email PhilGosslaw@gmail.com.

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MARCH/APRIL 2020 81

INSPIRATION OVATION

BY KAREN EDEN

“It’s your spirit that keeps you going when times are tough, and that forges a bold presence even in a dying body. It’s the chances you take when no one else has the courage to take them.”

82 MASUCCESS

O

ne of my contributions to community service is that I volunteer as a hospital chaplain every week. I see about a hundred people from all walks of life during this time, and they all have something in common: Either their bodies have reached a state of disrepair or they’ve come to the point where their bodies are failing them. I find the job very rewarding. I am often the last person to hold a hand before someone takes either their next step in life or their final step in life.

But there was one particular visitation that left me pondering for days. A 91-year-old woman was hospitalized for congestive heart failure. She was old, and her heart was giving out. Yet there was something about her that struck me differently than did the other patients.

“I gotta tell you,” I said. “You have a different presence about you — were you famous or something?”

She paused and looked back at me. “Well, yes, but that was a long time ago.”

She then proceeded to tell me about her life as a “supermodel” back in the 1930s. I didn’t have to say much else to make her feel better. The fact that I had opened a file from her past that made her feel special all over again changed her entire disposition.

She told me about the beginnings of a glamorous era, and how she and the other models would contribute to movies back then, even making some of the costumes so they could get walk-on parts. It was fascinating to sit and listen to her reminisce. The stories took us a long way from her hospital bed, where she was hooked up to wires and beeping machines 24 hours a day. Even if for just a few minutes, she was that 20-year-old supermodel again.

“Is there anything I can do for you?” I asked as I got up to leave.

“I’m afraid my daughter is going to put me in a nursing home now, and I don’t want to go,” she said.

Her daughter, she told me, was in her 70s herself.

The daughter had told her that she could no longer care for her with her heart condition.

I’m rarely at a loss for words, but I had to stop for a minute and think of what I could say that would ease her 91-year-old mind.

“Listen,” I said after a moment. “I’m sure that after 91 years, you’ve hit more than a couple of bumps in your life.”

“Oh, yes,” she replied. “My husband died when I was 35, and I wasn’t sure how I was going to make it.”

“But you did make it,” I said. “And you’ll make it through this, too, because there is something very special about you, and that will never change.”

Her eyes teared up as I said it. She dropped her head and responded simply, “Thank you.”

I left her room and walked down the hall to my next visit, but I couldn’t stop thinking about my new friend, the 91-year-old supermodel. I couldn’t help but wonder if someone will come into my room when I’m that old and notice that there’s something special about me. It won’t be my looks at 91 years of age, and it certainly won’t be my high kick. But sometimes, as I have discovered, your presence is enough.

It’s your spirit that keeps you going when times are tough, and that forges a bold presence even in a dying body. It’s the chances you take when no one else has the courage to take them. It’s the way you carry yourself and look a total stranger in the eye.

My friends, 2020 will be the year that I test for seventh-degree black belt. That’s 30 years of trying to live and teach these very principles. I also happen to be in physical therapy now for a wornout back that pains me daily. You don’t know that because I never complain. But why should I? One day I, too, will be in a bed, and perhaps someone will walk in and tell me that there’s just something special about me. I’ll tell them to have a seat. I’ve got a lot to say.

To contact Karen Eden, send an email to renedenherdman@gmail.com or visit the Facebook group “The Eden Assignment.”

Photo Courtesy of Karen Eden

1930s Supermodel

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MARCH/APRIL 2020

Professional Karate Schools of America

THE MARTIAL ARTS SUPERSHOW IS PROUD TO ANNOUNCE

2019 2019

CYNTHIA ROTHROCK

Distinguished guest Distinguished guest

First Stop: USA Next Stop: the World

SCIENCE ON YOUR SIDE

as the

Best Way to Teach Children

2020 lifetime achievement award recipient

LEGAL BRIEFS

Witness her induction into our legacy of individuals who have greatly impacted the martial arts during Opening Night, June 30, 2020.

PR E SENTED BY:

99 S P O N S O R ED BY:

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Youth Safe Sports Act Electronic Document Storage Accident Liability in the Dojo Item Number: MAS16120 Decription: MASUCCESS MAR/APR 2020

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