Rig

I've looked at loads of different Martial Arts specific web platforms as well as other general purpose CRM ones and I'm yet to find what I'm looking for.. https://www.martialytics.com has a good reputation and is used by a few of my friends for their commercial clubs. I find a well thought out Excel spreadsheet works well for me and I use use Google Contacts for managing student data, not just names and addresses (useful to have on your phone in cases of emergency) but also the notes field and custom dates (I use one for licence expiry as well as birthday)

I've attended a number of Iain's seminar's. Simply put, if you get the chance, go! you won't be disappointed.

Hi Hudson1984, Always great to hear from another UK Karate-Ka.

Welcome Kwon_Artist, sounds like your week is pretty full (just like my own)

No, I don't wear t-shirts or rash guards and the fleece that I wear over the top is white as well. I do wear 3 other gi's throughout the week and none of them have the marks. All my gi's are worn the same, same kind of class, washed the same and hung up the same.

I've contacted both the supplier and Hirota direct and neither have heard of this issue before and unable to help It's a shame as I love Hirota gi's

Just trying to play devils advocate here. There are 2 issues here, 1 of the licence/insurance and the other regarding the grading. I know some associations that have 'blank' insurance slips and manually fill them in for each students license return, this doesn't make them a forgery, just hand written, the student is still fully insured. Some associations buy their insurance in batches, say up to 500 students, others pay per student. I would have asked for details of their insurance company as well as a look at the instructors own insurance certificate, if they can't provide it, why now? The issue regarding the lack of kumite and the grading, again this may just be down to circumstances, some grading examiners have the ability to waver some requirements in a grading? Why not give us some clues about who they are?

One thought was maybe I had a cut or spot on my neck and that caused a small amount of blood to seep into the material and this was my current theory but then I've heard from someone else who has had the same issue (red/pink marks) so I'm back to square one.

No, not from a label. I've contacted both the importer and Hirota direct and neither can explain why this has happened and claim never to have had it happen before. I just wondered if anyone else had had this issue? I'm my nearly 30 years of training I've never seen anything like this and my other gi have not shown and other signs.

I purchased 3 Hirota Pinack gi's just over 1 year ago and I've noticed that all 3 of my gi's have developed a red/pink stain around the top of the jacket, just where you might see some sweat marks. I have have 3 other makes of Karate gi's and wear all 6 gi's over the course of a week so that the wear and tear are divided between these dogi's and my other 3 gi's have no developed these red/pink marks just the expected sweat marks. All my gi's are machine washed on a sub 30 degree wash. Has anyone else had this issue with Hirota dogi's? it just seems strange that it's only on them.

I advertise all the costs involved at my club as a matter of principle, I feel that it's only fair to be open about these sort of things.

Malcolm, great to hear how things are going, looking at my student capture statistics 98% of my students were via Google so a good website and website marketing will help. As PS1 has already mentioned do not let your website be all about you, it's not a place to highlight your ego, make sure it's aimed at the what prospective students will get, i.e. fitness, confidence etc. There is a very good book on this subject by Matthew Chapman called Black Belt Biz (https://www.blackbeltbiz.co.uk) that contains loads of marketing ideas as well as what to do when you get prospective students as well as retention ideas.

We do it at the end of our lessons at my instructors club but at my own club we perform some qigong breathing exercises instead to help balance the lesson out.

I've heard only good things about this gi, my only issue is the location of the Kyoto logo on the front and back. I'm a big fan of the Hirota pinack gi but they obviously cost a lot more.

I agree, the parent was astonished when I said that they would have to wait until they are at least 5! I think she was after a babysitting service rather than a martial arts class.