xtremartialarts1

i hope i'm not too late. The purpose of you doing this summer camp is soley to bring more students into the school. What better way to get kids in the door of the school than to give them 3 months of fun and exciting classes. at the end, invite them all to your school with their parents and have them do one more class. you can even call it a party and offer pizza. Get them signed up there!

well for one thing i'm glad that your a part of MAIA. Keep reading MA Success to see what the "big guys" are doing.

ok before you do anything else the first thing you need is a billing company. Try united professionals. https://www.unitedprofessionals.com they have all of the new marketing ideas that are proven to work, they have great class management systems, and they do your billing for you. What more could you want? If you want to be in the top 20 schools in the country, join!

exactly. Signing up new students is only half the battle. Retention is the other half. You just have to teach exciting classes and perform great customer service. ps:someone's gotta tell me what i'm doing wrong with the quote thing!!!

glad i helped you guys out a little bit. I know it's tuff to teach people who are close to your age. And just let me add, teens can be a big part of your school. Most teens join karate not only for the sport but for something to do. Maybe ask your school owners to really create a teen program where you do special events on the weekends, for example, hand out flyers in the neghborhood and then go back to the school for pizza. Teens want to become involved with the school. You just have to offer it to them first. Maybe even have some of them start to assist the kids classes(if you think they are mature enough). It always helps to have another person on the floor to hold pads.

is your 13 to 16 year olds in the same class as your adults? In many schools they are put together and that is many times not a bad idea. anyway, here's proven methods of how to gain a teen's respect. 1. Train hard. Show them that you really care about the martial art you are not there just to teach them and make their lifes miserable. 2. Don't treat them the same way as your kids classes. I'm sure many of them will see you teach kids classes. Use a different tone of voice. Talk more like you are on the same level rather than the kids class when you're above them. 3. In a kids class if a kid asks for help you should always give him appropriate attention, especially if a parent is there. In a teen class, if they ask a question, focus on their needs. Show them how you want to share your knowledge with them. there's a few more but i'm hungry and i gotta have lunch. If you have anymore questions send me a message.

what kind of a question is that? i mean really, any school owner/instructor would love to have new students rolling in. Thats half the battle. Now don't stop doing what you're doing. Keep doing that and in the next months keep shooting for more and more students. More students means more exciting classes. You'll get used to big classes. As far as assistants on the floor goes, try to get 2 teens per class to come down and assist(this would be from your teen and adult class) Don't let the momentum die down!

ok here is a great example of a student trying to push the limits with an instructor. First off, an instructor is not on the floor to discipline(to a certain extent), a martial arts instructor is on the floor to really make a difference in the student's lives. With that said push-ups are never an answer . This is because 1. The students feel that they are really being disciplined in a place where they are really supposed to have fun. This is not school this is karate. 2. Students will never want to do push-ups in warmups or in any other part of class because they will feel that push-ups are a bad thing. As far as that particular situation, don't yell or make a big deal of the student wearing something like that. Instructors have to learn to pick their battles. Yes i know it's against the school rules. If you are doing some form of contact or anything else that you think will interfere just say to the student off to the side quickly, almost like its no big deal, "listen, Johnny, you're really not supposed to wear that in here cause you or someone else might get hurt. Or that might even break. Do you really want that thing to break into a million pieces all over the floor and then have to clean it up?" make a joke out of it. The student will probably play along and say yes i do want it to break, but you know what, now its in his head and if he still doesnt take it off then you can be a little more stern.

I love teaching. Teahcing has given me leadership skills that are essential in life. In some school's it's a requirement. But really I do not feel that it is that essential. I understand that some people just don't like doing it. First try it out a little more. When I first started I thought it was rediculous, I thought I was being used or something. But the more I did it, the more I had confidence. Now I am a real people person. There are pleanty of high ranks at my school that don't teach and really couldn't if you asked them. I really have no problem with that. I do it because I feel good not only having my martial arts skills, but I could share it with others. If you really don't like teaching, tell your master that you really aren't into it and I'm sure he will understand.

You could open it up to anyone who is no longer in your beginner class(probably the 4th belt). Then you can start training them at an early age. They don't necessarily need to teach the classes, just hold a pad, keep the kids quite and in line, maybe even strech the class. This will help them develope leadership skills at an early age.

Pump the music from time to time. Have contests among the lines. First see which group kicks the highest, then the strongest, most intense, and lastly the loudest and most energetic line. See which line is clapping, giving each other high fives, and really into it.

Thank's for the info. I'll be sure to try that last drill in my next class.

Pushups never work. In fact the more you use puships in a punishing mannor, the more students will hate them. You have to make pushups a fun thing. Even sitting students out dosen't really work. I've found that the same kids were always sitting out. And when they are sitting out they move and fool around when your not looking, mainly for attention. When a student acts up look him right in the eye and say, "(name) stop because your disturbing the class." Don't try to humiliate the student, once a student is humiliated it's all over. Just be serious and say it quick. As far as taking away belts, my school only does that upon a parent request. Every so often you can mention to the class and to the parents that when children don't behave at home or at school they can have their belts taken away. Make the parents "honorary instructors" at home. They love this and know that you care about their child's behavior.

There is really no set "law" of what rank you have to be in order to be an instructor. In my opinion a brown belt can begin the process of learning to be an instructor and whenever there master feels that it is time, that person may become an instructor. In my experience I have seen great brown belts teach, first dan black belts who were teens that could teach pretty awsome classes, as well as 4th and 5th dan black belts who were terrible instructors. To me, rank does not make an instructor- the person makes the instructor.

I think starting to teach kids is very important. Kids do make up most of the kartate students. Teaching adults isn't easy. It's tough to teach and take controll of your peers. With kids you have much more authority. As for adults, if you do or say something wrong they may second guesse you. Kids will believe anything you say and if they question you just say your the instructor. I also find kids classes more fun to teach. I really don't like teaching the adults. I don't feel as comfortable putting myself at a higher level then they are.