DWx

Different NGB (ITF group within your country) or different ITF group (e.g. ITF under GM Choi Jung Hwa vs ITF under Prof Ri Yong Son vs ITF under GM Pablo Trajtenberg)? Either way it will depend on the school. Go with an empty cup and most will not have an issue. I've swapped NGB and even in the past swapped ITF (though at that point I was a low grade and it didn't matter to me). I thought I made that clear by different "organization". I belonged to the North Korea connection originally. It'll depend on the school and to a lesser extent your grade. Below 1st Dan I really can't see it being an issue. Above first Dan and you would have to transfer your certification over to the new ITF. I'm not sure what it is for the others but if you were to swap into the N. Korean ITF they'll just issue a certificate for 1st, 2nd and 3rd (possibly 4th Dan too?). For higher degree grades there's a few more hoops to jump through but it's still relatively easy. I do know some lower Dan grades who actively train (and compete) in 2 ITFs. Best thing is to ask the new school.

Different NGB (ITF group within your country) or different ITF group (e.g. ITF under GM Choi Jung Hwa vs ITF under Prof Ri Yong Son vs ITF under GM Pablo Trajtenberg)? Either way it will depend on the school. Go with an empty cup and most will not have an issue. I've swapped NGB and even in the past swapped ITF (though at that point I was a low grade and it didn't matter to me).

Money. $9M worth. But of a joke to be honest to ever expect Nasukawa to put up a good fight against Mayweather. Fight also had no judges, no scores, and wouldn't be counted on their records.

Thought I'd kick us off on our New Year's Resolutions. For me I want to: 1. Get more consistent in my own training 2. Grow my club to 100 members (starting the New Year with 32) Anyone else want to share their goals?

Seeing 2018 is drawing to a close, thought I'd resurrect this thread. Did everyone accomplish what they wanted to this year? For me I completed number 2 but in the process I think number 1 fell by the wayside After much jumping through hoops I finally started my own club in partnership with my long-term training partner, my younger sister. Classes started September and we're now running 6 classes over 3 days a week and have 32 students on the books. My own training has fallen off a little bit though as I have even less time to train myself though it is good to have to focus on all the beginner syllabus again.

Happy Holidays and hope everyone has a great 2019!

Congratulations to all winners and nominees! Well-deserved.

I've had to do this recently and it's just not worth the time or hassle especially if it's a larger, more complicated piece of embroidery. In the end I just paid for someone to embroider a load of patches to sew over the top.

A valid point and it's not ideal. However the situation might be more unique in that whilst the towns are very close (a major road divides the two in half), the two communities don't often mix. Having been with the previous school for just shy of 20 years, I never knew anyone coming to the school from very far away and certainly not from the town I am located in. Here's a map to better explain: https://goo.gl/maps/564czZBWNuL2 I'm in Nuneaton, they're in Hinckley. Nuneaton's population is about twice that of Hinckley's and I can pull prospective students from the south side. If anything they have a smaller available audience. I appreciate all the other advice in your post sensei8. Obviously you know what your doing having had successful dojos in different locations. I'll take some time to digest it and will come back to you on a couple of points.

Valid points. All I can say is that Friday nights at my instructor's school (just over 5 miles away in a neighbouring town) are the busiest nights he had. The dojang was always full on a Friday at similar times as people wanted to finish the week on a high. Technically I offer 3 nights a week when adults can train, Mondays and Fridays at 8.15 and if they can put up with kids in the room, Wednesday nights at 7pm. Unfortunately due to my work schedule its unfeasible to offer classes any earlier in the evening. My kids class on a Friday gets on average 15 or so students (18 have their names down for this class) and I wouldn't want any more in there. Since writing my original post I have 2 more additions to Friday bringing me up to 7. Hopefully I can use this to get a bit of traction and pull more in.

Thanks Noah. I did over 1000 leaflets when I first started. One side was aimed at (parents of) kids and the reverse side was for adults. Now it could be the leaflet design, it could be the locations I targeted but I got 1 child sign up and no adults so I haven't attempted it again and stuck instead with the Facebook marketing which is giving me more bang for my buck. Hypothetically, as an adult, with no background in MA, what features and benefits are going to attract you to sign up to my lesson? My original posters are here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/m7YgQ4NdhhgD5qG37 Have I chosen the wrong image? Or highlighted the wrong benefits? There's a very prominent boxing club in the town. To be honest I hadn't thought about making contact as I see them as competing for the same prospective students. The seminars idea is good. I am intending to contact the local primary and secondary schools in the new year and offer to come in and cover some of their phys ed classes and offer something different to the normal football and netball. Olympic TKD marketing is an interesting idea. In what way are you thinking? I don't teach Olympic TKD so would want to steer clear of any suggestions that this is what is on offer at my school.

Wow thanks for this Bob. I'll try to address each point separately. Short answer is yes. I want to turn a profit at the end of the day and the dream would be to have this as my full time income.. However I certainly do not want to sell out. I think that's the million dollar question. I teach traditional Taekwon-Do and I know other instructors within my org teach exactly the same curriculem to adults. My former instructor is also 5 miles away in a neighboring town and he has adults attend his classes. Yes. With the teenagers I have currently the work rate is high but with my family class I do make adjustments and try to offer 2 levels to each exercise we do. And of course they are mentally challenging. 1 hour classes each. Would be about the same as any class you might attend at a gym. Yes and to be honest I prefer it. I am both but my kids classes are separate from my adults classes (except for my family class). All of the classes are structured differently and have a different feel. The kids classes are higher pace with more focus on general conditioning and movement. My adults classes are traditional TKD as I was taught but also with more functional strength involved. Yes What do you mean about yard signs? Out of the front of my property? At the moment I rent two locations, the Monday night cricket club is down a private driveway in a quiet residential area, and the dance school is on an industrial estate. Functionally I know that both locations are fine as I have a kids class at each which are near capacity and both the dance school and cricket club have people coming and going all the time. I have a very successful boxing gym and a successful MMA gym in the same town. Less successful schools are a Kung Fu school, a traditional karate style, and also a very small school of the same Taekwondo style. The Taekwondo school I'm not bothered about as I have eclipsed them completely. No I haven't. How would you approach this? In my mind they are my competitors and we are all fighting for the same prospective students. The dance school has advertised for me as has the cricket club and I have students from both... but only children at this point. I'm a member of all the relevant national bodies but I'm not aware of anything in my target location (town of about 90 000). I figured this for the most part. But I thought the flip side might be that female students would feel more comfortable with me. In the town? Population 90 000 or there abouts. Mostly mid-level education, mix of skilled and unskilled workers. 50% commute elsewhere for work. What else would be useful to know? That is something I'm trying to do, but more in that I'm trying to celebrate my students' successes and show that I taught them how to do it. I definitely agree. What ways do you suggest? My school isn't where I live and I confess to not knowing too much about the local area. I've been approached already to get my students to help out with the charity santa sled at Christmas (goes around the housing estates asking for donations for charity). Got to invent myself first. I'd like to think I have this down as I work in sales for a living. They get 2 trial lessons and I follow up consistently. To be fair I have signed up 90% of adults coming through the door. My issue is in getting them through the door in the first place. All classes are in a rented space. The kids class is separate to the adults and kids class is more fun, adults class still lighthearted but more serious. Again my problem isn't getting them to stay, it's getting them in the first place. Agreed I'd say so That is what I'm trying to determine My kids classes are maxed out so I'm turning a profit already. I don't need adults but I would like to fill my class up. I'm trying to decide whether to drop the family class as it's costing me more than it makes me. I'm trying very hard to create a brand. You can see what stage I'm at on my website: https://www.nuneatontkd.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NuneatonTKD or Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/NuneatonTKD/ I've been working hard on the website and I now come up as the first result when you Google "Nuneaton (the town) Taekwondo" and all the various ways to spell this. I also currently come up as number 4 for "Nuneaton Martial Arts" and rank top 15 for "Nuneaton self defense / defence". I'm listed on all the various directories including number one listing on the Yellow Pages online. As above As I've said, I don't think my issue is in getting people to stay once they try my class. It's in getting them to my class in the first place. I've now introduced a waiting list for my Monday kids class as we're at capacity and my Friday class will soon be the same. I can market to kids (or their parents) but I'm struggling to hit on the winning formula for adults.

I have a package in that each additional family member gets a 10% discount. One of the ideas I'm toying with is to run a 6 week self defense course or a 6 week get-fit martial arts course and use that to draw people in. I think this is an easier concept to market but then I'd have to convert them over to the idea of traditional Taekwon-Do.

There's a couple of local colleges (teaching 16 to 18 yr olds) but not a university for high school. I'd be just as happy with teenagers though I'd have to be mindful that most would disappear off to university and other stuff on hitting 18. How best to target these people? Market it as a way to get fit? or as self defence? What benefits do you think that age group might be most interested in?

Wow great responses so far guys, thanks for your help. I'll try to address all the questions. I offer the following time slots for adults: Adults only: Monday's and Friday's at 8.15 to 9.15pm Family (adults + children): Wednesday's at 7.00 to 8.00 pm By adults around the dojo do you mean people who frequent those locations? This might be difficult as my Monday class is at a cricket clubhouse in the middle of a residential estate and my Weds and Friday class is at a dance school on an industrial estate.

I need some help. My new school has been up and running for 2, nearly 3, months now. In that time I've signed up 31 paying students and am getting enquiries every week for trial lessons. My problem is it's all kids so far and I can't seem to attract adults. I know it's much easier to get the kids (or I should say the parents) hooked and at this point I've maxed out my Monday children's class and am close to maxing out my Friday Children's class. My adult classes however haven't really gained much traction and I have an hour slot on both Monday and Friday I'm barely filling. I've a few students coming (teenagers really) but some weeks the numbers are really low, as little as 2 or 3 students. Worse is my new Wednesday night slot which I started up as a mixed adults and children family slot. I have 3 families attending, 8 people in total, but tonight only one of the families showed up. Unless I can get some more students on the Wednesday class I might have to cut it altogether as it's not economical to rent the space. I'm going to give this one last push until February before making a decision but I need some ideas of how to attract adults/ families. With the kids I've been aggressively targeting parents on Facebook with paid ads and slowly refining my target audience. I've tried to build up a few profiles of people I think should be interested in it for a keep fit type exercise or for self defence or for social elements but nothing has hit so far. Part of me thinks that is because all my media on my Facebook page is pictures and videos of my kids classes but I don't have any adults to video or take photos of so it's a little bit of which came first? Chicken or Egg? So fellow KF school owners, how did you attract your adult students?

Brilliant post Alex. Well said. The longevity of KF is down to the great atmosphere quality of discourse we have here

Happy birthday

JR beat me to it. I was going to also suggest some sort of interval training. To be honest I don't think it matters what it is as long as you are consistent with it. So running, swimming, rowing, bag work... just be consistent. Though may I ask why you are sticking it out to shodan? I can understand that there you are probably feeling compelled to finish what you are started but do you gain anything by getting shodan? why not start training now in another school?

Not my personal teachers but I know a few like this within the TKD community. Whilst they have the skills the proof is in their own student base which is pretty small.

Interesting points raised so far all. I have to say I do enjoy taking a look at which parents are engaged and are watching the class versus which parents are just playing on their phone and are clearly not interested. The ones watching, its usually their kids who are the ones that are improving the fastest.

http://m.koreatimes.co.kr/pages/article.asp?newsIdx=258047 Next Friday will be what would have been General Choi Hong Hi's 100th birthday. In celebration there are to be a number of events in Pyongyang with people from around the world in attendance The WT have sent a delegation, including their demonstration team, to participate. Talks have been ongoing between WT and ITF for a few years now in an effort to foster greater collaboration both groups have agreed to work together to promote the style under a new joint body: Next year will also be 25 years since TKD was included in the Olympics and they want to demonstrate both sports together.

Welcome to KF

Rather than age as a criteria, what about time training? Who's more qualified to teach? The 30yr old who has been training for 10 years or the 29yr old who has been training for 25 years?

If I can weigh in as s TKD practitioner. We have a similar concept in Ilkyok Pilsung - One Attack, Certain Victory. It's why we wrap or belts around only once rather than the double wrap that most other martial arts have. For us it's more about trying to be as effective with each movement as possible. In that you might get only one chance to hit your opponent and it needs to be effective enough to stop them and end the fight. You haven't got the space or the time to half try and you should make sure every strike counts so you can end the fight quickly.