Wanting to start my own school

[sensei8]

Being a 3rd Dan before one can open a dojo and become the CI has been around for as long as I can remember. It's an unwritten rule; more of a rule-of-thumb, nonetheless. I waited until I had earned my Sandan before I opened the Kyuodan Dojo in 1977.

[Spartacus Maximus]

There is in fact no official rule for the minimum rank required to open a school. What does exist is a set of conventions that vary from one association to the other and one system to another. Some countries have federations with their own rules but only federation certified members are concerned by the decisions. It is best to research how things are done where one resides.

As far as Okinawan karate is concerned, most associations require no less than a fifth Dan AND permission from one's s sensei to teach as a branch dojo instructor. This is sometimes modified for those teaching outside Okinawa/Japan. The most important is the sensei's permission to teach, more than the Dan grade.

[sensei8]

You can be a white belt, and still open a dojo.

[chiliphil1]

Congrats on the point that your at. It is a difficult decision to make if your going to open your own school or a branch dojo of your current school.

If it is just a branch dojo then you will have access to help from the Hombu Dojo. But not as much if opening your own stand-a-lone school.

But I have never heard the rule of you having to be a 3rd Dan to be considered a CI before. But I do know many schools that have been opened when the CI has been at least 3rd Dan. BUT I do have friends who run schools and they are either 1st or 2nd Dan and they are the CI.

Personally I believe it is the amount of experience that you have and not the number of Dan Grades you hold.

Thank you for the reply. I agree with you on the experience. If I had not been self studying for years I would not be confident in doing this. My rank could be 3rd or 4th dan IF I had stayed with the school I was with before but I branched out on my own and thus gave up advancement.

The main reason that I want to open a subsidiary is because it would give me a few things, one I would be able to attend and have my students attend functions with the parent school, such as testing and tournaments. Two, I would have a very experienced and knowledgeable instructor to oversee things and bounce ideas off of and also he would be willing to help me in any way possible when I needed it. Plus there is an umbrella that I would be under and could use his resources, such as vendors, other instructors, etc..

I am not afraid of going it alone but I need the sanctioning body otherwise any rank which I award would be useless.. I do not want to start my own style or organization.

[chiliphil1]

There is in fact no official rule for the minimum rank required to open a school. What does exist is a set of conventions that vary from one association to the other and one system to another. Some countries have federations with their own rules but only federation certified members are concerned by the decisions. It is best to research how things are done where one resides.

As far as Okinawan karate is concerned, most associations require no less than a fifth Dan AND permission from one's s sensei to teach as a branch dojo instructor. This is sometimes modified for those teaching outside Okinawa/Japan. The most important is the sensei's permission to teach, more than the Dan grade.

My organization isn't quite as strict. I feel that I would be ok to do it but I do think they will want someone with more rank to oversee things, and I am ok with that. As far as permission that is what I intend to seek, I would not do it without that, especially considering that I want to be within the sanctioning body. The style that I am in is a small organization, it is not a world wide thing and is not overseen in another country, it is a spinoff of Chuck Norris' UFAF, it was founded by Duke Tirchel and is called AFAF.

Mr. Tirchell is local and I can speak with him in regard to being under the AFAF organization. The school in which I attended is an AFAF school and I would like to open a 2nd location for that school, but if I can't do that then I at least want the AFAF part of it, I absolutely have to have that because without it I have no authority to give rank and I wouldn't be able to use the ciriculum that I know.

I am only concerned with the rank issue because generally all of the instructors of AFAF schools are usually 3rd and above, however I think this may have more to do with being at a point to afford a school rather than it being required, perhaps I am looking at it incorrectly. As I recall when I started my CI was just a BB, like me and the asst instructor was a 1st dan.. That was over 20 years ago though.. The only thing I can do is ask.. I don't think they would turn down the opportunity for the exposure and the extra bodies, just the other week all of the instructors were talking about how they would love to bring in more students and have bigger tests.. So, perhaps with some conditions they would be ok with it.. Only way to find out is to ask, I will hopefully get to do that in the next few days, I just have to find a time to meet with my old instructor.

I have 2 shorin-ryu schools near my home, I have met with both instructors and they are both 3rd dans, I think the rules must be a bit lax here vs Okinawa, I would guess because of the need to make money here, perhaps they are just allowing lower grades to run schools so that they can spread out the organization, I am not sure.

[The Pred]

Best of luck, in terms of your competition, how many other martial arts schools are in the area that you plan on having your dojo?

[chiliphil1]

Best of luck, in terms of your competition, how many other martial arts schools are in the area that you plan on having your dojo?

In the general area none. Within 20 miles 4-5, one north, one west, two north west, and one south. Within 40 miles there are probably about 5-6 north, including my old one, and south probably 3-4.

I'm in a rural area where there are lots of kids, I assume most of my business will be kids.. Hopefully I can get somewhere by offering quality instruction with fair prices and a good kids program.

I am near a town called Jackson, there is one there, south of my if Forsyth, there is one there, north east is Griffin, there are 2 there, locust grove is north and it has 1. Going further south there is Macon which has 3-4, north is Mcdonough and there are at least 3 there.. But again, nothing in the exact general location I am in, I would sort of split up the 3 closest and be in the middle of all of them.

I do still wonder though if I should put the school in the rural area and depend on locals or if I should move into a more populated area and go head to head with another school.. Of course it would be a different style, I have the choice of either Shorin-Ryu or TKD with the closest ones to me.. My style is TSD/Chun Kuk Do based..

Lots of decisions to be made, this is why I hope I can get my old instructor on board, he knows all about this stuff and could probably save me a ton of headache.

[The Pred]

Yes marketing towards kids will be your best bet. Do you plan on using contracts?

[Nidan Melbourne]

Congrats on the point that your at. It is a difficult decision to make if your going to open your own school or a branch dojo of your current school.

If it is just a branch dojo then you will have access to help from the Hombu Dojo. But not as much if opening your own stand-a-lone school.

But I have never heard the rule of you having to be a 3rd Dan to be considered a CI before. But I do know many schools that have been opened when the CI has been at least 3rd Dan. BUT I do have friends who run schools and they are either 1st or 2nd Dan and they are the CI.

Personally I believe it is the amount of experience that you have and not the number of Dan Grades you hold.

Thank you for the reply. I agree with you on the experience. If I had not been self studying for years I would not be confident in doing this. My rank could be 3rd or 4th dan IF I had stayed with the school I was with before but I branched out on my own and thus gave up advancement.

The main reason that I want to open a subsidiary is because it would give me a few things, one I would be able to attend and have my students attend functions with the parent school, such as testing and tournaments. Two, I would have a very experienced and knowledgeable instructor to oversee things and bounce ideas off of and also he would be willing to help me in any way possible when I needed it. Plus there is an umbrella that I would be under and could use his resources, such as vendors, other instructors, etc..

I am not afraid of going it alone but I need the sanctioning body otherwise any rank which I award would be useless.. I do not want to start my own style or organization.

Having the subsidiary is a good idea because you can at least have that assistance with teaching and training to feel ready.

What if you had your own dojo but it was in partnership with your old dojo (if you and your old sensei are on good terms) so you could allow the student to train at both and potentially be graded at the other dojo if you felt like you weren't happy on running your gradings yourself?

I can understand that you would require state or national accreditation with the governing body to aid in support, insurance and opportunities to become available for you and students. What is your current rank if i may ask?

I just looked up the Australian Karate Federation website in regards to membership and they request that you hold a 3rd Dan in your style and that all your instructors hold a Dan Grading. Although many clubs that I have spoken to have opted to only go for the state membership until they reach such a grading.

[chiliphil1]

Yes marketing towards kids will be your best bet. Do you plan on using contracts?

Most likely not. The only thing that I thought to offer was a discount if you paid for 6 months to a year in advance but otherwise no I don't want to force people into contracts. I would also have to think of the collections process if someone broke the contract and I just don't want to do that. I plan to do a pay up front/pay as you go type of billing.. I also want to have the option to pay per class as well, some people may not justify $99 if they can only make one class a week, so I was thinking I could do $5 to $10 per class if someone wanted to do it that way as well.