Teaching at the YMCA

[neoravencroft]

If you don't own a martial arts school but want to teach martial arts Im wondering if you could rent a room from a YMCA for a certain time each day and teach at the YMCA. It would involve making a deal with the YMCA on renting and teaching.

There are far cheaper alternatives. Do you belong to a church? Does it have a basement or large enough area?

Ask your preacher, minister, priest, rabbi if they would consider renting you space. I did this for many, many years when my tenant space was tripled in rent to force me out for a retail store chain. It costed me a little less than a 1/4 of the rent (they already own the space). The one church I taught out of did not charge me rent at all for the first three years. Just a thought.

The only thing you will need is insurance. The church will require you to hold your own insurance. But this is not a draw back since you have to have it no matter where you teach. Unless your privately wealthy and can pay for claims out of pocket that is.

As someone who isn't particularly religious, do you think it's poor form to ask a pastor, priest, rabbi, etc, to rent out a space in the church for the gym if you don't belong to his or her congregation?

[singularity6]

Most churches could use money, and they pride themselves on servicing the community. Some groups might be more exclusive than others, but I think it's worth asking!

[JR 137]

If you don't own a martial arts school but want to teach martial arts Im wondering if you could rent a room from a YMCA for a certain time each day and teach at the YMCA. It would involve making a deal with the YMCA on renting and teaching.

There are far cheaper alternatives. Do you belong to a church? Does it have a basement or large enough area?

Ask your preacher, minister, priest, rabbi if they would consider renting you space. I did this for many, many years when my tenant space was tripled in rent to force me out for a retail store chain. It costed me a little less than a 1/4 of the rent (they already own the space). The one church I taught out of did not charge me rent at all for the first three years. Just a thought.

The only thing you will need is insurance. The church will require you to hold your own insurance. But this is not a draw back since you have to have it no matter where you teach. Unless your privately wealthy and can pay for claims out of pocket that is.

As someone who isn't particularly religious, do you think it's poor form to ask a pastor, priest, rabbi, etc, to rent out a space in the church for the gym if you don't belong to his or her congregation?

I don’t think it would be “poor form” if you’re not a parishioner/member. It wouldn’t be good to pester them if they said no, but that’s not exclusive to a religious place either. Their house, their rules. I’d imagine they’ll be a bit more selective about who’s coming in and what’s going on than more public places. For example I don’t think they’d be ok with renting out to a bunch of guys looking to hold a bachelor party.

The worst they could do is say no and tell you you’re a heathen. I doubt you’d be dealing with the priest/rabbi/etc. in this. Most likely they’ve got a different office-type person who handles this stuff.

As far as I know, my former sensei isn’t a parishioner at the church he rents from. Maybe a friend who helped him get in was?

I attended a seminar he held there a few weeks ago. It was different training in a gymnasium setting than a traditional dojo setting. But after getting over the visual part (all of about 10 seconds), it was actually better. Far more space to do what he wanted. The only drawbacks were no mirrors and not much, if any storage space.

[Spartacus Maximus]

it depends on how and when you ask. If you ask the right way and you are polite and professional there should be nothing to worry about. Unless the church building is privately owned, the cleric working there is an employee and likely has no knowledge or authority about renting any part to anyone.

The best way to go about it would be to get information by phone on exactly who to contact to find out if space can be rented and who to ask about it.

[MatsuShinshii]

If you don't own a martial arts school but want to teach martial arts Im wondering if you could rent a room from a YMCA for a certain time each day and teach at the YMCA. It would involve making a deal with the YMCA on renting and teaching.

There are far cheaper alternatives. Do you belong to a church? Does it have a basement or large enough area?

Ask your preacher, minister, priest, rabbi if they would consider renting you space. I did this for many, many years when my tenant space was tripled in rent to force me out for a retail store chain. It costed me a little less than a 1/4 of the rent (they already own the space). The one church I taught out of did not charge me rent at all for the first three years. Just a thought.

The only thing you will need is insurance. The church will require you to hold your own insurance. But this is not a draw back since you have to have it no matter where you teach. Unless your privately wealthy and can pay for claims out of pocket that is.

As someone who isn't particularly religious, do you think it's poor form to ask a pastor, priest, rabbi, etc, to rent out a space in the church for the gym if you don't belong to his or her congregation?

I started off teaching in my own church after leaving the rental business. I actually didn't ask but was asked by the church. After many years and the need to utilize that space for church functions I was asked to find an alternative place and I did what you are asking. I went directly to a different church (different religion) and asked. There was nothing uncouth about it. I asked they said yes. Simple as that.

The actually did not charge rent for three years. And afterwards the rent was still much, much cheaper than renting a retail space.

If you're uncomfortable about asking, see if any of your students are active in their churches and see if they will ask.

Nothing wrong about asking a question. The worse that happens is they say no.

[XtremeTrainer]

So I got lots of responses that talk about all different possibilities. YMCAs, churches, ect. Thank you all, you've been very helpful.

[bushido_man96]

Years ago, my old TKD club in my hometown trained at the National Guard Armory. Its a big area, but concrete floors. That might be another option to consider.

[Spartacus Maximus]

Practically any place or building open to the public with suitable space might be open to making a deal to reserve a time slot. Have seen martial arts classes run in the following places:

Community centres,

veteran’s clubs and armories

churches

public community gyms

School campuses

Most of these places never advertise that they might have a space to rent, so it takes a lot of phone calls and inquiries to find out. Any medium to large city has more than a few places to try.

[Luther unleashed]

As an alternative, the YMCA can be quite pricey, but that depends on the location. Some charge a flat fee, while others charge a fee based on how many members sign up for the classes.

Time slots are the challenge because the YMCA holds many different classes of varying interests, and some of those time slots are already grandfathered in; prime slots are usually already taken.

Pricy... yes!

I did this in 2017 for a few months. I started out renting. This was one of only two options. I paid $400 a month for 2 days a week, 4hrs total. I went the first month with ONE student so I paid to teach obviously. Then they allowed me to “partner” with them. This consists of a standard fee of 50% to them, of tuition. This is quite high, as an example I was at a few rec centers previously, one took 10% and I was there a few years, the other was 30% and I needed up leaving sooner, just as an example.

Inevitably I was booted from my spot because of the over need for the use of my slot for a boxing program. The director was former boxing champion Elaina “babydoll” Reid, Long story short but I took a six week break to take care of my daughter who is having complications of cancer treatment with her blessing and I was told my spot would be available when I come back, upon returning she had given my slot away to a boxing program.

My experience with the Y is that I will never do it again. I ended up getting very lucky and partnering with a major city in the area for a three-year contract locking down the space at a community center. The option was that they take 20% of student tuition or I pay $100 per month for the space, upon doing math I took the $100 a month for the space because essentially that means I only need two students per month to make the rent and the rest is in my pocket at a tuition rate of $50, which is similar pricing to another martial arts (Aikido) program there. I’m at 14 as of tonight, and I have been open since Feb 5th 2018 so I’m way past my $100 rent and we’ll into profit.

I would not tell you not to take a deal at the Y because I did it but I would just exercise caution and say that you were probably better off trying the recreation centers first!

Good luck.