Kids lessons: yes or no

[Spartacus Maximus]

In your opinion, is it absolutely vital to the success of a martial arts club/school to teach kids(under 16)? Does it make a difference if the school/club isn’t looking to make a profit?

[sensei8]

Spartacus Maximus said:

In your opinion, is it absolutely vital to the success of a martial arts club/school to teach kids(under 16)?

Absolute vitally?? No!! That's up to said CI or MA school owner!! If the CI is worth their salt on and off the floor, kids as students aren't necessary for the success of any MA school.

Spartacus Maximus said:

Does it make a difference if the school/club isn’t looking to make a profit?

No!! Profit or not for profit has no bearing on any spreadsheet because you want to teach, and you love teaching.

Takes more than students to be successful in a MA business. Yes!! A dojo, dojang, or whatever, it's still a business where any type of overhead that must be addressed day by day and month to month and year to year.

With students, you're going to need a cash flow to buy gi's, belts, training equipment, a place to train, or whatever else one might need even if the MA school is not for profit. Money in, money out.

Not one MA school NEEDS kid students, unless they WANT to teach kids.

I taught kids not because I needed to pad my bottom line but because I thoroughly enjoy teaching, kids and adults alike.

Imho!!

[aurik]

Teaching kids and adults tend to be very different experiences, in my experience; the challenges you'll face when teaching kids can be very different from the challenges you'll face teaching adults. If you aren't excited to teach kids and see it as a chore or something you feel you HAVE to do, then... just don't.

I have attended several different schools -- some have been run as for-profit businesses, others have been run as a non-profit club where the instructor has another full-time job. I will say that the for-profit businesses always taught kids, and younger students (under 16) were a vast majority of their students (at least 75%). Now IF you choose to teach students AND you do it well AND you can build a reputation for yourself, THEN you can certainly build a foundation of your business with teaching kids.

Note: there are a lot of IFs there. In the end, it is your dojo/school. You decide what you want it to look like, and you'll need to figure out what student base you want to gear towards. If you don't genuinely enjoy teaching kids, then just don't. You can make your school work without them, whether you want to be a non-profit club or a for-profit business.

[Nidan Melbourne]

At the end of the day, you don't have to run classes for kids if you aren't looking to make a profit.

Even if you were to make a profit, you can still run classes for 16+ or even 18+ years. With the explanation that for the safety of participants, they need to be able to consent to what they're going to learn and classes may be physically demanding.

I know a few instructors run classes for 18+ only for profit, their reasoning is that they are going to do "real world" stuff. and run classes at different times throughout the day and locations. So being over 18 is a requirement.

[sensei8]

At the end of the day, you don't have to run classes for kids if you aren't looking to make a profit.

Even if you were to make a profit, you can still run classes for 16+ or even 18+ years. With the explanation that for the safety of participants, they need to be able to consent to what they're going to learn and classes may be physically demanding.

I know a few instructors run classes for 18+ only for profit, their reasoning is that they are going to do "real world" stuff. and run classes at different times throughout the day and locations. So being over 18 is a requirement.

Solid post!!

[Montana]

I ran an unsuccessful for-profit dojo for about 3 years. I really wasn't interested in making more than breaking even, but to pay the rent and other expenses you almost HAVE to have kids. Parents will pay for kids where they won't pay for themselves.

In my garage/basement I resisted taking kids as students because I wanted people that I could work with myself. money wasn't the object, training partners were.

[Wastelander]

I wouldn't say that it's vital, but it DEFINITELY makes things easier. As Montana said, parents will pay for their kids to do things that they won't pay for themselves to do, even if they are interested--the kids come first, and people generally see more benefit for kids training in martial arts, as well. If you think about it, most adults who train just want some exercise they enjoy, and maybe some self-defense skills. When it comes to their kids, though, they see all the other benefits: discipline, motor skills, coordination, balance, confidence, cultural exposure, competition, etc.

Now, I do believe you can get adults to recognize all of those benefits for themselves, and run a successful program without young children, but I think it is MUCH harder. It's also impacted by the demographics in your area, which is outside of your control unless you can afford to move your program to a different area with better demographics. You can market it perfectly, but if the adults just don't have the funds, or have to work too much to have the time, it's not going to work out. That takes some serious market research, but it's definitely beneficial.

[bushido_man96]

Lots of great thoughts already mentioned. If your not looking for profit, then you can be more selective with who you take on as students as far as the age ranges go.

What I would suggest is perhaps not setting a hard and fast rule on age. Give yourself the leeway to evaluate a prospective student before saying yay or nay. Not all kids are created equal. You might run across a few that are very serious about training and will dedicate their time accordingly. They may be more focused than most kids, and can accommodate the demands of class better. It's just a thought, but give yourself that flexibility.

[Fat Cobra]

For the longest time I did not train kids, or want to train kids. However, I changed my mind on this a couple of years ago. Sure, there are many disadvantages to training kids, but here are some advantages:

1. They soak up information like a sponge. They copy everything you do, and in some ways are easier to teach than adults.

3. If you have to pay the rent, kids help bring in lots of revenue.

3. They are the future...in URKA we have some senior ranking individuals who started as a kid and are now in their 30s and 40s. These are those 1 or 2 kids from a dojo that will stick with it for a lifetime and continue on the tradition.

Obviously, it is up to each instructor and school as to what they want to do, but I would recommend not overlooking the benefits of teaching kids.

Edited April 8 by Fat Cobra

[sensei8]

The title of this topic begs the question: Kids lessons: yes or no

If the answer is no, then why not??

Casting aside the possibility of adding to a MA school's bottom line, don't kids deserve the right to learn the MA from a caring and legit and effective teacher?!?

Of course, whether a MA school teaches kids or not, that's up to that school, and I support whatever they decide.