Years I have been teaching people martial arts and this all the while for a non-profit organization. My 'real' job is being a software developer and till now there is no way I would be making the same kind of money with fight sports. 

However, along those years I helped plenty of others improving their martial arts business. And the number one thing I can tell you... student retention is a very important aspect of growing your member count in your school.

So let me go into this and even if you do not want to look at your sport school as business, it is still a good thing to do.

I think that decreasing drop outs can count up to 50% of your revenue. Since your students are the most important part of your club, keep in mind that their needs and challenges will change over time. But let them always set a goal before starting to train. The three most common goals are increasing their fitness level, getting more skilled and losing weight. 

And then follow up your student on these goals.

1. Make sure you know who trains when. For example by using attendance cards and sending them a receipt of payment. This will help them remember they paid and commit easier.
2. Talk with your students and especially to the parents if you are teaching kids classes. (well maybe for some adults too) If you have the luxury to decorate your own gym, make sure the lobby is as big as possible, at least the same space as the training room. I know this is hard to grasp as an athlete, but keep in mind that the majority of people comes and train for recreational and social purposes. Put commercial outside, so a random stranger can walk in and enjoy a drink while watching your classes. You should know every person’s name, job and other hobbies. Other typical questions you should ask: "How are you enjoying your training these days?", "Why?", "Do you see improvement towards your goal?", "Is there anything you would benefit from?" and other questions that will give you an idea of the status of your student. It is very important to know if someone is about to quit. There is a big difference in hearing "I'm thinking of quiting or I do not have much time to come and train" and "I cannot train anymore or I will come train again soon, but I am going to run a bit first"
3. Make attendance calls every week! "I haven't seen you for some time, when will I see you in training?", "Anything I should be aware of?", "Ok, I will see you on Wednesday". Receive complaints and figure out how to deal with them. An absence of four weeks is the deadline, you will most likely lose a student after this period. Remember him/her about the benefits and be ready to help. Sometimes a student wants to come back, but is afraid because of some missed classes compared to the other students. Give a free private class or help them out half an hour before class. Have an 'we are here to help' attitude. If you are unable to reach the person, make sure you inform one of his/her close ones and ask them to tell them you asked about them.

Although student retention is one of the major tools to build your school, it is also very important to get new students to sign up. Maybe I will come back to this later, in a huge mc-dojo for the non mc-dojo article. For now I can only say that you should have some form of introductionary classes. I think the best way is to have a more private first setting, where beginners can get comfortable with the sport. It must feel for them they are getting 1000Euro worth for only 100Euro. And that's exactly what they should get!

In short:

• Give egg classes
• Let them set a goal
• Attendance cards
• Know name, job and hobbies
• Have recreational space/time
• Follow-up on personal goals
• Make attendance calls
• Be ready to help

Bureaucratie! Why?

Voor alle duidelijkheid, indien je in Leuven aan de buitenkant van de ring woont. De kant van OHL voetbal bijvoorbeeld dan staat je officieel adres op Heverlee. MAAR... voor de ophalingen van de reinigingsdienst sta je dan onder centrum Leuven en dien je ook het juiste vuil buiten te zetten overeenkomend met de kalender voor Leuven centrum. Zelfs als je officieel adres op Heverlee staat.

Voila, hopelijk bespaar ik zo iemand vuil twee maal binnen en buiten zetten, naar de stadsdiensten bellen en syndicus lastig vallen.

Wat kan opruimen toch leuk zijn. Ik heb zo net in de kast mijn balance board terug gevonden. Het is zo een schijf met een halve bal onder, waarmee je zowel evenwicht als spierversterkende oefeningen kan doen. Ik had deze nodig om sneller te kunnen herstellen van een heelhook. Ik was lange tijd een van de gelukkigen, die sneller last had van zijn hiel dan van de knie... die tijd is spijtig genoeg voorbij. Misschien zijn mijn enkels te sterk geworden omwille van de balance board?

Hier enkele van de basis oefeningen:

Zet je voeten over het middel van het board.
Zorg ervoor dat je posture helemaal recht is.

Front to back

Wiebel van voor naar achteren zonder de grond te raken.

Side to side
Wobben van links naar rechts.

Rotation

Tors je romp en maak cirkel bewegingen.

Balanced push ups

Plaats het board onder je handen wanneer je in pomphouding staat. Ideaal om core exercises te doen. Indien nodig kan je eerst op je knieën starten :)

Flying carpet aka Aladdin
Zit met je kont op het balance board en probeer zo je evenwicht te houden. Eenmaal je dit goed onder 'de knie' hebt kan je het proberen wanneer je in mount zit. (mount naar helicopter mount naar Aladdin)

Kneeling
Zit op je knieën en probeer zo te balanceren

Lower leg stretch

Dit is een stretchen voor de gastrocnemius en soleus. Houd je achterkant van je heel van de grond en leun voorwaarts zo ver als je kan zonder je evenwicht te verliezen.

Verder kan je natuurlijk al deze oefening op slechts een zijde doen om de oefeningen wat moeilijker te maken.

Dat begint goed, juist terug van Slovakije en hier komen we aan in Belgie. Regen, wind en jawel vlaamse zangers op vrijdag avond. Geweldig. 

Kzal toch maar even proberen een wandelingske naar het stad te maken. Je kan me vinden at Paul Severs of Sam Gooris... weet nog niet waar... moeilijk kiezen. En verder bij alle bullshit eten bars van de oude markt, zodat ik er maandag terug kan invliegen met gezonder eten en trainen. 

Yeehaa.

Iedere dag rond de 42graden in Slovakije, besluiten we om één dag door te brengen aan het zwembad en tada... 30min later... regen, onweer, of belgisch weer  Onmogelijk om er uit weg te geraken en we brengen dan ook bijna twee uur door onder een afdak. Waarna we gelukkiglijk kunnen vluchten naar het shoppingcenter dat op 15min stappen van het zwembad ligt. Voor de rest enkel bergen en bomen... niet zo ideaal als je in een storm zit. 

In het winkelcentrum aangekomen, blijkt er een Lego tentoonstelling te zijn. Pure nostalgie...

Heb juist een week les gegeven bij Grappling Krakow. Een toffe club met elke dag minstens twee trainingen. De lessen zijn er opgedeeld volgens het niveau van de leerlingen en gi/no-gi.

Het meest boeiende voor me, was het feit dat ze heel veel lange vechters hebben (vooral lange benen) en dit als hogere gordels... het was frustrerend om te zien hoe kort mijn armen echt zijn. Daarbij kwam nog eens dan velen hele goede De La Riva en zelfs Berimbolo sweeps hebben... iets dat ik dacht typisch voor kleinere vechters te zijn... tja... blijkbaar niet. (ze hebben de techniek wel een beetje aangepast)

Eender hoe, leuke sfeer... ga er zeker eens trainen als je in de buurt bent.

I just finished a week of training and teaching at Grapping Krakow. It is a very nice school that has every day two grappling trainings. Classes are splitted up between student levels and go/no-gi. 

The most interesting part for me, was the fact that they have a lot of tall (read as people with long legs) higher belts and it was frustrating to see how short my arms really are. Furthermore, many of these guys are good with De La Riva and even berimbolo sweeps... something I considered only useful for small fighters... well... guess not. (although they change the way they apply it a bit)

Anyway, nice atmosphere... go train there when you are in the neighborhood.

"Het eerste dat je verliest met deze sport, is je ego"

"De beste vechters zijn intelligente mensen"

"Na vier minuten zit je al dood"

From the Gaelic 'cainnech' meaning born of fire. A defender of people. The first with ideas. Blessed with powerful instincts. Respected by all, envied by many. Every woman's desire.

When I first start checking around for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu schools in Malta, all I could find were mainly Kung-Fu, Karate or other traditional martial arts schools. When talking to people, I realized that the common knowledge about BJJ is in Malta comparable with what we experienced some years ago in Belgium. Most of older people thinks that fighting sports are about karate while younger believe that the toughest martial arts are kick- or Thai boxing.

Somehow it seems that the whole mixed martial arts revolution still didn't kick in. I started surfing the net looking for some BJJ schools in Malta. Soon I found the club of Keith Darmanin. He comes from a classical jiu-jitsu and being into judo for some time, decided to open his own BJJ school in Malta. Furthermore, he and his students joined the European Championships for some years and did really well.

Time for me to go over and train there a bit. As usual BJJ served as an instant friends glue. People with different backgrounds and different ages all train together in a nice atmosphere. Not long ago I wrote about how many schools neglect the basics of BJJ, which is not the case here. Good basic on guard retention and rolling. A pattern is emerging. It seems that small schools have a tendency to "grow" their students simultaneously and emphases the basics much more than in big schools, where the higher belts spend their time mainly with the higher belts and neglect the beginners and sometimes even the intermediate students.

Somehow Keith reminded me so much about myself. I have been there, starting a school from scratch, with almost no publicity or knowledge of the general population about it. Having to be there every single class to keep people motivated. It can be hard sometimes, but it is also very rewarding. Every time I am in Belgium walking in the school I built, I am truly impressed. Not only the mat is full of people training jiu-jitsu, but many of them became really good at it. Every of my old students has his own style and some of them became better competitors than I used to be. Amazing.

Here you can find more about BJJ in Malta : bjjmalta.com