Hello Tony,
Some very good questions about how the attributes or perceived benefits of martial arts training should be honestly positioned to a prospective student.
In any other business, you have to identify the customer need and ensure that you fulfil that need, otherwise your customers will soon look elsewhere. Commercial martial is very bad at identifying the student’s need, and worse at ensuring that need is honestly fulfilled. The problem starts with modern martial arts promotion, which to be honest I see falling very much in the realm of Bullshit Bingo. Look at the average ad these days “Kickboxing, Grappling, MMA, Weaponry, Self Defence, Trapping, Boxing, Clinching, Confidence, Fitness, Skill, Fun, Self Development….” By the time you have finished you can be sure to call “House”. How is any student supposed to understand whether what you offer is going to fill their need? To be honest many commercial instructors don’t really care, just throw them in and sheep dip them, get them on the direct debit, and baffle them with technique. Then these same instructors scratch their heads when their student retention starts to go south of 10% after 6 months.
I made a conscious decision some time ago to stop trying to impress people with a shopping list of all the martial arts I offer, and rather just clearly articulate what a prospective student can hope to gain from their study. I broke this down into three simple categories:
- Combat Athletics
- Self Protection
- Occupation Specific (Police, Military, Security)
Back to some of your points. If a student articulated to me that their need is Combat Athletics then they would certainly be working hard on their fitness, strength, conditioning and nutrition. That’s what they asked for, that’s what they signed up for, so that’s what they get. If someone came to me looking for Self Protection then I wouldn’t force the athletics side on them, I would fulfil the need that they came to me with, and focus on the SP material (I would of course encourage physical conditioning as part of that). Finally, I’m not going to waste a Police Officer’s time by making him do energy drills or rounds on the Thai pads when he came to me wanting to understand the mechanics of Knife Defence. He/she has a specific need, its my job to fulfil that need. So to answer your question, what "should" be taught to a student is what they asked for, and what we told them we were going to teach.
You also mentioned the notion of traditions. I always get jumped on when I say what I am about to say but that’s fine. The vast majority of traditions that we uphold in martial arts are there purely to reinforce a position of authority for the instructor. Bow to me, call me Sifu or Sensei or Sir, ask a senior student before you bother me with trivia, you don’t get to spar or roll with me, make sure you wear a t-shirt with my name on it. What has any of that got to do with the development of a student (that thing we get paid for)? Nothing. What has any of that got to do with being a good teacher? Nothing. People say its about respect - horseshit, its about our ego. Our students have shown respect by giving up their time and money to train with us, that’s the only respect they need to show - the rest is down to us. Show them respect by treating them as an equal, a friend, a training partner. Show them respect by being in shape and on top of your game so you can round robin and spar with all of them. Show them respect by treating them as an intelligent adult in 2008, by dispensing with traditions from a culture and belief system that means nothing to any of them, so don’t pretend it does just so you can put barriers in the way of them and you. Just get on with doing your job.
So to me I guess its simple: Clearly distinguish and position, in simple language, what it is you offer. Listen to what the student is looking for, make sure that you teach them exactly that, show them respect and treat them as an equal, and they tend to stick around. I think people appreciate an honest approach.
However, I'm sorry to say this isn’t a commercial approach or a financially lucrative one. It requires lots of one to one attention, or a focus on very small groups. That simply isn’t practical in a large academy looking to fill 25 classes a week with hundreds of people. What approach is practical for such a place? Eyes down for a full house.
MW
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