Introducing Martial art XYZ

Spartacus Maximus · Black Belt

Imagine this situation: you are qualified to teach what you have been training for many years and your instructor has given you his approval to do this. You have been asked to represent the style or school and tasked with introducing it to a new area.

However, this style is unknown in the target area with no presence whatsoever. You are completely alone and will be the only person teaching your style in the entire region, perhaps in the entire country. Although you still have contact with your instructor, the long distance makes it impractical to recieve instruction more than a very short time once, perhaps twice a year.

In such conditions, what challenges or problems can you reasonably expect to deal with as the only representative instructor of your style for a very big area or country? How would you deal with these?

jaypo · Purple Belt

You have to provide a quality product and market it as such, as is the deal with anything you're trying to sell.

You could always do what some McDojo's do and post "Insert art here" on the sign, and people interested in that art will attend. For example, a TKD school around here had a large sign on the window for years that read "Karate".

Or, you could open up in an area with a built in clientele. Health club, Boys and Girls club, etc. Build the membership that way. Or simply put a generic "Martial Arts" tagline in your signage/advertising. Example- "ABC Martial Arts Studio". That way, you may attract people interested in various forms, and you won't anger the TKD, Karate, or BJJ purists that may visit your school by advertising "their" art if it's not what you're providing.
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sensei8 · KF Sensei

That's what I've been faced with in the past...TWICE!!

My Sensei was in the San Fernando Valley, within Los Angeles County, just north of Hollywood, and I moved to Dallas, TX to care for my mother. Shortly after her death, I moved to Tulsa, OK, within Tulsa County, just 120 miles east of Oklahoma City, OK.

Time elapsed here is roughly about 20 years.

In those 20 years or so, I've had to travel to our Hombu many times a year for a wide variety of reasons. Whether it was to train with my Sensei or to tend to a wide variety of posts that I had been elected to within our Hombu, a.k.a, the SKKA [Shindokan Karate and Kobudo Association]. Needless to say, in those ensuing years, I garnered a lot of Air Mile Rewards flying back and forth.

Shindokan isn't a well known style of the MA, and this is how our Soke intended it to be. However, the word "Shindokan" is a widely used name in the MA world, in that, many styles of the MA use the name "Shindokan", and they're not all of Okinawan origin. Therefore, Shindokan Saitou-ryu, is named after our Soke, Fuyuhiko Saitou, and it's Okinawan: 85% hands...15% feet, and so on and so forth.

During this time, I ran several successful dojo's in Dallas, TX, and then later, in Tulsa, OK. Each of these dojo's had a very respectfully large student bodies; 275+ and 310+ respective.

I did what I do best...I TAUGHT!! While not all black belts can teach, well, not to blow my own horn, but I can teach!! Providing a quality product does have its rewards.

I love to pass out flyers EVERYWHERE!!
I love to do demonstrations EVERYWHERE!!

Whereas, because I offered my student bodies a quality product, I was able to build up a majority of my student bodies from WORD OF MOUTH!!

I did what I knew to be the best, then and now! Our Soke did quite a lot of demonstrations EVERYWHERE. On the street corner, in shopping malls, at the Drive-In, and at the local tournaments....EVERYWHERE!! And because our Soke and his student, which is my Sensei, believed in WORD OF MOUTH advertising.

I share those same beliefs...Demonstrations and word of mouth, and all of that means nothing if what you have to offer, well, just sucks. Provide a high quality of a product, and prospective students darken your doors in droves.

Not quality from the surface, but true die hard in the wool quality in every aspect!! McDojo's appear to have a quality product, but only on their surface. Look deeper, and that's where the quality product is tested...and oftentimes, they fail the test.

Proof is on the floor, and the floor is no ones fool!! The floor observes and renders its verdict in a cold truth. A truth that McDojo's don't want to hear, nor do they want it revealed. Smoke and mirrors work well in a magic show, but they fail miserably on the dojo floor. Either one can or one can't!!

Being the lone representative in your area/country is a welcomed honor; to be trusted to bring it to whomever desires to partake of. So, provide a true quality product consistently and the rest will take care of itself.

Well, it has for me!!

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**Proof is on the floor!!!

sensei8 · KF Sensei

Spartacus Maximus · Black Belt

Being the first and/or only one to teach something new can be intimidating. One of the many possible issues to anticipate is dealing with resistance or hostility. Sometimes from the potential students or general public, but maybe also from other martial arts instructors already established in the area.

This is already difficult by itself but even more so if there are additional challenges such as cultural or language barriers such as those facing instructors who immigrated to teach their native martial arts.

sensei8 · KF Sensei

Spartacus Maximus · Black Belt

Maybe letting the floor do the talking is the only way when one lacks the skills or ability to express onself accurately. There are many more people who will accept something when they see it demonstrated or when they try it than those who do so just by listening to words.

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