New Year’s Resolution for All Martial Artists

[Master Mikeal 'Bear' Smith]

Your Instructor owns and operates a school for you; yes you. If you walked up to the school next week for class and the doors were locked and a sign read “Sorry We Went Out of Business” what would you do? First you’d be mad, then you’d wonder why, and lastly you’d ask yourself “what am I going to do now?” I know these things because I’ve experienced them first hand. There is a fourth question that rarely gets asked. That is; “what could I have done or should I have done to help prevent this?”

Remember…. your Instructor is always agonizing over how to pay the bills and support their family. Sometimes that means closing the school and taking a “regular” job; they don’t want to because teaching Martial Arts is their passion, but passion does not feed their children. A great Martial Art school is symbiotic in that it requires an Instructor who thrives on Students who love to learn and train and Students who thrive on an Instructor who loves to teach and give.

Below are a few answers to that fourth question:

~ Pay your dues on time
~ Buy your gear and gifts from the school
~ Get your friends and family to experience the Martial Arts with you
~ Participate in membership drive programs or incentives
~ COME TO CLASS!

So now you have some other resolutions besides getting into your swimsuit by April.