Public+private

[SPJ]

In Taiwan and China, both public and private schools of MA exist.

In Taiwan, there are Kuo Shu clubs from high schools to colleges. CMA are taught as extracurriculum activities. Tang Lang was the most popular course. In each city or county, there are KF clubs sponsored by the city or county government.

CMA is preserved as an education, and physical culture heritage.

The teachers are paid with public money from governments.

Private schools vary in terms of financial or income sources.

Professional fighters do not have consistent income. Good fighters are usually from the teams in the military or police academy. Such as San Da and Shuai Jiao teams etc. Due to the fact that the best teachers are "reserved" by the services.

At one point, Qi Gong was so popular. We stopped teaching anything else. Even with Qi Gong classes, we had to return money due to over book 10 months ahead of classtime. We were not able to meet the demands.

In the States, private schools and professional fighters may have better luck. How about the public schools?

Please comment.

What is the main income source for your school?

What is the popular class or format?

Do you have San Da or free sparring classes?

Do you have Wushu form classes?

What are the students' primary interests?

Fitness, health, self defense skills, professional fighters wannabe?

Do you have classes from high schools to adults?

How big is the class?

How is it faring financially?

How do you recruit students? The retention rate and for how long?

etc.

[SPJ]

Agreed.

A lot of MA teachers enjoy philosophical debates.

However, MA is still a business.

It needs promotions and student /market surveys.

We can read the bio's and history of each art and know that there are always reasons for the success.

If the art is more known, there will be more students wanting to study. It is like a snowball effect. More schools->more students->more schools->---.

Once you have a greater pool of talents, the art will be enriched by more students.

You may find a lot of Wing Chun schools in many countries.

How about your particular school of art?

We really need to know more about our prospective students/market and orient ourself or tailor to their needs in the 21 century.

Financial success is also tied to the propagation and preservation of your art.

Sort of jump start a MA business thread, so to speack.

Comment whatever on your mind.

Sorry about the hundred points.

Key points of the topic:

Students, schools, finance, MA propagations and enrichments.

:D

[Meat Shake]

"What is the main income source for your school?"
Students

"What is the popular class or format?"
Popular around here is more of a cardio style workout.. Our class time is spent on the mats.

"Do you have San Da or free sparring classes?"
Thats pretty much all we do.

"Do you have Wushu form classes?"
No.

"What are the students' primary interests?"
To become more proficient fighters.

"Do you have classes from high schools to adults?"
Just adults.

"How big is the class?"
1 teacher, 2 students.

"How is it faring financially?"
We train in a backyard, and dont spend money on a lease... so I guess were doing okay.

"How do you recruit students? The retention rate and for how long?"
Flyers, demonstrations, business cards.... We get maybe one person every two or three months, but they only come for a class then never come back.

[EarthDragon]

meatshake, you say you get people that join but dont stay for more than one class?

Why do you think that is?
theres a lot to be said about retention. its easy to get new students, they call every day but you must have something for them to want to keep comming back.
this is what tradition is all about. people dont think or see the importance of TCMA.
We have a guy in our city that teaches fighting, a style he made up, MMA. He has a great workout hardest you could think of including windsprints then frog jumps that would make you puke.

But as good as his fighting is and his workouts after a couple years you realize it has no place to grow. it has no roots so therefore its branches only grow so far.
I have taught many of his students that quit becuse they are doing the same thing over and over from the first class to 3 years down the road, they have no means to progress.
This is the problem with MMA's while its OK for some, it does not appeal to most of the people interested in learning martial arts............

[Reggie1]

"We get maybe one person every two or three months, but they only come for a class then never come back."

We get some of that too, mostly because the beginner class is pretty hard-core compared to the rest of the city. There's a great story about people passing out in the beginner class--I know I nearly puked a few times. But we're starting to see higher retention now that sifu has made the beginner class a little easier.

[lkfmdc]

1. What is the main income source for your school?
Student tuition

2. What is the popular class or format?
We do san shou/san da, that is all we do

3. Do you have San Da or free sparring classes?
We do some sparring in regular classes and have sparring classes also

4. Do you have Wushu form classes?
uh, no, :)

5. What are the students' primary interests?
Learning self defense and getting in shape
We have some pro fighters, but there is not a lot of money in that

6. Do you have classes from high schools to adults?
15 years old minimum

7. How big is the class?
Average range, 8 to 16 people per class

8. How is it faring financially?
It's NYC, and I have a large facility with a lot of equipment, my gym is actually relatively new, all that considered, I'm doing well, I own my own place, spent $40,000 renovating it, just had a wedding and went on a honeymoon to Hawaii. I would like more money, who wouldn't?

9. How do you recruit students? The retention rate and for how long?
We have a commercial advertising campaign, a web site, newspaper ads, flyer dist, etc.

There tend to be two types of students, those who aren't serious and drop out after about a month, and the serious ones who stay well in excess of a year on average. In NYC, people get moved by jobs, go back to school, etc.. but we also have guys who have been with us in excess of 10 years...

[Meat Shake]

"meatshake, you say you get people that join but dont stay for more than one class?

Why do you think that is?"

They dont like getting body slammed, or they watch us go at it towards the end of class and decide they dont want to be quite so rough....
We wind up injured quite a bit... stitches, hyperextensions, dislocations, luckily no breaks in the past year and half, but gene broke a rib and his nose about 2 years ago.... And Ive got a permanantly injured middle right finger...

AFAIK however, we wont be meeting again until after I am gone... :(