Lots of Martial Arts Schools Are Closing?
So calling around Seattle, trying to find places to train if I relocate there, a common thread has come up, which is that a lot of schools are in fact closing or their memberships are really down.
It seems the main schools surviving are the ones that have a lot of kids programs and teach really watered-down martial arts.
Anybody else see this happening? Like for example, there are no more Tracys kenpo schools around Seattle, they've all shut down. Several instructors I called said they teach kids to stay alive but there are very few students anymore even for kids, and they wonder what's going on.
It's really about the economy
Martial arts is a luxury in America. When the economy is bad on the middle/lower economic classes, attendance drops. It's happened before. Fix the economy and all sorts of wonderful things will bloom again, including martial arts.
The rise of MMA hasn't really shown much economic impact on the traditional martial arts. It has shown more impact on the health clubs than anything, just like TaeBo did a few years back. The demographic for MMA is too narrow. Actually, TaeBo had a more significant impact because it had sex appeal. MMA has some sex appeal, in a sort of brokeback way, but it's more of macho appeal, like boxing really. TMA has a much broader appeal because it grabs the young and old. It may surprise you tough-talkers here, but the bulk of bill-paying MAtists are just in it for healthy pastime, especially with kids and those slightly past their physical prime. Most parents look at MMA cage fights and are turned off. That's not what they want to put there kids into. Since MMA is very physically demanding, it requires far more time on task than most people can invest. For them, some 'useless forms' are very useful. Like wushu (and who else would compare MMA to wushu but me?) there's not much money in it because the demographic. Generally, it's only the teens to thirty-somethings that has the time and the energy to invest seriously in these arts, and they seldom have a lot of bank, accept on the upper end, and that's when they tend to start looking for something a little less hard. Of course, there are exceptions, but looking at general economic trends, MMA only poses a threat to the timid.
Don't get me wrong - I think MMA is great. I love sitting down with a beer and watching some good MMA. But I confess, I'm past my physical prime and there's no way I'm ever going to get in the cage at my age. Plus my whole interest in martial arts stems from sword practice, so MMA has little to offer me in that regard.