March 10th, 2010 
admin 
Getting Your Black Belt is the Start, Not the finish
It amazes me how many people I meet out at parties that start talking about their accomplishments in martial arts when they hear that I am still training.
When I ask what they are doing they say… “nothing now, I did it years ago and I got my black belt”. I have to ask if they still practice or anything and get the same dumb answer “No, I got my black belt and I finished!”, WHAT THE ???
Learning a Martial Art shouldn’t be seen as a short course you learn and then forget. Getting a Black Belt is not the end of the road. In many martial Arts this is where the student knows enough of the arts principles to really start learning how to apply them properly.
It’s easy for me to consider the person stupid for thinking that they have completed their mastering of the martial arts but that means I’m placing the responsibility on the student. It is obvious that these people think they have finished because their instructor led them to believe it.
It is the instructors responsibility to teach their students the mental and spiritual understanding just as much as it is about teaching them the physical movements of a martial art. Don’t let your students see the effort of turning up to train as a choir to be done to obtain a black belt. Belts are just an indication of what a student should know so far. No matter what level of belt a person wears they can and should always improve.
My point is this. Make it obvious to your current students that you have an infinite amount knowledge to pass on to them, you are ahead of them and you are still learning.
Design your classes to cater for long term students. A martial art school should not be run like a factory where you teach them for 3+ years and then throw them out telling them that they are a finished product.
People stop training in martial arts for many reasons but the main ones are; being bored or thinking they have finished. Don’t let your students ever quit for either of these reasons.
If you teach from young kids to adult classes, then separate them into different groups; 5-12 year olds, 13-18 year olds, 18 years and older. Explain that the colored belts for each group have different meanings, the blue belt an 8yo wears does not means the same as a blue belt on an adult or a teen.
It is an excellent way to split your classes into more similar body sizes and it saves you from the hassle of trying to teach kids and adults at the same time.
It also makes it clear that when the kids graduate into the next class that they are starting again from white belt because they don’t know everything yet. They may know all the kids stuff but now they begin learning the teen version of your system. If you want you can add colored tips to their new belts to indicate that they have come from the previous group.
There are two obvious benefits for structuring your school in this way. For your students, they will continue to train and learn and improve and become great at what they do. For you as their instructor it means
you can truly be responsible for guiding them in life as they grow up, to see how they become adults.
And for those of you who want a more material advantage, you will have a great student for many years, not just a short visit. So many businesses today spend all of their time and money trying to find n
ew customers. Be smart and learn how to satisfy the students you already have so they stay with you. It’s a lot less work and a lot more rewarding seeing long term students progress over time.
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