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This is free service (yes, as in FREE) offered to all martial artists who have news the martial arts world should know about. Submit your your news, events, press releases, and articles to admin@martialinfo.com. For more submission guidelines, click here. |
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WE ARE NOT A BLACK BELT SCHOOL. 
Richard Hubbard, an instructor friend of mine and member of both The Ultimate Black Belt Test
and The 100., has come up with the ironic martial arts school anti-slogan-of-the year, maybe for
the coming decade:WE ARE NOT A BLACK BELT SCHOOL. We are Not a Black Belt School is the perfect (and appropriate) backlash to the last two decades of crass commercialization and watering down / lowering of standards for the rank of black belt, in general, in the martial arts industry. It all started with the martial arts schools of the 1960s and 70s looking for ways to sell lessons. They ended up being influenced by and modeling how dance lessons were being sold --and we became an industry that sold untaught lessons in longer and longer courses (buy 6 months, buy 100 lessons, buy a year, buy 3 years, shoot, heres a 10 year course!). We named them after the belt colors people could earn by training for whatever period of time they signed up for (bought). There was the Gold Belt Course, then The Purple Belt Course, and so on. The big fat carrot? The Black Belt course or Club (of course, that wasnt enough, as were Americans! The BBC was followed by the Master Club, The Grandmaster Club, The Leadership Course, etc.). The courses very often had little or nothing to do with actual talent or education, but a whole lot to do with the process of packaging lessons for sale. And truthfully, for some school owners and students, it worked. People joined and paid for these courses, saw the training through, and graduated with some fine skills. However, in far (FAR) too many cases, people started getting sent to collection agencies because they stopped paying for long courses they were no longer attending (and often for good reasons) --and worst of all, many schools felt pressure to graduate people up the ranks, despite the fact that students didnt have black belt levels of skill. I mean, how can you sell the Black Belt Club to prospective members when nobody ever earns a black belt? Will little Johnnys Mom and Dad shell out $5,000 for a course where students never graduate? Nope. And friends, there were --and still are (Ive heard) --schools out there marketing and selling $5,000 and even $10,000 black belt courses to kids. Its my guess that these schools would point out the benefits of being a black belt, but I know all too well, from actually sitting in seminars and meetings by schools like this, that the real goal is to get that gross (income) up. Ive heard a leader of a big chain of schools declare that he knew for a fact that students were not going to stick around, so their plan was to "get as much money as they can, as fast as they can." For real. The Black Belt Club and We Are a Black Belt School has become synonymous with billing companies, high-pressure sales, big contracts, paid-in-fulls (the Holy Grail of the strip-mall karate school, a PIF means the teacher scored payment in full for a long term course), bogus membership upgrades, and situations like I personally witnessed last year when I watched a 10 year old (?) third-degree black belt perform that I swear to you shouldn"t have been wearing a green belt. I was shocked speechless --but simply smiled and played the good guest (I was, after all, a guest at this teachers school, and I know for a fact that he didnt promote that young man out of purposeful negligence, but because of, well...some other factors that I am, at the moment, unable to intelligently and objectively express). We are NOT a Black Belt School! I love it! Its the Adbusters Black Spot campaign for the martial arts world. We owe a nod of thanks, by the way, to the Brazilians, for only graduating jiu jitsu black belts who are actually black belts --and for not allowing kids under the age of 18 (or is it 21?) to wear the rank. We are NOT a Black Belt School! The Rebel Yell of martial arts teachers taking the martial arts back from the hands of dance studio operators and other opportunists. We are (NOT) a Black Belt School! It was, for a short time in the 80"s, a smart thing, maybe even a good thing. Today, it"s an embarrasment. Maybe, someday, the black belt will come, once again, to represent something valuable and honorable, instead of a sales gimmick and a tool for greed. |
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Power #3} 12 Powers Of A Successful Sensei Here's your next FREE GIFT on the 12 Powers of a Successful Sensei. POWER #3}>POWER OF POSITIVE PROGRESS. Anytime you help your students, or anyone else for that matter, achieve positive progress toward their goal, they begin to see you as their mentor in that area. Progress is an excellent retention tool and sparks your student's interest level. In this video, I share the 3 dimensions of progress with your students. This video and the rest of the series is a powerful set of tools for you and your staff. It's filled with powerful and valuable reminders aimed to increase your influence with your students, their families and your community. In our MAUI Mentoring Program, Elite Level members enjoy the benefit of what we call "VIP Customized Visits" where they attend our staff training, visit our schools and enjoy a insiders view of the way we run our organization down here in South Florida. The feedback I hear the most is how impressed our members are with my team of World Class Instructors. I'm forever grateful for the many fine men and women that make up the team I work with everyday at LaVallee's USA Black Belt Champions. They are truly great people and highly dedicated to the Martial Arts and their students. These "12 Powers of a Successful" are a small sample of the type of training and guidelines they follow each day in running their dojo's on a daily basis. Unquestionably, these powers will help you become a better Sensei, Sifu, Shidoshi, Kyoshi, Hanshi, Kru, Guro or whatever title you choose to use. It's about becoming better at influencing positive behaviors and actions in those you teach. Today's video is called the "Power of a Positive Progress." Hopefully, you'll gain benefit and hear some valuable reminders and maybe a new twist on some simple, common sense ways to create a positive first impression and to create a lasting impression on everyone you meet on a daily basis. |
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we are not a black belt school, part 3. ways to make better black belts. By Tom Callos. I"ve been a fairly harsh critic of the black belt testing process, in "the industry" specifically, where selling black belt memberships has become like hawking used Hyundai"s, where black belts are earned in 12, 18, or 24 months (especially in taekwondo schools for some reason), where 10 year olds sport 3rd degree black belts but couldn"t punch their way out of a wet black belt club contract, and where black belt test requirements and standards have, in general, been gliding down a slip-and-slide towards a real mud-pit of lackluster, unimpressive, near-pitiful mediocrity (ask me sometime, I"ll tell you how I really feel about it). Of course there are many exceptions. There are some fine martial arts teachers in the world --men and women who have sensible, comprehensive, and interesting black belt test programs. That being said, there are also many programs that go right over the top --and require things of their testers that just aren"t anywhere near smart (like jump kicks for overweight, 55 year old executive types with a life-long history of knee problems; or full contact sparring, with Killer, for Mrs. Smith; or doing the entire test without water or rest; and yes, I know, you were at that test too). Ah, but criticism is so cheap and easy, isn"t it! So below, I offer some ideas around one concept (give or take) from a program I"ve been running designed to try new black belt testing ideas (on real humans), The Ultimate Black Belt Test. IF I WERE GOING TO OFFER SOME ADVICE ON HOW TO MAKE BETTER BLACK BELTS: Id make the black belt test last a year or longer --and Id have the tester keep a video / blog diary of every week --or day (or close to it). Id do that for a number of reasons: 1. I wish I had a year of my fathers life --or my grandmothers life, documented in writing and/or on video. What a gift that would be! And so, by more or less forcing my advanced students to keep a journal, Id be helping to give their children a priceless gift. Its difficult, you might argue, to keep a journal for a year; Id say yes, it is, but not for someone with self-discipline. Oh, and for the teacher of the martial arts, keeping a year (or longer) record of the path from one rank to the next is like writing the book of exactly how a test is (or, perhaps, is not) supposed to be done. 2. It might cause the tester to look deeply at how he or she spends time. 3. It shows the general public, if the journal is made public, just how much (or how little) study, effort, and subject matter is (or is not) a part of the black belt testing process. 4. An entire year gives me enough time (the tester too) to add things to his or her test that might otherwise never be considered and/or made a requirement of the process. For example, doing 150 push ups, in casual sets of 10, would be an easy task for most black belts on the day of their test. If someone said they did 150 push ups on test day, I might say, OK, what else did you do? Ah, but how about a years worth of 150 push ups, done each day in sets of 10? Thats 54,750 push-ups. EVERYONE will pay attention when you tell them you did that many push-ups for your black belt test; and whats more impressive, doing 150 push ups at one time --or having the self-discipline to do that many for 365 days in a row? But, Id like to note, push ups are not what Im really interested in as a teacher. Im more interested in finding 4 or 5 things that my black belt candidate finds extremely difficult and/or something that he or she wants to do, but hasnt been able to force herself to do. Then, I want to break whatever that is into 365 little steps, 365 daily acts, which by themselves dont seem like a burden or any big deal, but collectively become something pretty spectacular. Three acts of kindness, or acts of prayer, or acts of family, or three pages of the book a student has wanted to write, or three written positive affirmations, or three sets of 10 judo throws, or three written poems a day, or three acts of anything that means something important to the student, in a years time, becomes 1000 acts. I want my black belts to recognize and live the power of 1000 acts, 1000 steps in a certain direction, 1000 movements, 1000 reps, 1000 attempts, and 1000 failures without giving up. If these things arent necessarily to the benefit of the tester herself, then I offer this: THE IDEA THAT "THE TEST" IS NOT ABOUT THE TESTER 6. In the ultimate black belt test I can imagine (and I have a big imagination), the test is not about the tester at all, but about everyone in the testers sphere of influence. What a black belt test it would be if the intention was not just to have personal transformation in the year leading up to ones final exam, but to have a significant affect on as many people as the tester could inspire. What if when the black belt candidate stood in front of the judges table, his or her testing success was, at least in part, measured by the amount of people involved in or affected by the testers own commitment to some measure of excellence? Now THAT would be something. That something might be for the benefit of some young man or woman that looks up to the tester --and seeing the candidate commit himself to a 1000 reps, that young person may never look at hardship or obstacles the same way. Maybe, sometimes, the reps and the training serves others more than it serves the participant? Now THAT is something (to think about). So many black belt tests are all about the tester, how high or hard or fast they can kick. How good their forms are, how fast they can run a mile, and how many boards or brick they can break. But a test where the intent is to have a positive affect on ones family, classmates, co-workers, extended family, and/or ones community? Oh, THAT sounds HARD! Which also sounds a lot like Bring it on. 7. The other thing about doing a year-long test is that an instructor can ask all sort of things of a candidate, without taking over the testers life. An hour or so a day is not too much to ask for a black belt in training, but how many times have we seen candidates have to cram like crazy to prepare for a test, at the expense of chores, school work, family time, and sometimes even physical health? As a teacher, Im not into cramming. Im into long term, healthy, habitual and beneficial adjustments or changes in my students; changes they want to see themselves, and just need a little help to make habits of. 8. With a year long test, a participant can fail to succeed nearly one-half of the time --and still have done 10-times more than anyone could do during even the most challenging one day, two day, or even week long black belt test. I like that. From a school owner"s perspective, a year long test provides 365 reasons to talk about their school, the people in it, and the intention of the training --that"s called promotion and "advertising" that"s not based on promises, but on what"s happening in people"s lives. I like that too. Oh, and in a year long test there"s time to find out what someone"s really made of. Why wait until next year to "test" for your black belt? Today is your black belt test. How would you live, today, if it were actually THE DAY? What are you waiting for? I"m not looking for testers who can shine on a single day, but who live the training. |
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Where to Start, When You are Starting a Martial Arts School
There are a lot of things to consider and embrace when youre starting (and operating) a martial arts school. Below, I point out a number of things worthy of consideration --and in no particular order (feel free to list your own thoughts in the comments box, below):Your schools simply a bucket, with holes in it. Fill the bucket, stop up the holes (an impossibility) as best you can. It will always leak, making some room for new students. The fewer leaks, the better you are at the more difficult of the two jobs. Your job, initially, is to fill the bucket; then its to stop the leaks. You should, over time, be a master of doing both things (as its not rocket surgery). Your bucket has a finite capacity --how many students will it need to meet your needs? Beware of getting stuck in the fill the bucket mindset (as that attitude is as common as sand at the beach). Getting stuck in that place, where you take on the job of filling the bucket as your primary occupation, is like getting stuck in your freshman year of high school --and returning to the same subjects over and over without going on to where those basics are supposed to lead. The martial arts industry, like life in general, is fat with people who fail to understand that filling the bucket is, as Lee said in Enter The Dragon (borrowing from The Buddha), ...like a finger pointing away to the moon. Don"t concentrate on the finger, or you will miss all the heavenly glory." Every martial arts teacher thinks (at one point or another) that his or her methods of teaching and curriculum are just simply wonderful, as in something to brag about. Nine times out of 10, the opposite is true. What you have to teach is far less that 1/2 of what you have yet to learn. Your curriculum isnt of any value, if it doesnt serve the people you teach --and in a way that keeps them coming back and that puts them on the sensible path to self-improvement. In other words: Your curriculum isnt as important as the attention and personal guidance you give your students. This is difficult for some to understand, but its what separates instructors on the path from those who have stopped moving forward. People stay in or quit your school for two primary reasons: 1. You meet or dont meet their NEEDS (and their perceived needs and/or their needs as they change/evolve). 2. They dont know the BENEFITS awaiting them from the long term study and practice of the martial arts; because if they genuinely knew what the training does for the mind, body, and spirit, theyd hardly ever miss a class. Your job is to become a master of establishing peoples needs (and meeting them, if at all possible) --and communicating the benefits of the practice of the martial arts lifestyle. When I write communicating the benefits, I mean more than ad copy. I mean with every action, idea, project, and breath. By embracing this attitude (that you are the product) you transcend the role of school owner, and move towards being a genuine master teacher. Get a rock-bottom, wholesale, shock-your-mama lease on your dojos space. Keep your overhead as low as humanly possible (no new cars, bars, cigars, watches, showy homes, or any of the other silly and superficial ego crap that can turn your wonderful little adventure into a joyless grind). When youve got a year of your income in savings, then, MAYBE, you can spend a bit on stuff that in the end, wont mean squat --and that is no measure, for the deeply aware, of success. As a master teacher its your mission to cultivate a life that is outwardly simple and inwardly rich. v Always take the high road. Advertise your benefits constantly. There are, I should remind you, 365 days in a year --and each one of them calls on you to practice 5 to 10 acts of marketing. This is not advertising in the traditional sense, this is you practicing the discipline of your profession. Go through your student body, each week of the year (52) with a fine tooth comb. Youre looking for potential drop-outs, so that you can do something about the problem long before it gets to be one. Always train people to help (always as in its a daily practice). Even when theres nobody to teach to help you, pretend there is --and teach them all the same. Management is getting things done through the effort of others. Far too many MA Teachers are white-belt people/task managers. NEVER send a student to a collection agency. Spend 99% of your time on people who appreciate your efforts, 1% (or less) on dealing with the people who dont. Continuous study and growth is essential to your career. However, that being said, you will find that 9 out of 10 martial arts teachers you know and/or see at the convention, are not doing 1/100th of what they could or should do to evolve as master teachers. Part of that is peer pressure from the incessant sales-consciousness of the industry, part is due to ignorance, part to human nature, and most of it is caused as a result of hanging out with the wrong people. Teaching classes is NOT your job. Its part of your job the way feeding your children is a part of the job of raising them. You HAVE to feed your children --and ideally you feed them the best diet you can muster. However, if thats the job you focus on, if thats what you think being a parent is, well --how sad that would be for you and your kids. Your job is much more than teaching great karate (or whatever brand name you choose to attach yourself to). If you find your daily activities are primarily focused on teaching great classes, you are failing to do the more difficult, but equally important jobs of a genuine master teacher. Keep accurate daily business stats and learn how to use them to be a better school manager. If you have to keep stats and dont, you will suffer--and make others suffer too. If you dont have to keep stats (and you dont HAVE to do anything but die and pay taxes, yes?), youre in a place where your income greatly exceeds your expenses. Good for you (keep them anyway, so you can teach your children how to live when moneys tight). This is one of the noblest of careers --or it isnt. Some teachers will tell you martial arts is martial arts and business is business, but for the master, there is no separateness. All things are connected. Be ready for a lot of failure (If you"re not failing every now and again, it"s a sure sign that you"re not trying anything very innovative." Woody Allen). |
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Just because someone told you so Just because someone told you so, doesnt mean it is true Early in my career as a Martial Arts Instructor, I found it necessary to supplement my income by taking a day job painting apartments. My bosss name was Paul. My initial feeling about him was very positive and I felt like he was going to be a good guy to work for. My first day on the job, Paul partnered me with Toby, who was to be my initial trainer and show me the ropes. Toby seemed like a pretty good guy and I liked him right away. Within a few hours, we became fast friends and when he felt he had my trust, he started in on what a lousy boss Paul was. He told me I should check my time card and pay check, for it wasnt above Paul to try to cheat you if he could. I felt a bit odd that he was sharing this with me but had no reason to doubt him. So I began looking for signs that Paul had cheated me. With in a few days of working along side of Toby, I began to see things about him that I wasnt comfortable with. He padded his time card, and wanted me to do the same. On his work sheet, he wrote down things we never did. It soon became apparent that he was the one that was less than honest. With in my first month of employment, he was gone. I continued to work for Paul for several years and for quite some time, I kept waiting for that dishonest guy that Toby warned me about. The funny thing is, he never showed up, Paul was great boss, hardworking, ethical and as honest as the day is long. We are great friends to this day. Tobys initial comments took years to undo and they have served as a reminder to me that just because someone told you so, doesnt mean it is true. To this day, I try to remember this when I hear something negative said towards some one else. Thanks, Toby. Whether you meant to or not, you taught me a great lesson on what not to do. More importantly, thanks Paul for being a great example. |
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Fitness Tips with Kyoshi Steve LaVallee Part 2 |
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Run to the World MV The Kick - Korean Movie 2011 |
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I am a Better Person After You Leave The Room. 
I am fortunate to have a great relationship with my two children. Although they are well behaved and respectful when they should be, there is also a playful side to our relationship and we often banter back and forth. A while back, my daughter, son and I were having one of our good natured verbal sparring sessions. My son jokingly told his sister how lucky she was to have him to guide her in the ways of being a better person. She rolled her eyes, smiled and said, "Bro, Im a better person after you leave the room."I immediately realized that there were two ways this sentence could be interpreted. It could mean that being around you has affected me in a profoundly positive way and I"m a better person for it. Or, it could mean that being around you brings me down so much that Im better off the moment you leave. So the question is, how would the people in your life interpret this line as it relates to you? I think we"d all agree that when we leave a room, we want the people we just left to feel that their lives were just a little bit better because we had been with them. |
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The Community Wheel By Tom Callos |
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