As I've probably harked on before, I've just started an after school club in Taekwondo for both teachers and students.

I've got a regular little set of students coming (both teachers and a few kids) but one of the problems I'm encountering is getting more kids through the door. Out of a school population I've had 8 kids through the door.

So my questions are, any suggestions on getting kids through the door and how do I retain them?

Hi Lesley
You don't say what age group you're aiming at, whether you have a 'child specific' training system for that age group and what you are currently doing for recruitment.

We've successfully taught children for many years and so have many workable ideas.

Steve

Hello, well the age group the class is open to is 11-18 years but that also includes adults as well as the teachers come.

So basically, it's everyone in together but I haven't got any kids younger than 12 as they don't go to this school.

Here are some random thoughts, while you wait for some better advice from other people!

Is there any scope for doing a session in the normal PE class, where you have a captive audience?

Word of mouth is always going to be a way of attracting people. You could could give some sort of incentive to the kids you have to bring their friends along.

As long as the kids are having fun they will stay. How long are the classes? As you will know children can have short attention spans.

You got a big age range. Do pupils at the school usually interact across these age boundaries? Is it perhaps worth concentrating on the younger pupils? They are going to be around longer and be the foundations for the club.

Have some sort of drive in September for new students when there is an influx of new pupils.

I may be worth thinking about whether the fact there are other teachers in the class is putting kids off(?).

I remember when my club was trying to get a new kickboxing class up and running at about this time of year and we only got five people for a month. We relaunched to coincide with the start of the university year and in the end had to turn people away as there wasn't enough room for everyone.

The most important thing is not to take the numbers in the class personally. Remember you're competing with long established distractions for kids, such as other sports, tv, video games, etc. It may take time to build up, just like it took you time to develop your martial arts skills (sorry that was unbelievably cheesy!)

Good luck and hopefully others will have some better thoughts.

Lesley Jackson wrote:
Hello, well the age group the class is open to is 11-18 years but that also includes adults as well as the teachers come.

So basically, it's everyone in together but I haven't got any kids younger than 12 as they don't go to this school.

Hi Lesley

We are the only club in our area that has packed adult classes.

11yrs+ in MA terms are adults, most of recruitment is by referral and our website I would suggest:

Get a plain well laid out website that gives all the necessary information that the prospective student needs without 'waffle'.

Make sure you can always be easily contacted.

Interact with the school sports development officers to give demonstrations at the schools and for the schools to distribute leaflets for you.

Make the training syllabus exciting at the beginning, do a lot of 'kickboxing' techniques with a lot of padwork and self defence appropriate for the students lifestyle.

50% or more of our classes are adult females, so hit pads and not people and make it a good workout.

Most people want fitness, self defence and a good social activity, make sure you fulfill those needs. Their love of MA's will come later.

Encourage referrals people that love the club will naturally do it for you.

Hope this helps...

Steve

Lesley Jackson wrote:
Hello, well the age group the class is open to is 11-18 years but that also includes adults as well as the teachers come.


It may be that some kids would feel a bit uncomfortable being taught alongside their teachers. It would be somewhat of a blurring of the normal roles.

I hear what you're saying, I had to have a bit of a think about it as well.

The thing is, it depends on which kids come. The ones who have been coming aren't bothered when there are other teachers there and they have so far enjoyed training alongside some of the teachers - the school is quite big so there is a good chance that they won't know the teachers anyway.

I wanted to open it out to the teachers as well as they have been coming up to me and asking me about my martial arts as much as the kids have; when I discussed it with the head of PE he said it was quite common to have mixed teacher/student clubs as they like to encourage the easy working relationship it can develop.

Depending on numbers, when I've marketed the class heavily in the new term in September, I might divide it up into lower and upper school (inc. the teachers).

i have tried all sorts. I have adverts running in local doctors surgerys and used the yellow pages. I found the best way was to put A4 laminated posters on light posts in the area and hand out A4 colour leaflets. Your age group is very hard to attract with all the distractions at their age.

Good Luck