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Within Jiu-jitsu there are probably 3 major coaching paradigms.

• Traditional / Move of the day
• Concept based
• CLA / Ecological

All of these have value, and have different strengths and weaknesses. But I think we do ourselves and our students a disservice if we try to focus down to only one of those.

Different people will learn things differently, and get better at them differently.

35 years of martial arts later:

if I see something new I do like to go through it statically a few reps first (Traditional)

I feel like I can pick up new techniques pretty quickly, or even help diagnose something someone is trying that I am not as familiar with because I have a pretty good conceptual understanding of things. (Concept Based)

But to actually start using it live, in rolling, I need to create drills and objectives that are done live (CLA)

And I think that translates to coaching as well.

I can show you a technique, explain the concepts behind how and why it works, how those concepts can created variations on the technique that follows the same concepts and then use CLA drills / games to turn it into something that can be used against resistance.

So what does this look like as a class structure?

Suppose we are teaching a standing guard passing class.

We might start with a simple constraint based game. Lets say bottom person trying to get and maintain inside hooks. Standing person trying to get one or bot of the bottom persons legs to the outside.

As we drill this we can introduce basic guard passing theory. Get passed the feet, immobilize the hips, stay above them, clear the legs, get chest above chest, etc. (Concepts)

Then we can introduce a couple of solutions, or techniques. Ideally ones that play well to how the top person was controlling legs. (Techniques)

Then return to a live constraints based game that goes to a full guard pass as the goal.

And finally full sparing.

You don’t take someone that has never swam before and try to explain a perfect front crawl to them. You get them in the water, let them doggie paddle around a little, then introduce technique. Show them how to flutter kick, give them a board to keep the upper body out of it and for the skill “live” in isolation. Then start adding other skills until you can put the full front crawl together. Then you repeat, go back and refine each piece.

A a good coach will absolutely show them proper technique, then isolate it, then put it all back together. Ex. Cup your hand this way, arm follows this path, etc. (Traditional)

They will give you constraints based tasks to use those skills and refine them individually. Ex. Just kicking, no arms. (CLA)

They will explain the concepts of why you are doing things. (Concepts)

And they will integrate it back together.

I don’t know why we have this argument in the Jiu-Jitsu world of which method is best, a good coach should use every tool in their toolbox to improve their students, not pick a favourite tool and ignore the others.

Traditional give us mechanical clarity, a common vocabulary,

Concepts gives understanding of why things work and better ability to recognize patterns and adapt

CLA gives us functional ability under pressure

We need all 3, and can use all 3 in coaching in order to achieve different pieces of our goals.

# of Leads

# of Trials

Show Rate

# of Enrolments

Attrition Rate

These tell us where the problems are in terms of students. (Not finance, although they are connected)

If you get 100 leads per month and book 60 trials, that’s 60%

Of those 60 if 45 show up thats 75%

And of those 45 that show up, if you sign up 30 that’s a 67% close rate.

100 x 60% x 75% x 67% = 30 New Members

Now if we bring those percentages up by 10% each. A little more follow up on leads, a little more follow up before appointments, a little better sign up process…

100 x 70% x 85% x 75% = 45 New Members

Didn’t need more leads, just a refined process.

To get more members it’s just looking at those 4 numbers and seeing where the most room, the low hanging fruit is. And dialing that in.

It also affects our advertising. If a lead costs $20 in ad spend, and every 30 out of 100 leads ends up a member, I have a cost of acquisition of $66.66.

It also affects our advertising. If a lead costs $20 in ad spend, and every 45 out of 100 leads ends up a member, I have a cost of acquisition of $44.44.

Knowing the approximate “cost” of a new member lets me plan out promotions and advertising.

This does change based on lead source to some degree as well. A lead from a Referral > a lead from organic search > a lead from advertising > a lead from an event. You’re not likely to hold a Easter Egg Hunt, collect 600 leads, then sign up 270 new members from it.

Attrition lets me know another important number. If I have a 10% attrition in a school with 150 members, I need to sign up 15 new members every month just to stay the same.

Or from the other side, if I sign up 15 members a month and have a 10% attrition rate, I would level out at 150 members. (15 / 10%)

Dropping that by 2% to 8% means even if I sign up the exact same number of members, my school will now max out at 187 members instead of 150 (15 / 8%).

A good attrition target is actually 5%, which would be 15 / .05 = 300 members before maxing out.

As you get bigger, attrition becomes more and more of a priority as it becomes harder. It is much easier to maintain 5% attrition in a 80 member school then it is in a 300 member school.

We are very non-traditional in our approach to jiu-jitsu class culture.

But, class rituals are a really important piece of keeping classes structured.

The first class ritual is how you start a class. In martial arts it’s most common to line up, bow in, quick pre-frame of what’s going to happen in this class and then get started. Some schools will recite a student creed.

In other sports it might be a huddle. In a school it might be the national anthem, or roll call. Athletes often have rituals before they go into competition.

What that ritual looks like is far less important than it being consistently present. If multiple instructors run classes, they all start and end classes the same way. Japanese influenced schools may bow on and off the mat. In BJJ many schools do a 1-2-3-clap before breaking from instruction. Slap-bump before starting a roll, etc. Rituals help keep the class working as a unit, providing everyone is using them the same.

It gives the class that state change, that now class is starting and its time to go into class mode.

These class rituals have a basis in psychology, and are things people use everyday in their day to day life. A getting ready to leave the house ritual, a getting ready for bed ritual, a going into a meeting ritual, etc.

In one of our magazines we even teach this concept to kids, and have them think of rituals they use in their daily lives.

A whistle is a great tool. Another important tool to getting a talkative or distracted groups to focus is what I call “call and response”

It can be a verbal response:

“Eyes on who?”

“Eyes on you!”

Or a physical:

“If you can hear me clap once”

“If you can hear me put your hands on your head”

But something that gets kids to respond is going to refocus the group faster then yelling at them or shh-ing them.

It can also become part of your culture, the trained call and responses.

You: “abc juijitsu”

Class: “Rocks!”

If you want attention, get them to respond.

Filling a Empty Class (or Bring a Class Back to Life)

The hardest class to fill is always an empty one.  Whether it is a new class, or one that has been dropping off.

Bringing trial members into a class that is empty is unlikely to result in many sign ups, and will likely result in attrition problems.

So here’s the basic concept on what we do when launching a class:

Pre-Sell a Limited Program

6-Weeks is a good time frame for a twice a week program.  Include whatever they need to make them look like they are a full part of the class.  If that’s a gi, then include a gi in the package.

Stack the value, and put a discount on it that people will be willing to sign up without a trial before hand.

It doesn’t need to make a lot of money, it needs to get people in the class and not lose money.

For us this has been around a $200 price point.  So maybe 6-weeks, 2x / week, includes a uniform, t-shirt, money back guarantee, etc. $197.

I want the cost to not be too detached from the membership fees, but to include enough other stuff to make it a substantial saving.

Start marketing this package 4-6 weeks out with a set start and end date.

The goal is to put 8-12 people in the class.  Not to completely fill it necessarily, but to get enough of a group that it’s a “class” instead of a semi-private.

Now Start Bringing in Trials

Once the program is under way, no more 6-week programs.  But now that you have a class, of people that are in uniforms or have whatever gear they need, now you start booking trials.

But they sign up on recurring memberships, not the 6-week option.

Having a group in there will give you some social proof.  You aren’t selling a empty class, and can start getting full memberships.

3-4 Weeks in, Upgrade the 6-Week Programs to Recurring

Before the program ends, have some incentive to offer the original group to get signed up on a full membership to kick in at the end.  A special rate, A extended free period, additional gear, etc.  Whatever makes sense for the program.

Just don’t wait until the 6-weeks is over and they think its over before you get them thinking about continuing.

Push hard until you get 10-15 people in the class

You need that critical mass to keep retention up and to remove the major obstacle of signing people up into a empty class.

Many classes can snowball once they hit that point, but until they do they have a strong risk of fizzling out. 

Teens for example, our experience has been teens have pretty high retention once there is enough of them.  It becomes a important social piece for them.  They will all end up communicating with each other outside of class and not let each other quit.  Something kids and adults don’t really do.

One thing that distinguishes Jiu-Jitsu from traditional martial arts is that it is not (or at least IMO should not be) about memorization of techniques.

It’s about problem solving under pressure.

We can use techniques to help demonstrate concepts, but the techniques aren’t the end goal. The process is.

Jiu-jitsu is chaotic, there are practically unlimited situations you can find yourself in. It is impossible to memorize them all. Instead we look at core concepts and processes that can be used to solve a wide range of similar problems.

And fortunately, this is what kids do best.

What they don’t do as well is memorization, and then be able to execute those memorized movements under pressure.

Some kids will naturally be good at memorization, but when you focus on memorization you exclude the most creative problem solvers.

Instead our curriculum is based on problems, and the ability to solve them.

So pin escapes stop being 4 escapes from side control, 3 escapes from mount, a few from scarf, some from back control…. and we have over a dozen techniques. Instead basic concepts like Don’t be flat, Get inside control to open an escape path.

So instead of a building a curriculum based on techniques, we build a curriculum based on types of problems that kids need to know how to solve.

Creative problem solving under pressure is a far more valuable skill than memorization of technique. And that is what to communicate to parents, not “We don’t teach technique”, but “We teach kids to solve problems under pressure”.

With adults they can take a lot more control of creating a community in many ways. They can hang out at open mats, they can go out for drinks after class every now and then.

With Kids it is just as important, if not more so. If their friends are in jiu-jitsu, they aren’t going to stop training.

We don’t lose kids to other martial arts schools, we lose them to soccer, or football, online gaming, or wherever their friends happen to be.

So to keep jiu-jitsu as a priority, having them have friends in class is very important.

This means facilitating non-training events and activities regularly to help them build and strengthen those bonds. To make martial arts feel like more then just something they show up for and then leave at the end.

Team sports have wind ups, they travel together, they have post game celebrations together.

We don’t see that as much in martial arts gyms with the non-competitors that make up most of the people training.

So how do we do that with kids?

Parents Nights – Once a month or so, a big party with pizza, games and lots of freedom

Birthday Parties – If they have their party with you, and their friends all see what they do as fun and cool, it will help keep them training.

Large family events – Easter egg hunts, BBQs, Holiday events, etc.

and more.

We need to make jiu-jitsu not just a thing they do, but a part of who they are and a community they feel they belong too.

Does anyone do any unique things to build community and culture in their kids classes?

A very common line of thinking in a jiu-jitsu school is that you need to get more people in the door.

But getting people in the door is really pretty easy. It’s getting them to keep coming back that is where we make or break things.

In order for that to happen, we need to be bringing the right people in. People that are like the people already in our classes, those are the people that already stayed.

The best source of people coming in your door that are like the people that already choose to stay, are those people that choose to stay.

This is why referral drives, bring a friend events, parents nights, community events and, with kids, Birthday Parties can be major game changers in getting a program to grow and retention to be strong.

When you hold a birthday party for a member you have a kid who is already a good fit for your program and whose parents believe in the value of your program. They bring 10-20 of their friends. Kids like them and their closest friends. You get to introduce them all to your facility and your program, with a negative cost per lead… the gym gets paid to introduce them.

Internal events play a big role in growing successful kids programs, make sure to register for the webinar this Friday to see how we do nearly 200 parties in a single location per year 🙂