Post by markrp on Dec 26, 2007 17:44:08 GMT
Like to introduce myself to the group and hunt some advice.
Im looking to fulfil a life long dream, To cut a long story short im looking to run a martial arts school that is free to the community, I want to bring together different arts and promote not just the art but the culture behind the arts also. I had a business plan for this approx 10 years ago and did not go ahead with it due to family reasons, I now want to push forwards with this but want to allow all access to martial arts. I am based in the North Tyneside area were we have a wealth of knowledge, we have the highest ranked Judo instructor in Europe plus many others onboard, all well respected in their area of expertise, I have many people that are willing to give up their time to promote their chosen art. I have done a fair amount of market research and all seems to stack up, the only problem of such is getting funding for a unit and kitting the place out, feel the best way to go is via sponsorship or charities, which I have not experience whats so ever..
I have looked in to promoting this project through schools, my daughter took Judo in her dinner break for a while, and recently a end of term outing was organized, her year needed to choose what they wanted to do for the day, 80% chose kickboxing over going to light water valley for the day, this even surprised me.
Originally my idea was to get kids from their playstation to the gym, but with a little investigation found that obesity in kids was just one of the growing problems that a full time martial arts gym would/could solve, others include self protection classes for Police and such, I have a guy living next door that is a Tai Chi student, he is in his 90s and would like to train more frequently, a local gym that was funded by the national lottery is full from 8am 5pm by OAPS, so my misconception of OAP watch daytime all the time was crushed, I know many people that have said blatantly if they did not take up boxing or martial arts when they were younger, there lives possibly would have taken a darker route, Amir Khan the Olympic medallist said just this, recently my old wrestling coach has stopped teaching due to spiralling costs at local sports centres, and most martial arts teaches are complaining that its becoming more and more difficult to teach, due to financial reason, I can see many arts will die out because of this. I also believe that having a open door/friendly policy to anyone that want to come and train can get kids/youths of the streets and make communities a better place to be.
The ultimate fighting championships have given martial arts a new lease of life in the US, and although in the UK this is still seen by some as barbaric, this blinkered outlook is changing.
Any other constructive advice/feedback would be great.
Im looking to fulfil a life long dream, To cut a long story short im looking to run a martial arts school that is free to the community, I want to bring together different arts and promote not just the art but the culture behind the arts also. I had a business plan for this approx 10 years ago and did not go ahead with it due to family reasons, I now want to push forwards with this but want to allow all access to martial arts. I am based in the North Tyneside area were we have a wealth of knowledge, we have the highest ranked Judo instructor in Europe plus many others onboard, all well respected in their area of expertise, I have many people that are willing to give up their time to promote their chosen art. I have done a fair amount of market research and all seems to stack up, the only problem of such is getting funding for a unit and kitting the place out, feel the best way to go is via sponsorship or charities, which I have not experience whats so ever..
I have looked in to promoting this project through schools, my daughter took Judo in her dinner break for a while, and recently a end of term outing was organized, her year needed to choose what they wanted to do for the day, 80% chose kickboxing over going to light water valley for the day, this even surprised me.
Originally my idea was to get kids from their playstation to the gym, but with a little investigation found that obesity in kids was just one of the growing problems that a full time martial arts gym would/could solve, others include self protection classes for Police and such, I have a guy living next door that is a Tai Chi student, he is in his 90s and would like to train more frequently, a local gym that was funded by the national lottery is full from 8am 5pm by OAPS, so my misconception of OAP watch daytime all the time was crushed, I know many people that have said blatantly if they did not take up boxing or martial arts when they were younger, there lives possibly would have taken a darker route, Amir Khan the Olympic medallist said just this, recently my old wrestling coach has stopped teaching due to spiralling costs at local sports centres, and most martial arts teaches are complaining that its becoming more and more difficult to teach, due to financial reason, I can see many arts will die out because of this. I also believe that having a open door/friendly policy to anyone that want to come and train can get kids/youths of the streets and make communities a better place to be.
The ultimate fighting championships have given martial arts a new lease of life in the US, and although in the UK this is still seen by some as barbaric, this blinkered outlook is changing.
Any other constructive advice/feedback would be great.