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Paul Wollos
20th January 2001, 05:47
Hello,

I run a dojo in South Africa for past 6 years. I teach Daito Ryu Aikijujutsu. So, as you may guess, it's traditional art, and most of the methods are traditional. Following syllabus leaves very little space for any "modern" innovations.

We have chnaged places of training 4 times. At first we were running at karate club, it was quite successful, but after 2 years the boss of that club told me to move, as "many people who would be interested in karate join my dojo" (his words, BTW, he has over 1000 students). At that time number was quite fine, around 25 students. Because of a very short notice (just before holidays), I could only find one location willing to accomodate us, that was a scout club. We had only 4 mats, place was very dirty, and the number of students went down to about 7.

Following year we've moved to a gym. A surprising fact, that on the same floor (where aerobic was practiced) Ki-Aikido club also trained. However, my fears of competition ("beautiful" aikido vs. "ugly/rough/weird" daitoryu) vanished, as I've noticed that many people who came to watch Aikido, actually joined my classes. 90% of people, who came to observe our classes, joined. That was the best year. Our floor was big, classes really grew, dojo had around 60 students. Guess what: in the end the same year that gym was closed down without notice.

We had no problem with finding a new venue, nice quiet place, however number of students went down.

Until today, the enrollment is quite low, many people come to watch, however very few join.
Considering that we train Daitoryu, how to make classes more interesting, little "modernized", etc. Its sad seeing some very dedicated students, who also wish for our dojo to grow in number of beginners.

Our classes start with warm-ups, atemi or bokken practice, taisabaki, ukemi, then basics with partner, similar to kokyu-nage and/or kokyu-ho in aikido, and finally dividing group into pairs working on techniques required for their rank. Almost all of the students are adults (only 2 are 16 years old). I do surveys questioning about our methods and techniques, and the feedback is very satisfactory (mostly students disike only the "falling" or ukemi).
Prices are also very reasonable.

I know that many Daitoryu dojo are rather small in number, however, since we had once many memebrs, I know that this art can be promoted, having many followers.

Any ideas? Maybe from somebody who teaches Daitoryu or Koryu Jujutsu?

sincerely,

Paul Wollos

KenpoKev
24th January 2001, 17:35
Mr. Wollos,
You might consider doing a "bring a friend" class. Run a very "newbie friendly" class and make it fun. Ask all of your students to bring at least one friend. Also be sure to invite your firends outside the arts. Many folks are fascinated with the arts but are afraid to come to a class. If they know it's a class just for them, they feel more comfortable.

Hope this helps.
Respectfully,
Kevin Schaller

Dragonweb
24th January 2001, 18:58
Hello all,

I have to agree with Kevin on this...

We have run a couple of the "Beginners classes" and they have always proven to be very successful. Enrollment goes up but does drop a little afterwards... We have found that out of every class we do like that about 10-15 new students sign up and after one year about 5-7 are still with us weekly...

Hope this helps...

If you need any ideas on the class itself let me know.

Paul Wollos
25th January 2001, 08:16
Thank you both for advices.

I also thought of this, in form of aranging an open seminar for everyone.

However, do you charge for yours "bring a friend" classes?

I did before the 1st Demonstration of Daitoryu in RSA, inviting some officials, Japanese Council, police force officials, etc, plus many other people, each student could bring any friends. We've organized demonstration, explanation, pamphlets. It was after all a success, we had quite a few beginners.

Thanks again,

Paul

Dragonweb
25th January 2001, 17:46
Hello Paul,

What we normally did was, Let them attend the first two classses free of charge. This is so that they can see if it right for them. At the end of the second class, make it a point to sit and talk with the "friend" about the school and classes,etc... You would be suprised how much this means to them and how quickly they will sign up...


Just an idea...