 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
||||||||
|
|||||||||||||
|
|
|
| NAPMA News September 2006 | |
|
“I want to remind all NAPMA members that NAPMA is not a franchise system or licensing company, but an information provider. You can use the Edge MMA Program in whatever form fits your school’s current curriculum,” added Colasanti. “If you don’t like it, then don’t use it. It costs you nothing. “NAPMA has been successful and so has many of its members because we always strive to provide curriculum materials that are very flexible and can be integrated into a broad range of arts, styles and schools. The Edge MMA Program can enhance your regular classes as well as your upgrade programs, such as Black Belt Club, Master’s Club and beyond. The MMA program can also be a standalone profit generator. “For many school owners, NAPMA’s Edge MMA Program is also an opportunity to appeal to audiences, which don’t currently train at their schools, much the same as fitness kickboxing has attracted adult female students. NAPMA has established its industry leadership because we develop and provide members with programs that can be excellent alternative profit centers. NAPMA has an excellent track record when it comes to providing members with optional programs to increase profit.” To provide members with immediate marketing support, the November marketing campaign includes a full complement of materials (print ads in various sizes, flyer, postcards, poster, etc.) to market the program to children and their parents, and adults. “NAPMA’s Edge MMA Program will help members benefit from the growing popularity of mixed martial arts. The public is asking for such a program just as they did for “Tae-Bo” style training a number of years ago,” said Colasanti. “At that time, NAPMA responded with the Cardio-Karate Program, which was also free to members. “A number of national cable TV channels, such as Spike TV and Pay-Per-View, offer mixed martial arts (UFC and PRIDE) as athletic entertainment programming, attracting a diverse and significant audience. NAPMA’s Edge MMA Program captures the excitement and enthusiasm created by the TV fights, but provides drills and materials that are age-appropriate, safe and fun for young students; highly competitive for adolescents and adult students, especially young men; and a business advantage for the average school owner. Although NAPMA could have invited one of many popular MMA fighters to host the series, it chose Riggs because he knows how to make MMA work in a commercial martial arts school. The curriculum he teaches is age-appropriate and appeals to a wide audience. “As exciting as it would be to have a world-class fighter teach NAPMA’s Edge MMA Program, it is not meant to train you or your students to be the next UFC champion,” said Colasanti. “It is a new benefit of your membership and a program that will help you market MMA and introduce exciting drills and an MMA curriculum to your students that work well in a typical martial arts school.” Riggs’ school, Warrior Martial Arts Centre, is located in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada, where he teaches approximately 400 MMA students. His MMA program is a blend of Kickboxing, Judo/Wrestling and Jiu-Jitsu Grappling. As he states on his Web site, “Our MMA program is designed to bring students total self-defense competence whether a confrontation is standing, in a clinch or on the ground.” Look for a new installment of NAPMA’s Edge MMA Program throughout 2007’s Professional Packages, with the possibility of additional materials, seminars or certifications available into 2008. An Example of How to Benefit from an MMA Program, Even If You Don’t Teach It When NAPMA launched its Cardio-Karate Program, many members added it to their curriculums (with NAPMA’s help), even though they didn’t teach the classes. They hired a Cardio-Karate specialist to teach it, and NAPMA recommends you do the same (if you are not a grappling instructor) to benefit fully from the Edge MMA Program. That is exactly what Phil Beatty did. He is a NAPMA consultant and owner of Phil Beatty’s Elite Training Center in St. Petersburg, Florida. Mr. Beatty has a Black Belt in Karate and is an excellent striking instructor, but was not qualified to teach grappling. He was compelled to offer a grappling or mixed martial arts program, however, because of the repeated inquiries from both phone and walk-in traffic, especially adults. According to Mr. Beatty, 60% of the hits on his Web site relate to MMA. When local grappling enthusiasts asked to rent mat time at his school, he decided to initiate a comprehensive grappling program, so he could attract more of those students and at a higher price point. Mr. Beatty invited Eduardo de Lima, a Gracie Black Belt and a school owner in nearby Clearwater, Florida, to teach grappling at his school. “That is one of the best business decisions I ever made,” said Beatty. “Adding Eduardo to our staff not only expanded our curriculum, but also resulted in a series of remarkable opportunities that has boosted the attractiveness and profitability of my school.” According to Beatty, he discovered that many MMA and grappling students communicate with each other extensively and are regular Internet users, searching for MMA programs throughout the country. There are virtually no MMA or grappling martial arts schools listed in the local phone book, so as soon as the first students found Beatty’s program, others quickly followed. Beatty’s grappling program has also attracted many local law enforcement and military personnel, which adds greatly to the credibility and rep of his school. “Eduardo’s greatest feat may have been the day he was invited to MacDill Air Force Base to teach grappling to a group of Marines,” said Beatty. “To earn their respect, he offered to fight all of them, no-striking. After about an hour on the airbase tarmac in the Florida summer sun, he tapped out 13 Marines, who now consider him the equivalent of a super hero. As a result, more military personnel are enrolling at my school. “Now that our new grappling program is attracting new audiences, it is exposing them to other programs we teach, including karate and F.A.S.T. Defense,” said Beatty. “I knew it was a good idea to offer grappling and bring in a specialist to teach it, but I didn’t expect to benefit in so many other ways.” + NAPMA News + Latest News + E-news + Archive |
© 2006 NAPMA, LLC. All rights reserved.
