Students need to see their martial arts school as a professionally run business and positive environment,.
Unfortunately, some martial arts schools are not operated to a standard that the students deserve.
Fighting ability is not the same as the expertise to run a professional business.
Here are 5 “Red Flags” of a bad martial arts school
1) Under qualified instructors teaching classes
The instructor does not have to be a world champion to be a capable teacher, but I have seen white belts teaching classes because they would work for free or teach.
The school may be small or starting out and not have a depth of instructors, but students who are beginning students themselves should not be responsible to for teaching new students.
Safety comes first when people are training techniques that carry the potential for injury.
I have seen students invest YEARS of sincere effort training under self promoted “8th degree Masters” and sadly have no real skills to show for it.
2) Dirty facility
You don’t need to be a Grandmaster in any martial art to mop the mats and pick up trash that accumulates in the academy!
Empty water bottles littering the training area, unpleasant smells indicating that the floors are not regularly mopped and disinfected, washrooms that resemble a 2rd world gas station rest stop?
You are in a business that the management doesn’t care about.
When we think about communicable skin conditions, there is no reason to accept dirty mats in a bjj academy!
A bottle of bleach and a mop don’t cost much so there is no excuse for a dirty facility.
3) Unprofessional instructor
I have witnessed instructors spending more time on their cell phones than paying attention to the students during the class time.
Students deserve the instructors full attention during the lessons.
What kind of message does this communicate to the students?
A lack of respect for their efforts and sweat!
Instructors who spend more time bad mouthing other gyms and instructors than improving their own gyms.
If you want the tallest building in town, instead of trying to knock down other buildings around you, how about concentrating your efforts on building your own up?
4) Lack of leadership
Just because an instructor has competition success, does not mean that they are a good business person or a capable leader.
All of us have worked under managers in a business who had not spent a single hour learning about how to effectively lead people.
The martial arts is no different.
In some cases, the head instructor is seldom at the school teaching the classes and the school is run by others.
In one sorry case I saw, the gym decisions were made by the girlfriend (who did not even train!) of the owner.
She would go on about “honour and respect” in the martial arts despite never actually training in any martial arts.
Seriously?
5) Cult mentality by owner
This one is all too common sadly. Not everyone who opens a martial arts school does so because they genuinely love teaching the martial arts and helping improve student’s lives.
Some people want their name on the sign; want to be perceived as important; wish to surround themselves with people who tell them they are great.
Perhaps their ego demands the attention?
These types see themselves as bigger than the martial arts and will often disparage other instructors and schools and prohibit the students from training anywhere else.
Their school is the best and if they don’t know it – it isn’t worth knowing!
Avoid these types!
What are your signs of a toxic martial arts school?
The post Toxic Gyms – Red Flags of a Bad Martial Arts School appeared first on Jiu-Jitsu Times.