When we formed KL Judo Centre a little more than four years ago, our aim was very simple: To build a judo club for working adults. We didn't have other grand ambitions beyond that.
Our goal might have been simple but to achieve it hasn't been easy. Anyone who has ever run a judo club will tell you that building an adult membership is a very difficult thing. Most judo clubs -- here and abroad -- are children's clubs. But we knew what we wanted to do and we stuck to our guns.
The gestation period was a long one. It took us four long years to build up a critical mass of adult members such that there are always training partners available at all our sessions. Some days, the attendance can be quite low but our members know there will be at least a few bodies on the mat for you to train with. Achieving that alone is no mean feat and we never take it for granted.
Having achieved that critical mass, we recently embarked on a few new initiatives. You could say we've seen a growth spurt as of late.
For example, we recently started a children's class. Since the very beginning, we've had parents call in and ask if we had children's classes. We've had to turn away quite a few parents over the years because we were too busy building up our adults class.
Now, we have the beginnings of a children's class, with a pioneering batch of pre-cadets training with us once a week. Currently, they are training at the same time as the adults on Sundays. When we have more kids, we'll start a dedicated kids class.
I know a coach in the UK who has 600 kids under his club (including those in schools). Someone once asked me whether I had that kind of ambition for our kids program. While the thought is tantalizing -- imagine having such staggering membership numbers -- the idea actually doesn't appeal to me. What I prefer is just having a critical mass, which I define as having sufficient members such that there will always be enough players on the mat to train with, even on slow days.
For kids, that would be about 12 to 15 kids. For adults you'd need more because unlike kids, who are brought to class by their parents, adults are always distracted by work, family and personal obligations that tend to get in the way of their training. For adults, the critical mass you'd need is at least 20 (but ideally 30) if you want to ensure that there are always enough bodies on the mat for a decent training session.
Another initiative that we've just started is our Elite Competition Training program which runs twice a week, to complement our General Training program. The two are very different. Our General Training class is for everyone -- beginners, recreational players, competitors. The Elite Competition Training class, as its name implies, is specifically for those training for competitions.
The former is more technical. We go into great detail about groundwork and standing techniques in those classes. The latter involves more situational drills and strategy, etc. The stuff you need for competition. The General class is for our members only but the Elite class involves students from other clubs.
Running a judo club is a challenging endeavor because judo is not a popular sport in Malaysia but we are in a good position to really grow and evolve at a much faster pace in the coming months and years. A big part of that is the program that we run, which is very progressive and structured. But an equally important factor are the members that we have. We really have a good team of keen judokas.
This first half of the year has been good so far. The second half is poised to be even better!
Our goal might have been simple but to achieve it hasn't been easy. Anyone who has ever run a judo club will tell you that building an adult membership is a very difficult thing. Most judo clubs -- here and abroad -- are children's clubs. But we knew what we wanted to do and we stuck to our guns.
The gestation period was a long one. It took us four long years to build up a critical mass of adult members such that there are always training partners available at all our sessions. Some days, the attendance can be quite low but our members know there will be at least a few bodies on the mat for you to train with. Achieving that alone is no mean feat and we never take it for granted.
Having achieved that critical mass, we recently embarked on a few new initiatives. You could say we've seen a growth spurt as of late.
For example, we recently started a children's class. Since the very beginning, we've had parents call in and ask if we had children's classes. We've had to turn away quite a few parents over the years because we were too busy building up our adults class.
Now, we have the beginnings of a children's class, with a pioneering batch of pre-cadets training with us once a week. Currently, they are training at the same time as the adults on Sundays. When we have more kids, we'll start a dedicated kids class.
I know a coach in the UK who has 600 kids under his club (including those in schools). Someone once asked me whether I had that kind of ambition for our kids program. While the thought is tantalizing -- imagine having such staggering membership numbers -- the idea actually doesn't appeal to me. What I prefer is just having a critical mass, which I define as having sufficient members such that there will always be enough players on the mat to train with, even on slow days.
For kids, that would be about 12 to 15 kids. For adults you'd need more because unlike kids, who are brought to class by their parents, adults are always distracted by work, family and personal obligations that tend to get in the way of their training. For adults, the critical mass you'd need is at least 20 (but ideally 30) if you want to ensure that there are always enough bodies on the mat for a decent training session.
 |
| Elite Competition Training class |
The former is more technical. We go into great detail about groundwork and standing techniques in those classes. The latter involves more situational drills and strategy, etc. The stuff you need for competition. The General class is for our members only but the Elite class involves students from other clubs.
Running a judo club is a challenging endeavor because judo is not a popular sport in Malaysia but we are in a good position to really grow and evolve at a much faster pace in the coming months and years. A big part of that is the program that we run, which is very progressive and structured. But an equally important factor are the members that we have. We really have a good team of keen judokas.
This first half of the year has been good so far. The second half is poised to be even better!
No comments:
Post a Comment