An opportunity for a re-set

With the exception of a few clubs in a few countries, judo clubs around the world have shut down. Clubs that are state-supported don't have to worry. The government will continue to fund them and when all of this is over, they can pick up from where they left off. No problem at all.

Private clubs, on the other hand, have a huge challenge. How are they going to attract new members in the short term? In light of what's been happening, I don't think it's possible to get new members for pretty much the rest of the year.

A mixture of lingering fears of new Covid-19 infection and poor consumer sentiment will result in almost no interest in a close-contact, niche sport like judo. That being the case, judo clubs would do well to focus their attention on taking good care of their existing members rather than trying to get new members. It's these current members who will help the club to survive, and eventually thrive again.

Additional programs
If your members were already pretty happy with the club before the lock-down, do you need to do anything different? Why not just offer more of the same when the lock-down is lifted? You could do that, of course, and probably nobody would complain. But if you have the chance to offer an even better experience for your members, why not try?

This shut-down period is a rare opportunity for you to really sit down and plan for the future. You should retain those things that worked really well, revamp those things that didn't work so well, and introduce new things that will give further value to your members.

This could include introducing new types of classes. At KL Judo, we currently offer three core types of classes, catering to (a) competitors (b) recreational players (c) kids. Maybe we could introduce some additional classes that are different from anything we've done before.

Three examples I can think of that might be of interest to some of our members are
i) Judo-related circuit training (calisthenics style exercises to improve overall fitness).
ii) Greco-Roman Wrestling (which focuses on upper body throws, no attacks on the legs allowed).
iii) Self-defense applications for judo (not a general self-defense class but one that focuses on using judo techniques for the purpose of self-defense).

I'm not sure if any of these would become a regular fixture but we're always experimenting and trying new things. Sometimes, some things stick. Family Judo, where we get parents and kids to train together on Sundays, was an experiment that worked. Judo Fitness, an exercise program based loosely on judo-related drills, was something that didn't (but to be fair, we weren't fully in control of that program as we collaborated with another company on it).

What type of new classes clubs should consider offering would depend very much on the mindset and inclinations of their members. In Penang, for example, practically all their senior players train and compete in BJJ.

Other ideas that clubs can consider:
a) Sambo classes (I know one judo club in Singapore that offers that)
b) A women's-only class (I know this exists in the UK)
c) Judo for senior citizens (They have this in Germany)
d) Judo for team-building (I know of one coach in the UK, a former competitor, who offers this).
e) No-gi judo (This might be popular among BJJ and MMA people who want to learn take-downs)

Think of these new offerings as akin to new items in a restaurant's menu. The core offerings that made the restaurant successful will remain in the menu but every now and then they will try out new dishes just to keep the menu fresh.

Not only will the new offerings make things more interesting for your existing members, in the long run they will allow you to attract more members as you will have more programs to offer them.

Online presence
If you're talking about the long term, you must improve your online presence. We've been pretty good at this all along. Our Facebook Page and club blog are constantly updated with new content. Both have helped to generate interest in our club.

The website we have right now is pretty decent but much of it is just static content – information about class schedule, fees, location, etc. It serves its purpose but a club's website could be so much more than that. It could be a portal to deliver online lessons.

Since this lock-down began, I've been creating a lot of unique judo content for my members. The first type of content I've been creating are judo lessons. But they are not the kind of judo lessons you'd expect. They are not demonstrations of techniques but rather, conceptual things like how to deal with a left-handed opponent or what to do when an opponent refuses to get a grip.

I figured if they wanted to see demonstrations of techniques there's plenty of that available on YouTube. I wanted to offer them something that they wouldn't be able to find anywhere else.
The other thing I've been doing are interviews with judokas from all over the world about how they are coping with the Covid-19 situation. Some of these judokas are top players, some are coaches, some are recreational players. All have interesting stories to share.

A judo friend in the UK who is also a coach has been doing online analysis of judo contests, which is something pretty unique. I don't see anyone else doing it. It's free for now but I think he might start charging once the lock-down is lifted.

I've also been offering my judo concept lessons for free during this time of Covid-19 but I might restrict future lessons to my club members only. There has to be some special privileges to membership! But what if someone lives in another state or country, and would like to have access to these lessons? Perhaps they can pay a small fee. I'm not sure. I guess I'll decide when the time comes.
One interesting thing my British judo friend has just started doing is offering paid online lessons. The first module is live now. It costs £30 (RM160) which may seem like a lot but what you're paying for is 10 years' worth of knowledge and experience that he's accumulated as a coach. If you think of it like that, it's not very expensive at all.

I also know another coach, based in Germany, who has started making judo videos. I'm not very sure what he plans to offer but he told me there would be a free section and a paid section that would give people access to exclusive content and maybe a ticket to one of his training camps. That's a pretty innovative thing to do.

I've been thinking about creating a bunch of video tutorials myself but have not gotten around to doing any yet. Maybe this is something I can offer in the near future through the club website. I envision there would be a free section as well as a paid section.

When you have a professional website with lots of content – some free, some paid – it will widen your reach and, ultimately, it will generate more leads for new members. If your content is really good, maybe it can be a new revenue stream as well.

These are the kinds of things judo clubs need to start thinking about, post Covid-19, because things will never be the same again. For this brief moment in time, the whole world is under lock-down and people are forced to live their lives online: Work online, play online, study online, order food online, communicate online.

Even if this situation lasts for just a few months, this experience of doing everything online would have been seared into people's minds and they will want to continue doing a lot of things online going forward. If your club doesn't have an online strategy yet, you'd better haul ass and start thinking about it because having a strong online component will be what consumers expect.