Martial Arts Tournaments for Revenue?

Let me start by saying I'm a Volunteer Martial Arts instructor - so I understand the ART but not Business. Also, I do NOT go to school promoted tournaments because I have a family. I train, I teach and for free, that should be enough.

I'm sure someone here has the ability to answer this without offending my OR their school: Are School Promoted Tournaments run to generate extra Revenue? And if so, How?

I ask this because my school focuses mostly on Tournament Fighting and Promotion. We train students in 70% Kumite and 30% real Self Defense so I'm starting to get the feeling there is more going on behind the scenes. The "Fund Raising" for the team looks legit as Team members pull from this well tracked pool of funds for entrance fees.

In short could my school be pushing tournaments to get more revenue over the basic class member ship? And how would going to OTHER school sponsored tournaments to "Represent" fit into that equation as it seems like a "Loss" in that situation

There are two basic types of tournaments. "Open" Tournaments and "Family or Closed" Tournaments.

Sometimes Open tournaments are truly open to any martial art school or style, and sometimes they are specific to a style, but not to an organization. For example, a Tae Kwon Do tournament open to any TKD school, regardless of their affiliation.

Tournaments are organized for many reasons, one of which is revenue. Let's say you plan an "open" tournament. You advertise it to all the schools in your area, you decide on what competitions you are going to have and the entrance fee.

Entrance fee = $60 for 1 event, $70 for all events.
Total registration is: 100 for sparring, and 50 more for all events: Total: ($60 x 100) + ($70 x 50) = $9500

Advertising/Mailing = - $500
Awards/Trophies = - $1000
High School Gym Rental = - $1000
Insurance & Doctor in house = - $2000

TOTAL Expenses: $4500

Net Revenue: $5000

If you host the tournament at your own school, then your expenses go way down, but your attendance also usually goes way down.

Another option is sponsorship, we are hosting a big statewide open tournament in May, and we are producing a "Program" to be distributed to everyone in attendance. We get sponsor to advertise in that program. The proceeds are going to charity so the advertising is tax deductable. The school will make some money on the tournament, but the majority will go to charity.

So that is how you can generate revenue through tournaments.

It also gives your students an experience of competition, which can help improve their confidence in their techniques. It exposes them to other schools and other styles and gives them a chance to spar against new people, which will improve their skills.

It also gives them a chance to evaluate what you are teaching and compare it to what else is out there.

This is why many schools won't go to open competitions, because they are afraid of losing students to other schools. They won't admit that, but that is what I believe, and I think it's a sign of a "McDojo".

There are instructors like you who teach martial arts as a hobby, and it doesnt really matter if you make money or not. I have no problem with this.

But many people have a problem with schools making legitimate money, and say that the instructors shouldnt be in it for the money. But I have no problem with schools making money. In some cases, it's their entire livelihood. I'll admit that the situation could lead to problem with integrity of student grading, but in my experience, this isnt the case very often among students say 8 years old and up.

Our instructor works about 80 hours per week. I think it's ok for him to make some money and live a decent life.

James

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Taichi people/ martial artists: How can the effectiveness of taichi as fighting training be demonstrated?

My personal experience of taichi is that it is very effective for self-defense. This is based on situations where I needed to protect myself and I found myself automatically going into a really serene zone and dealing with the attacker as if it was the easiest thing I did all day.

Sparring seems to be the way that martial artists convince themselves and others that their art is effective. Should more sparring be done in taichi practice? Should taichi people train with the goal of winning free-fighting tournaments?

If you believe that taichi is effective as a combat training method, how can this be demonstrated to a world that is getting more and more reliant on external evidence?

If you don't believe that it's effectiveness is comparable to BJJ/MMA etc, then what would convince you that it was?

First of all external validation is a dead end street. This is because ego and reputation always get involved, and this creates an uncouth brawler not a mature martial artist (likewise too much theory and not enough application creates a philosopher or monk). Martial Arts is the path of personal development through the combat arts, and there needs to be a healthy balance. It isn't wrong to participate in sparring sessions and maybe even competitions to improve your practice. In fact I would encourage it to those who are interested. The difference is training to prove it to yourself, not to the world.

Having said that, sparring is definitely an essential method (though not the only one) of improving fighting skill and should be practiced by serious students of the arts - against passive and fully resistant opponents, first with protective gear and later with minimal protection, and with varying rule sets. I also advocate sparring in all ranges of combat: standing, throwing, and ground. The Chinese systems have divided combat into four elements: Ti, Da, Shuai and Na. Practicing all of these helps to create a more complete martial artist.

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