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Getting Ready for a Belt Test |
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Written by Sifu Jason
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Tuesday, 11 November 2008 |
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As we approach the end of the year, we typically hold a belt test, and this year is no different. On Nov 23rd, we will be having ~10 students testing for yellow belt, and 5 students testing for orange belt, making this the largest test to date at Goldsmith Kung Fu. While running a belt test is always daunting, such a large test presents a whole new set of challenges, namely making sure each student is properly evaluated. To meet this challenge, I have to decided to ask my senior students to help sit on the testing board to serve as secondary evaluators for a subset of the total testing population. It is my hope that through this scheme, each student will get enough personal attention, while simultaneously enabling me to teach my senior students how to run a belt test, which is an art in and of itself, and something that should not be learned only after a student has their own school.
Once the test is over, be sure to come back for pictures, video, and student responses to the belt test! |
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 11 November 2008 )
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A busy July |
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Written by Sifu Jason
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Friday, 25 July 2008 |
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First, I would like to apologize for the incredibly long delay since my last blog. Since last September, we have switched to a much larger facility, held several belt tests, doubled the school's size, and most recently attended the Kajukenbo Ohana Association's (KOAs) inaugural seminar and tournament in Las Vegas. To commemorate some of the recent events, one of my students, Anh Duong, has made a great montage of some of our recent activities.
This video includes footage from our most recent belt test, which featured Nathan Unger-Smith going for his green belt (which is one of the upper belts, and is concerned the screening belt for blash sash), as well as footage from our recent trip to Vegas, where I won the Grand Championship in Continuous Sparring. Anh also did well, and details of our tournament victories can be found here. In addition to Anh and myself, my father and fellow martial artist, Kurt Goldsmith also attended, as did one of my senior students, Stuart Endo-Streeter.
Overall, the past 10 months have resulted in a surge of growth in both our school size and number of students and I couldn't be happier with how everyone is progressing. Both at all of our belt tests with guest judges and at the KOA event, I received numerous compliments regarding the quality and attitude of my students. As a Sifu, nothing could make me happier. |
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Last Updated ( Friday, 25 July 2008 )
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Starting a School |
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Written by Sifu Jason
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Monday, 10 September 2007 |
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Starting up a new starting is always tough; you have to put up a significant amount of cash, and hope to make it back fast enough to stay in business. The biggest expense for most martial arts schools is rent, and my school is no exception. The problem with many martial arts businesses in particular is that although the rent you pay gives you access to the building for all hours of the day, the money generating hours are typically much more limited: ~4 hours or less most days, with some days not generating any revenue at all. To combat this problem, I decided to sublet out space from a Yoga/Pilates studio (Inside Out Body Therapies). Because my peak hours of business are in the evenings, and their's are throughout the day (extending into the early evening), my sublet rent is very low; they essentially convert time that isn't generating revenue into a source of revenue. Consequently, my total overhead is very low, and I was able to turn a profit in the first month. For a new, small school, this has been a great arrangement that I encourage other aspiring instructors to explore. |
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Introduction |
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Written by Sifu Jason
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Friday, 03 August 2007 |
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Hello! My name is Sifu Jason Goldsmith, and I am the head instructor of Goldsmith Kung Fu. The purpose of this blog that I am starting is to serve as a journal of my experiences opening and running a school in Durham, North Carolina while pursuing my graduate studies. My hope is both provide insight into how I run my school and teach martial arts, and also to provide guidance to others who intend on opening their own martial arts schools, so they can learn from the mistakes I have made and will in all likelihood continue to make. To give a little background, I have been practicing martial arts for 17 years, with the last 14 years being focused on the martial art of Wun Hop Kuen Do, which is a branch of Kajukenbo, the first mixed martial art. In the past I have taught (as an assistant) back at the school in Portland, OR where I first trained, at Brandeis University in Waltham, MA where I founded a Wun Hop Kuen Do club that is still operating under one of my students, and most recently at UNC-Chapel Hill, at another club I founded there. In May, I opened my first commercial operation in Durham, NC. The next article will focus on my business arrangement (which is rather unique) for this operation, and the growing pains of the first few months. |
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