I’m glad we are having this discussion.  Some valid points are being raised, and some honest opinions are being expressed, and that type of communication is never bad.

I want to address some of the counterpoints to my “first month free idea”.  I’m going to paraphrase some of the criticisms (which I welcome) for simplicity.  I want to continue to entertain the discussion, and I am simply expanding and clarifying my ideas here.  Some of you may continue to disagree with me, which is fine, it is your right to think freely.  I think we can still coexist in the same dojo, and even have fun training together.  J

* “anything free lessens the value of what is offered”.  This may have merit.  Perhaps free is too easily overlooked/ignored, and a discounted rate for the first month is better.   The point here is to lower any barrier to what keeps people out of the dojo.  In a tough economy, let us lessen the economic burden.  Hit the paying members harder with the dues if you want when they DO join, but let beginners/potential students at least enter the door more easily.  Don’t force them to commit a significant amount of hard earned money when they can’t even begin to know or understand what aikido is until they step onto the mat.  Once they do begin to get a taste and feel for aikido, they will be more then willing to pay what is fair in the current community.

Low cost doesn’t cheapen the value or quality of the aikido being taught…a low number of students does.  There is less to be learned in a private lesson then a class full of 10 beginners.

*  “we don’t want to spend time/invest effort with people who won’t stay/aren’t interested”.  If people attend one aikido class and never attend another in the rest of their lives, I think we will all still be richer for it.  Love is unconditional and forgiving, why make attending aikido class conditional upon return visits?

Think about it…If you had just one class…ONE class…to convince someone that aikido was a valuable lifelongstudy of infinite richness, what would you do during that class?  Wouldn’t you make sure that the class was full of energy, richness, intrigue, excitement, yet not too overwhelming?  You couldn’t teach all of aikido, so you’d have to choose what was most poignant for you or something that demonstrated your own personal spirit.  And if you did so, wouldn’t everyone’s training be richer for it?  Wouldn’t the level or energy of that class be improved?  And if so, how is that a waste of anyone’s time?  Who cares if some people never come back?  The people who DID attend, and the people who WILL return, and the people who continue to grow their aikido through steady practice will ALL benefit from that higher level of awareness/energy.  “live everyday as if it were your last...”  I believe the corollary to that is to train every class as if it was your first and possibly last class, because you never know what will happen tomorrow.  Be present fully in each moment, in each day.  Or as coach john wooden said “make each day your masterpiece”.

* “we might attract more students then can fit our capacity”.  If that happened, then I think it would be a HUGE success.  I have never seen our dojo overflowing with capacity, even at the most popular of seminars from visiting instructors.  We can easily train up to 10-15 people per class with ample room for movement.  As a martial arts school, we expect student attrition.  It happens.  I believe data from other aikido schools (that I have seen in the past) shows that less than 10% of people who begin aikido will be persistent enough to stick with it.  So you need a very high initial capture rate to generate longterm student retention.  The more the merrier.  And if we did by some miracle ever overflow our dojo, we could raise rates to lower interest/attendance in our school.

                Simple supply/demand economics dictate here.  The nice thing about teaching aikido, is that it really costs us nothing to add more students to each class.  The overhead is what is costly.  The actual instruction is free.  None of the yudansha are getting paid.  There is no commission.  I know that I would personally train anyone who walked in the door wanting to see what aikido was about, and I would do my best to spark their interest and perhaps encourage them to come for another class, and then another.

* “the beginner series adds value by creating a safe environment for beginners to learn aikido, encouraging them to join.  Eliminating this will make it more difficult for nervous students to participate in regular classes”.  This I partially agree with.  We all need to feel safe and comfortable to train honestly.  However, placing artificial limits to people’s training is what I disagree with.  Why are beginners not allowed to attend other classes?  How can artificially keeping them away from other members of our community be beneficial in any way?  Are other classes somehow not safe?  Are we somehow cheating those people who pay regular dues by allowing beginners a discounted dues rate for unlimited classes?

Yudansha and other students make the classes safe and friendly and welcoming…not some artificial and arbitrary title to a class.  Call some classes “basics” if you will, and you may attract more people to that class, but you may attract less (perhaps some people don’t want to just keep learning basics).  Call one “weapons”, call another “advanced night” if you will.  You will find that the people who attend want to attend because a particular instructor is teaching, or because it just happens to be a night when people can train.  It is my contention that people in our community don’t really look at the title of the class so much as how it fits into their schedule..

                Thing is, yudansha attend the classes they attend usually because that is all our real life schedules will allow.  I would train 7days/week if my family would let me.  But as it stands, if I come Friday and Sunday, I feel lucky.  Many others have my similar but different circumstance.  So by only offering our “beginner’s deal” Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday, we are eliminating potential beginners who may only be able to train on the other days of the week.  By offering the current separate beginners’ class/deal, but putting it at a time/day that people possibly can’t attend, people may feel that they can never get a chance to join.  The fact that beginner’s class is every other month also limits the opportunities for new or nervous students to join to only 6 times/year.

I apologize if I have offended anyone, or stimulated anyone into a defensive posture/mindset.  I do want to stimulate people here, but in a positive way.

Let us maximize our limited opportunities.  Let us value each other’s place in our community.  Let us stimulate our own training to allow participation at a higher level.  Let us encourage each other to newer heights, laugh with each other, fall with each other on the mat, and encourage others who currently exist outside our community to enter it openly.  Let us continue to find joy and beauty in this genius thing that O-sensei created for us to experience, and enrich others similarly and unconditionally.

Thank you for allowing me a place and voice in this community.  I’ll see you Friday night…(I’m bringing smoked salmon, cucumber, and wasabi mayo!)

- john

Ps.  Shameless plug for my own class:  I train/facilitate/teach Sundays at 9am, any and all are always welcome.  J