Dear Parents and Students,
First, I want to say thank you to our “small” community of martial artists. Your support, positive thoughts, and desire to help The Dojo of Karate grow has been amazing! We are now in the final stretch of reaching our school goal of 100 students by October.
After several conversations with my family and close friends, I am proud to say that by the 2nd week of September I will officially be leaving my current day job as a Sales Consultant and dedicating myself 100% to my students at The Dojo of Karate. This has been about 1 year in the makings, but the timing is just right.
I have quickly realized that in order to make the final push to 100 active Karate students I need to implement new programs in our school and focus my attention in promoting and marketing The Dojo.
These new programs not only will help us surpass our target, but also solidify The Dojo of Karate as the place to go to for all your training needs, from fitness & conditioning, to traditional Karate, and now modern Self-Defense.
Please keep in mind that my goal for The Dojo is to not grow our school by square footage, rather increase the quality and value of our instruction. I always intended in having a solid school of about 150-175 students, as this makes it ideal for me to manage, and continue to keep the personal touch I pride myself as an instructor.
With that said, there will be some changes coming up, and this newsletter is intended to inform our student body about these great changes!
New Programs
The Dojo of Karate will be introducing 2 new programs, in order to enter a new vertical that has been quite difficult for Martial Arts schools to tap into lately – the adult market.
After attending a seminar recently in Austin, Texas, The Dojo of Karate has decided to become a licensee of the Martial Arts School Alliance International (MASAI). This organization has done adequate and in-depth market research, and have designed two very exciting programs: Fighting Fit 2 Boot Camp Fitness Program ™ (F2) and Self-Defense Black Belt Program ™ (SDBBP).
Fighting Fit2 Boot Camp Fitness Program TM
This is a new fitness program that has been created to give you results by combining outdoor fitness instruction with the same combat sport conditioning methods pro athletes and fighters use.
These boot camps are a semi-private group fitness class that uses proven training techniques and equipment that move more naturally with the body, rather than just using weights.
Also, all F2 Boot Campers will be given a nutritional guide that is necessary for all participants to follow in order to get the best results. These guides will have you change certain eating habits while also journaling your meals on a daily basis.
The F2 Boot Camp will be offered on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays at 9am starting on October 5th. Each class is 50 minutes long and will go for a 4 week duration while taking a 1 week break in between each new session.
This program will be priced differently from our other Karate programs, but all students and family members will get a discount.
Self-Defense Black Belt Program TM
This is a Self-Defense program that has been designed for the common individual looking to learn modern day and applicable self-defense techniques in a safe environment while getting quick results.
This program has been proven to train students how to protect themselves adequately in just 3 months.
Now, please keep in mind that this is not MMA, rather Integrative Martial Arts. You will be learning self-defense that works in almost any environment and has been field tested by the military – so it’s quick, easy, and too the point. However, students will have proper training equipment to protect themselves and required to execute techniques in a controlled format. This increases your skills and decreases your injuries.
The most exciting thing about the SDBBP is that you can officially earn a Black Belt in Self-Defense – hence the name.
This is a 3 year program that requires you put in a minimum of 300 hours to earn a Black Belt. But, you will not need to own a Karate belt, wear the white pajamas (I personally love them!) or perform a kata in front of your peers. You will need to test for each rank, but they are based on the new skills you are learning as a student, in an applicable situation.
This program will be available to current students in the Adult classes, as well as parents. Students and parents will get a discount, so setup a time with Mr. Lozano to discuss further.
New Schedule
I was trying to hold this off until January 2010, however, this may be implemented as soon as October 5th, so I would like to give everyone a heads up before this is fully executed. Currently, we have 4 classes a week available for students to select for attendance. This makes the classes more manageable for myself, however, we are developing a Leadership Team called S.W.A.T. (Student Winning Attitude Team) which select students are now helping with many of our classes, and allows me to delegate tasks for them to handle as a role model and assistant.
Click Here to see the new class schedule.
If for some reason there is a conflict with the new Karate schedule, please let Mr. Lozano know so we can address them on a case-by-case basis.
New Curriculum
After reviewing how our current curriculum is constructed and taught, and learning how other school owners teach their material, we have decided to upgrade the format of our lessons into what is commonly known as a Rotating Curriculum. This new method of teaching will make it easier for new students to come in at anytime during the course and pick up our curriculum with ease, as well as assure current students to learn with the rest of the class, and no one falls behind. This will also make it easier for instructors to come in and teach classes.
Basically, we are going to put our school on a 12 week rotating curriculum. Every 12 weeks, we change the material that is being taught to students, including katas, basics, kicks, punches blocks, and strikes. This keeps the classes fresh at all times. In addition, each belt rank will no longer have a designated kata, rather each quarter determines what students learn.
There is also thought in no longer conducting a monthly belt test for students, rather, we would host them during classes. In addition, the belt tests will be replaced by a graduation ceremony where students get to perform in front of their peers, and invite friends to enjoy this extravaganza!
Also, to continue to add value and quality in your child’s training, we will be replacing the kiso katas, which is the partnered self-defense kata, and replacing it with more modern day Self-Defense that has been toned down for the kids. This will eventually be apart of their curriculum and they will need to know certain self-defense moves in order to be promoted. This is going to assist them with their current training in traditional Japanese Wado Karate.
The Rotating Curriculum will be rolled out first to the White & Gold belt classes, than slowly pushing it into the Intermediate and Advance classes. The Teens and Adults classes is still TBD.
The structure and lesson plans are still in the works…
High Academic Achievers
At The Dojo of Karate we believe it is important to obtain good academic grades, therefore we’ve created a way to recognize our students who are High Academic Achievers. The goal is to get students to understand that by focusing and having goals they can get good grades in school which can result to a path of academic success. And, ultimately getting them to college – with the possibility of a scholarship. We understand the cost of tuition to attend a good university is becoming more difficult for families to afford, but by helping your child to Aim High in school, we are building curtain characteristics that are extremely beneficial for them.
To be recognized as a High Academic Achiever, you will need to maintain an ‘A’ & ‘B’ average every tri-mester. For students that do not receive letter grades, you need to maintain grades of ‘HS’, 3 and 4 – and continue to get good reports from your teachers.
You do not receive any sort of prize, other than the fact you get a certificate from The Dojo of Karate, and you get recognized in our school.
V.I.P. Guest Passes
As many of you may have noticed, The Dojo of Karate gave V.I.P. Guest Passes to your child. These are intended for them to hand out to their friends at school, in their neighborhood, and people you may meet during PTA meetings. Please make sure these are passed out to various people interested in Karate lessons, as this will help us grow our school to 100 strong and beyond.
These V.I.P. Guest Passes are good for 2 weeks of FREE Karate lessons at The Dojo, and can only be distributed by our students.
Testimonials
Parents that have taken the time to write a brief testimonial, we want to thank you for your positive thoughts. Please keep in mind that testimonials are a great way to help promote our school to other families looking for Martial Arts lessons. If you could simply take 5 minutes out of your day to write a few sentences and give them to Mr. Lozano, that would be great.
The other option, and this carries more weight than anything else, is to go these websites to write a review.
Yelp – go to www.yelp.com, and search for “The Dojo of Karate”. Our school should pop up. If you don’t have an account with Yelp yet, take a few minutes to open one. Once you’ve opened an account click on “Write A Review” and plug in your testimonial. Yelp is a great website for consumers wanting to get feedback from other consumers about their experience with other businesses out there.
Google Review – Go to http://maps.google.com and type in “The Dojo of Karate Colorado” as your search term. Our school should come up. Click on the link that says “2 reviews, directions, hours, & more…” This than takes you to our business review page. Write a review, and you’re good to go!
Denver A-List – The Dojo of Karate has been nominated by Channel 7 News, Denver A-List for Martial Arts schools in Colorado. But, we need YOUR vote to make us #1! Please go to http://kmgh.cityvoter.com, scroll down to Health & Fitness, select Martial Arts, and find out school, The Dojo of Karate.
Thornton Harvest Fest
The City of Thornton is hosting a community gathering on September 12th 2009 at Community Park right off Thornton Parkway, where residents can gather and enjoy the last few days of Summer. Also, September is Multicultural month, and at the Thornton Harvest Fest, kids will get to experience different cultures. The 4 countries represented this year are Ireland, India, Mexico, and Japan. We got a phone call from the City of Thornton asking if we would be interested in representing Japan, and put on a Karate demonstration.
For the past few weeks, a select few of students have been practicing every Saturday morning for this demonstration. Our theme will be the History of Japanese Karate. We will be putting on 4 shows, lasting about 15 minutes each, at 12pm, 1pm, 2pm and 3pm.
If you are free that weekend and would like to support our school, please come by the Japanese tent and watch how awesome this demonstration will be. Here is the exact address: 2141 E 95th Ave, Thornton, CO.
Also, we plan on scheduling FREE 20-minute introductory lessons for kids interested in Karate. If you have a friend that would love to try out Karate, bring them by and we’ll let you help them out too!
Lastly, parents that have kids participating in the demo, if you would like to volunteer to help sign kids up for introductory lessons or answer questions about our Karate school, please let Mr. Lozano know, so he can put you down on the list.
We look forward to seeing you there!
