Karate, and martial arts in general, is a very male-dominated sport. If you’re a karate practitioner or if you’re a dojo owner, you know this for a fact. However, as a dojo owner, it’s your responsibility to encourage any any all people to participate. Getting more women involved can only help the sport grow in popularity. As it grows in popularity, that’ll create more students for you to teach. It’s a win-win. We’ve had a martial arts studios call us recently and ask us if FitnessTexter will help them get more female students. FitnessTexter COULD get your more female students(since it just brings in leads), but the most important thing any dojo can do to get more female students is to have women-only classes. FitnessTexter PLUS a women-only coupon would be a killer combo! Here are 4 reasons why women’s only classes are a great idea for any dojo.

Decreases Peer Criticism Amongst Students

Let’s be honest with ourselves; normal youth karate students, boys, are extremely critical of one another. When they’re amongst one another, they can learn to stand up for themselves. However, when you mix young boys and young girls, you’re going to be dealing with boys teasing girls and girls losing interest in martial arts.

Don’t think this only affects younger students. Have you ever been to a gym and seen that guy who finds it necessary to instruct every nearby female on what they could be doing better? The women are obviously annoyed and turned off from coming back to the gym. That same thing happens with adult karate students. More knowledgable male students find it necessary to critique their female counterparts, who would much prefer to receive teaching from the master and not other students.

Introduces Strong Female Role-Models

I think it’s safe to say that giving young girls a positive female role model is a great thing. By employing a female instructor and having her teach your female-only class, you’ll be giving young girls a person they can look up to and aspire. Their parents will be happy that their little girl has another positive role model in life, and your young female students will enjoy having another female in their lives that gives them attention and positive encouragement. We’re not saying that female-only classes NEED to be taught by a female, but it sure makes more sense.

Increases Business Revenue & Profit

Getting down to business; female-only karate classes will increase your profit and revenue, there’s no doubt about it. There’s a very good chance that there are women in your city that are interested in martial arts, but don’t want to attend class with a bunch of men who are going to critique them, flirt with them, etc. Give them the opportunity to have a female-only class with their peers and they’ll jump at the opportunity. If you can get 25 new female members, you’re talking about a couple thousand extra in monthly revenue. Running a martial arts studio is a tough business. The profit margins are slim and the amount of work that you need to put into running the business is extreme. Every little bit of extra membership can help you increase your bottom line.

Help Strengthen the Martial Arts Community

Last but not least, getting more women into the martial arts community is only going to help us in the long term. We need to get away from the notion that martial arts is a male-oriented sport. It’s unfortunate that the MMA perception has leaked into the non-fighting-based martial arts. However, it’s a fact we need to deal with. And who knows, if a women really loves karate, she might get her husband/wife to join as well. If they have kids, maybe they’ll have their kids join your youth-karate class. You never know!

Image Credit:
American Sport Karate Centers
Shropshire Star
Martial Arts Female