To Gi or Not To Gi? That is the Question Part 3

This is the third installment of a three part series. My last points on Gi and No Gi Jiu-Jitsu training pertains to martial arts school owners. It's a hard, hard business being in the martial arts and I think it's even harder for many hard core bjj schools, no-gi schools and MMA Schools as well. One of the upsides to having a gi AND no gi AND MMA programs at your school, besides the options of training, is that many students are able to get belt rankings IF THEY DESIRE. This keeps the goal oriented people on track and attending and allows you to attract different kinds of clientele into your school so that money can keep flowing into your coffers. If you don't have a ranking system then the only way students strictly know how well they are doing is by beating the other students. If beating the other students is the only way to get "respect" then many people in your school will have a "I'm going to win you at any cost attitude. " This leads to injuries where students take off months at a time having to heal, which hurts the school owner's bottom line. If winning is the only way to show progress then many students will be unwilling to share info with potential rivals because they don't want it used against them. New students quit after a short time because no one wants to show them anything and are often used as cannon foder to be beaten up on by the more advanced students at the school. They then quit in disgust because they aren't progressing and they are getting the crap kicked out of them. The more advanced students get bored because they have the same old guys to challenge them or they are worried about all the blown knees and shoulder injuries from people going so hard and they move on to a different school in hopes of a better environment. This loses the martial arts school owner money all over the place! If you don't think money is important then talk to your landlord about not having to pay rent anymore and see what he says. I know I have made a huge leap saying that having a gi program with a belt system keeps students happy, sharing and safe. I do feel comfortable in saying that having a belt system COUPLED with a focus on the "quality " of submission and not the "quantity " of submission, letting your students know that GETTING BETTER TECHNICALLY is the goal and not just tapping people out any which way with pure strength and THEN combine that with having an attitude that helping each other helps the whole school get better is the key to tournament, self-defense and business success (how is that for a run-on sentence?). I've seen a ton of no-gi schools and MMA schools go out of business or limp along barely covering expenses in their dungeon dojos. Many no-gi or MMA owners are ex- wrestlers and have never spent any time in the gi. They don't want to start over by learning gi submissions. So they instantly treat the gi as uncool , unrealistic and a bunch of crap. These are the same people who treat their school like high school wrestling practice and not a business, dirty and unkept, with guys walking around with no clothes on and going full force against each other in training, attacking attacking attacking. The outcome, You get only one kind of clientele, too many people get hurt and the school owner is having to work two jobs to keep the school going because of the dropout rates. To sum it up Keith Owen Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu took 9 medals with 11 guys at Grappler's Quest –Four 1st place medals, two of those in no gi. We do it consistently! The secret -keep your guys healthy, safe and happy. The gi and a belt system HELPS with that.