As Americans, we are conditioned by the media into believing that more is ALWAYS better. I see Martial Arts schools fall into the same deception by advertising "Unlimited Classes", "Longer Classtimes", or "Open 7 Days a Week". On the surface, these almost seem like great benefits but in most cases, they are not.
1. "Unlimited Classes", it sounds great but the reality is that most people will not be able to get to classes more than 2 times per week. Almost NO ONE takes advantage of it and, especially in the beginner levels, it is a bad idea to go too often because of student burn out. 2 times per week is manageable and will develop long term consistency. It will help prevent student and parental burn out. Once a student has fully established themselves over a period of time, then adding an additional day of training might make sense. We at AKKA do allow for unlimited classes but we carefully recommend that newer students keep it to 2 per week. We do not use this in any of our advertising. Keep in mind, if classes are of poor quality, it will not matter if they are unlimited or not!
2. "Longer Classtimes". People are more pressed for time than ever. It is completely unrealistic for the average person or child to commit to a program twice per week for an hour and a half or more on a regular basis. This is the highway to burn out especially for a new student. On top of the burn our factor, I seriously doubt an instructor can keep their classes well organized and high energy for a full hour and a half or more unless this is their only class for the day. Another big problem with longer classtimes is the lower attention spans of younger kids. As a rule of thumb, you get 1 minute of attention for how many years old they are. For example, you will get a full 5 minutes of attention out of the average 5 year old child. Now try keeping their attention even for a full hour! Most classes that are too long are just plain boring. Boring classes leads quickly to lack of interest. It is more important to have classes that are age appropriate and have the level of excitement and energy that keeps the students coming back and progressing at a consistent pace. At AKKA, all our classes are age appropriate and are ALWAYS full of high energy.
3. "Open 7 Days per Week". This can work as far as helping people out with a diverse class schedule. The problem is that the instructor/staff WILL eventually burn themselves out. Even if they have a fully functioning staff, it will be very difficult to sustain a 7 day class schedule. Their client then get upset with them when they have to cut back. I am yet to see "Open 7 Days" work out in the long term. We at AKKA believe in giving the staff their due time off so they can always be at their best.
The point of this article is to caution you to NOT be fooled into enrolling at a school just because they offer any of these 3 "perceived" benefits. If the school you select has these options and you like the idea of them, then consider them a bonus and NOT the reason for you enrolling. This is a matter of quality vs quantity. For more information, visit http://www.akka.com/
