Several years ago I was talking to a friend who runs a martial arts school in San Diego. He told me about the After School program he was doing and how it had really made a difference in the services he could provide for his students and their parents. I did some research and found out that several martial arts schools around the country were beginning to offer an After School program.
I was reluctant at first. After all, I'm a professional martial arts instructor, NOT A DAY CARE. There was no way I was going to let my dream of what my school was and could be become get derailed by any program, much less what I was afraid would become a day care program. I talked things over with my wife Krystal, who is my partner at Warrior's Way. She agreed that we needed to make the After School program have the exact same standards, exact same curriculum, exact same results produced as our regular, already successful Little Warrior's Program.
So we started very slowly. Only enrolling children in schools that were very close to our Academy. Only taking a few children at a time to make sure I was certain the standards would be maintianed. As it turned out the kids that signed up were already children in our regular program! So keeping the same standards and curriculum was easy! Except now the kids were training five days a week instead of two!
HERE'S THE BENEFITS - Most parents get off work around 5, rush to get their kids from a day care, rush to get them to martial arts class, run them home, start homework, feed them dinner, clean them up and put them to bed. Hectic to say the least. Add to that another sport or school activity and parents and kids are both swamped! Plus the parents have to pay for day care and martial arts.
Warrior's Way After School Program - we pick the child up from school and transport them to our Academy. From there, they change and go straight to class. They do the exact same martial arts class that everyone else does, working on material, sparring, promoting to the next belt, etc. Then they go in the back and have time to have a snack and start their homework. Many kids finish their homework here. The really awesome thing is that the kids have all of this done, BY THE TIME THE PARENTS GET OFF WORK! So when the parent shows up, their child has already worked out, had their snack and at least started their homework! Accomplishing all this before the parent would normally be picking them up to bring them to class. Since this forumla works so well it saves the parents money in many ways: No need to pay for day care, they are here training! Save money driving back and forth to day care, work, martial arts, etc. The parents save money on martial arts training and get more value because their child gets to train five days a week instead of two or three!
We have had the After School Program up and running now for years. All my fears about becoming a day care are long since dead. Having seen the results, kids becoming Jr. Black Belts from the After School Program and seeing the same quality as the other classes, I am confident we are on the right track.
If you feel like this is something you and your child could benefit from, call Krystal at 940-696-1254 and tell her you read my blog and your interested in getting some information. She'll be happy to help out.
Guro Harley
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