Planning a Successful Training Camp

Our USMAA seminar program is the center of our service to Martial Artists throughout the country. Seminars make our Association grow more than any other program. It’s therefore important that all of us develop a way to make every seminar a big success.

Some of our USMAA seminars have been a great success with many people attending from many different clubs. While other seminars have only a few people present. Why? It’s not due to the weather or bad luck. It’s usually because there wasn’t enough preparation.

The secret is planning and preparation! Here’s a few ideas and you can think of others as you work through the process.

• Develop a list of all the Martial Arts clubs in your area. It’s not uncommon for Martial Artists to travel an hour or two to go to a seminar.
• Contact all the USMAA Sensei in the surrounding States and ask if they would be willing to teach at the seminar. Having several high ranking Sensei teaching a class improves the success of the seminar.
• Check the phone book, the public library, and the State Business listing on-line. Most State governments list the registered businesses by type of business on the State website. You may be able to search on martial arts.
• Contact the USMAA Region Director and USMAA Webmaster and discuss the plans. Work with the webmaster to create a webpage on the USMAA Website to advertise the seminar. Preplanning and early development is essential.
• If you have Dan level students that are ready for testing contact the Style Director and discuss your need for a board of examiners. The Style Director’s e-mail address is available on the USMAA site.
• Contact the Board of Governors, Style Directors, and Region Directors to see who will be able to attend. If you can have several Senior Leaders teach it’s very impressive for the students. Having senior black belts participate in acknowledging their progress can be inspiring. Having a 9th or 10th Dan provide them a certificate or co-sign a certificate can support their ongoing interest and training in the arts.
• Make a flyer. People like to have a document telling them the details of an event rather than just hearing about it. Create a flyer and mail it to all the martial arts clubs.
• Register your own students. Get a commitment and begin collecting the seminar fees. Preplanning will give them time to plan for the fees, some may need to make incremental payments. Provides options like monthly payments.

Please contact the USMAA National Office if you need further information.