Martial Arts Management And The Dojo Store

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If you aren’t selling equipment, supplies, and apparel at your martial arts school, you are definitely missing out on a significant source of revenue. As a practitioner of good martial arts management, a dojo master should always be looking for ways to further serve the students and sustain the school. The sale of services and products in addition to the core school lessons is an important aspect of any successful school. The dojo store can become a very active and profitable part of your school.

Additional Sources of Revenue

In most businesses, it is important to have a few different revenue streams. This way, if the sales of the main product or service falter in any way and for any reason, the other revenue sources can carry the business, at least for a while. Having a peripheral sales generator for your school is a good insurance policy.

It may seem to you as if setting up the dojo store is a big investment of time and money up front, and it can be if it is done too quickly or too expansively. But having the basic equipment on hand, in popular sizes, can be a quick sale to new or advancing students. You may want to display some of the most popular items, but most items for sale can simply be listed on an order form.

What You Should Stock From the Beginning

Here is some of the equipment you might want to have on hand to sell to your students:

Sparring Gear – depending on the particular martial art you are teaching, this can include head protection, mouth guards, hand and foot pads, and chest and groin protectors. Shin and arm protectors are common as well.

Uniforms – especially if you are teaching children, new uniforms will be in constant demand as they grow. Children can grow into a new uniform size every year.

Dojo Logo Equipment – offer a selection of t-shirts, sweatshirts, baseball hats, bandanas, and equipment bags, all displaying the name and logo of your school. Remember that anyone wearing your logo is advertising your school.

Training Gear – you can offer the basic training gear, such as paddles or even punching bags, along with printed training cards and educational information such as books or DVDs. You should use caution with the quantity of some of these as they can be expensive to stock up front.

Keep the Stream Flowing

You should remind your students regularly about the equipment and supplies you offer for sale. Remind them with a statement in class, post flyers at your school about the sale of equipment, send email notices once in a while to all of your students, and offer periodic sales and discounts. You could even offer coupons for a certain percentage off merchandise as a birthday present and encourage people to purchase gift certificates.

If you advertise your sale of martial arts equipment in the local media, such as the yellow pages, it may even result in an increase in enrollments by getting the name of your school in front of people.

Your students will need to purchase their martial arts equipment from someone; some company down the street or on the Internet. Why shouldn’t it be you? Your dojo store can provide the equipment and supplies that your students need, and provide you with a new and profitable source of revenue, an important part of your martial arts management plan.

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Samay Performing Arts Presents egyptian Nights

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MIAMI, FL Internationally renowned dance director and choreographer Samay promises a mesmerizing night of magic as she takes you on a journey to Egypt without having to leave your seat. The much anticipated yearly Middle Eastern dance recital will showcase the talent of over 200 student performers on Friday April 30th, 2010 at the Manuel Artime Theater. With previous shows having sold out to more than 2,000 attendees in only days, this years production guarantees another eager full house. Titled Egyptian Nights, this show will provide a cultural display of Middle Eastern music and dance including thrilling masterworks and much awaited new choreographies.

Standing side by side with Samay on this yearly production is the School of Community Education of Miami Dade College. Here, students in the Middle Eastern Cultural & Arts Program are offered an array of classes under the direction of Samay to meet different needs. Students in the classes range from beginner levels to advanced troupe levels which provide a chance for certification, or levels of dance that are simply for fun and fitness. Even the choice of learning to dance with customary props, such as Zills, Veil and Shamadan, is offered. Within the program, students can learn and understand all aspects of the art form such as movement, history of dance and music, as well as different styles of raks sharki and folklore from all regions of the Middle East. Since 1997, this successful program at MDC’s Kendall Campus has been and will keep growing into one of the largest of its kind within the state of Florida. I am proud to have trained many future performers and instructors in South Florida and I am determined to continue the hard work and dedication of training future stars, says Samay.

Belly dancing itself has significantly grown in popularity in recent years. Today, the dance is known by over thousands of women who admire its captivating charm and exquisite technique. Although always evolving, there is no doubt that Samay has a love for traditional Egyptian dance. Graceful women like Samia Gamal are within the range of dancers who rose to fame during the golden years of the Egyptian film industry and certainly inspire Samay to choreograph such elegant dances for her wonderful shows. This year marks the eighth anniversary of one of the most awaited events of the year. Directed by an international award winning dance company, it is Samays goal as an artist and instructor to have others embrace the art form of Middle Eastern Dance.

For more information about the 2010 show or about Samay Performing Arts, please contact Danna Prpich at 305-726-1195 or visit www.mdc.edu/ce/kendall/bellydance/default.html or www.bellydancebysamay.com .

About Samay
Samay is an internationally known professional Middle East dance artist, instructor and choreographer. She has extensively traveled the Middle East to acquire the technique and cultural aspects of Middle Eastern Dance including raks sharki (proper term for belly dance) and folklore. In 2004 Samay was awarded first place in the Ahlan Wa Sahlan International festival and competition in Cairo Egypt hosted by world renowned Raqia Hassan. Samay has been featured as a performer and instructor in the Ahlan Wa Sahlan festival, the largest Raks Sharki festival in the Middle East and also recently featured in Europe. Samay has had the honor of studying and participating in seminars with world renowned Egyptian and local artists such as Raqia Hassan, Yousry Sharif, Dina, Nagwa Fouad,Tamalyn Dallal (Samay’s main instructor), Jihan Jamal and many more.

Martial Arts Moves To Disable An Aggressor

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Not everyone who studies martial arts moves does it because they’re interested in the discipline, philosophy, and grace of the arts themselves. Many people do it because they fear that one day, they will need to protect themselves from an attacker. Martial arts styles, histories, and traditions are irrelevant to this type of student, and it’s absolutely understandable. If you’re in that kind of situation, let me suggest a few martial arts moves that have saved lives in the past.

Oni Kudaki — Japanese for “Demon Crusher”, Oni Kudaki is a simple maneuver that will stop most drunken brawlers in their tracks. When the aggressor swings a fist in an even slightly circular fashion, perform a basic outer forearm block, but slide the back of your wrist up to the inside of your opponent’s elbow. Then rotate your hand palm-outward, and clasp your hands together around his elbow, with both of your wrists twisted. As you straighten out your wrists, his forearm will roll backwards and his elbow and shoulder will pull out-of-joint. He will either dislocate his shoulder or end up on the floor.

This technique is especially valuable because it can be done on any attacker that’s not two feet taller than you, and it works against a very common form of attack — a basic punch.

Nazad Pereryva — Russian for “Spine Breaker”, Nazan Pereryva is another nasty response to a basic punch, knife thrust, or other stabbing action to the face. When someone swings their fist or weapon at you, step past it to the outside, and sweep it further in the direction it’s already going with a basic outer forearm block. Step behind them with your outer foot, and slide your outer arm between their attacking arm and their head. Wrap it around their neck, bending them backward so that their head is in your armpit, and then drive your knee up into their spine until it breaks.

That trick of getting your arm around their neck can take some practice; it’s among the more difficult of Sambo’s martial arts moves. Still, if you can get it down in sparring, you can prove to any attacker that you are not to be trifled with.

Sahas-alis Sandata — Filipino for “snakebite disarm”, Sahas-alis Sandata is a technique that exists in several martial arts, but Escrima has its own beautiful variation. When someone attacks you with a club, knife, or other simple weapon, take a long step toward his chest but away from the path of the weapon — basically toward his opposite shoulder. At the same time, punch his bicep as hard as you can. Most martial arts stop here, but Escrima adds a graceful second step: a Batman-style backfist to the temple or nose, depending on which direction he’s facing. The weapon arm will be disabled for some time due to the bicep strike, and the blow to the skull will ring his bell for a few seconds as well — easily long enough for you to set up another of your close combat martial arts moves.

As you can see, martial arts styles from around the world have found very different and very effective responses to a pretty basic attack. Choose the one that fits best with your level of competence, aggression, and training. Part of the beauty of martial arts moves is that they come in such staggering variety.

How A Martial Artist Can Increase Their Kicking Speed With Ankle Weights

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Most martial artists are in excellent health and wonderful shape. Yet to find out how a martial artist can increase their kicking speed one must look to the simple facts of conditioning. It is pushing yourself to get to the next level in your kicking and that means pushing your body as well.

While it may seem crazy the first way to speed up the kicks is to slow down the body. One important aspect of martial arts is the need for long, lean and powerful muscles. To achieve that place an individual must stretch. Unfortunately that seems to be the part of a workout that gets overlooked. Doing stretching properly is even more important since it is to relax and release the muscles not shorten them in pain.

Warmth is the crucial aspect to stretching. Getting up and stretching first thing is not the most effective way to help your body. After a night of sleep and little movement your muscles are tight and slow. Taking a hot bath or shower is a wonderful way to wake up the muscles warmly and get them ready for stretching. Once you are warm start moving to allow the blood to begin flowing throughout the body and relaxing your muscles.

To kick higher you have to get stronger. Do this by adding extra weights to your legs during the day to push your normal activity to the next level. However, do not start kicking when you first put the weights on. Let your muscles get used to them. Just wearing them doing your normal activities is building up your muscle tone. When you feel like you are used to wearing them then you can start with low kicks to let your legs learn the new movement.

Finding a target to kick at is a great way of developing your mind and body connection. Hang something six inches higher than you can actually kick and try to reach the object. This will motivate you to reach the item and will allow your eyes to see and the mind to understand that it has to do more.

When you are used to the ankle weights try kicking with them on after proper warm up and stretching. This pushes your strength to the brink.

Then have someone video record your kick and see if you are wasting any movements. Are you taking too many steps to set up? Are you adding an extra step that not only is taking away from your speed by telling your opponent what you plan to do? Watch the tape and see where you can economize your movements to create a smoother, faster kicking process.

Once you have seen some progress with the weight on take it off to see how much easier it is to kick faster and higher. Your foot will feel light and you will see the amazing difference these steps made to how a martial artist can increase their kicking speed.

Mixed Martial Arts Clothing- Choice Of People Of Varied Age Groups

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Since ages Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) has been popular as a full contact combat sport among the masses of the United States and Canada. In the present scenario, after being known as a multi-million dollar business industry, the MMA has played a pivotal role in thrilling the entire sports fraternity coming with advanced fighting techniques and skills. We can say this has been quite responsible for creating enormous craze amongst the people for purchasing the Mixed Martial Arts clothing and accessories. The main thing is that today not only the fighters are using these apparels, but a large group of fashion freaks have come forward in order to make purchasing for these outfits.

Obviously, the current market has numbers of options of colors, styles and brands of MMA apparels. But, when anyone plans to adorn him/her with such outfits, he/she does not have to put his/her great efforts in finalizing the one. Put simply, the reason is quite clear because today a huge range of fantastic designs and creative styles of this clothing style is serving various clothing needs of the people living in different parts of the United States and Canada. People can find them in different colors that range from white, black to grey. MMA shirts fit snugly on body and it is very comfortable to carry them. One has an opportunity to avail with an exclusive range of T-shirts which contain information about varied MMA fighters. Apart from it, people can go through an exclusive range of hooded sweatshirts for cooler weather.

All in all, in the current world the colorful and attractive Mixed Martial Arts clothing and accessories have given many people especially from the young age an opportunity to rock in places like parties and streets. These apparels are available in different varieties like shirts, shorts and t-shirts.