Self-Defense is No Longer a Luxury
EFC Eagle Express - February 2003 Volume IX
Cover Story

Read it in acrobat format

By Pedro Valente

For four years I have unlocked the door of the Gracie Miami Jiu-Jitsu School of Self-Defense as the sun comes up each morning, six days a week. Students take lessons all day starting at 7:30 am. The school offers ten different types of Jiu-Jitsu classes in order to fit the needs of every student.

The school, across the street from the ocean, is laid out simply. A mat covers most of the floor. Photographs and memorabilia of my twenty-some-old years of studying with Grandmaster Helio Gracie and his family hang on the walls. In a neat row on the wall opposite the mat is the 27-lesson program printed out so students can easily review the techniques while warming up. The office looks like any other local businesses' complete with my bachelor's and MBA from the University of Miami hanging above the desk.

"No matter, the person's career, income or athletic ability, one needs to learn self-defense."

There are no trophies in the windows; there are no ominous proverbs etched into the wall, or exotic weapons adorning entrance. That is for someone else to teach. The purpose of the school is to train students in Gracie Jiu-Jitsu and the purpose of the system is to teach people to defend themselves in a real fight.

In many aspects, my school is indiscernible from other Martial Arts academies. However, in a business arena where schools open and close as markets and the economy swing up and down, Gracie Miami has grown to nearly 300 students with a retention rate of 95 percent. However, unlike most schools, Gracie Miami's students are mostly adults-nearly 80 percent.

In the recent months, Gracie Miami has significantly grown its children's program through the help of EFC's network and assistance with marketing and advertising. Their help has increased the number of children that are being trained at our school; in return, I would like to offer assistance to EFC schools in growing their adult population.

Recently, at an EFC seminar in Miami, this question was posed in a discussion: why do students train at your school? One owner and instructor replied: "Discipline." Another universally agreed upon reason was "spirituality" and "inner harmony." This is what they pitch to adults and children alike.

When I said self-defense, people protested that most schools could not keep students on that alone. The difference in thinking reminded me of a story I heard from one of my senior students, a well-to-do professional, about a conversation he had with a friend of his. My student, over lunch, told his friend that he was training every day in Jiu-Jitsu and was rather proud that he was improving. The friend, upon hearing this, simply said, "What are you, a looser?"

At first, I was outraged and wanted to tell him to send the friend to the dojo to be convinced. But, as I thought about it longer, I was forced to face some truths about the industry. Excessive ritual, unnecessary formalities, and outdated caste systems-which are good for kids-sends adults running for the nearest exit. Because of these things, there is a general impression out there that Martial Arts are for kids.

Discipline and spirituality are positive results from training in Martial Arts, and there is certainly not a lack of charlatans out there to ruin the reputations for Martial Arts styles. But you can get adults to sign up for classes-just for very different reasons than parents sign their children up for Martial Arts.

Most instructors and school owners do not understand this, which is cutting out a major source of new students.

Parents walk through the door with their children and want to sign them up because it will help their children focus, control their extra energy, and give them the self-confidence needed to grow up and become doctors, lawyers or statesmen. Sure, parents are happy to know that their children will learn self-defense, but having the best system is not enough to sell your school.

At Gracie Miami, we did not understand that until we came in contact with EFC and their partners. Now, we approach the children's program differently-not the techniques-but in the packaging. We focus on the advances a child will make towards maturing through our training. We maintain a more structured environment and we have redesigned the belt system to reward success more frequently.

But, how do you use this marketing approach to sell self-confidence and discipline to a corporate executive or medical doctor, accomplished men and women who have spent years studying in their respective fields demonstrating plenty of both? How do you sell a police officer on the SWAT Team the idea that you can offer him "spirituality" or "inner harmony" while he is walking into harms way?

From the left: Guilherme Valente, Pedro Valente & James Robertson

Regardless of the style-you can't.

But what you can offer is a way for people to protect themselves, something that is becoming more and more of a necessity than a luxury. For a corporate executive, who finds him or herself, more and more, the target of criminal and terrorist threats, you can provide a way for him or her to stay alive in a crisis. We, the Martial Artists, can offer the law enforcement official a way to avoid, restrain, control and subdue attackers while they are on the job.

No matter, the person's career, income or athletic ability, one needs to learn self-defense. It is no longer a luxury. Our school has plenty of public school teachers who testify that they feel secure teaching in all environments after enrolling in our self-defense program.

Self Defense.

It is what Grandmaster Helio Gracie taught me, and what I have taught since I took on my first students, while an undergraduate student at the University of Miami. By teaching Jiu-Jitsu as it was supposed to be taught - as a self-defense system, Gracie Miami, since April 2001, has grown 10 percent monthly.

The average EFC school registers about 30 new students a month of which 26 are children. I am not suggesting that you abandon your school's children program that is attracting those 26 students. However, I would suggest that you design an equally comprehensive marketing and advertising program for adults who come for very practical reason-namely self-defense.

This way your school will not only register the 26 new children a month, but also the same number of adults a month, instead of the two or three stragglers.

"I have spent 15 years studying various Martial Arts, but it wasn't until I started at the self-defense program that I learned to fight," said a medical doctor to a new student, who has trained at the academy regularly for several years. "It is amazing how simple it is."

That simplicity is one of the main factors in signing up adults. Most adults have hobbies that they devout themselves to, and do so, because they understand it, excel at it and enjoy it. The Martial Arts should not be different. Moreover, you have to make sure that adults are getting their money's worth, and that they see the results, in a safe, realistic, and professional atmosphere to keep them coming back.

Over the years, it was difficult to put together a program, an actual written curriculum, that puts together self-defense techniques in a easy, step-by-step process, and one that the students can see their improvements, safely, but realistically. To date, our school is the only Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu school that I know of that has a curriculum to teach self-defense systematically in a group setting.

The 27-lesson program is the first series that our students learn. Each lesson, composed of four to five different techniques that build on the previous lesson, is taught in progression. Once the 27-lessons are completed, students may continue on to our more advanced classes, including the Tae Kwon Do and No Kimono classes. However, this is not to say that students stop going to the 27 fundamental classes. Repetition leads to speed and muscle memory, and I encourage students to continue with the fundamental classes.

"I can't tell you how many times I have been through the fundamental lessons," said Andy Fuentes, a senior student, who has been through the progression nearly 50 times. "But I pick up a new detail every time and that makes all the difference."

Some students only do the 27-lessons program over and over, which we encourage. Most, however, go on to take the advanced classes and seek a deeper knowledge of the art. They do so, however, because they feel confident that there is some practical value.

Children may find the mysticism enchanting. They may find the ancient traditions and customs magical. To me personally, the history of the art I have devoted my life to is fascinating and I provide adult students with the opportunity to pick it up, but I have found that it takes up training time, which is not what adult students want.

"I work 50 to 60 hours a week and don't have time for points and Katas," said one FBI agent who trains several days a week at Gracie Miami. "I need to pack as much into each class as I can-my life may depend on it." Adults barely have time for easier, less committed pastimes, and do not want to deal with the hassles associated with schools lectures on Far Eastern traditions and homage paid to an instructor with a hard to pronounce title. We have found it easier to provide that information as well as sport competition instruction to those who have shown interest in a very informal setting.

At the end of day, the mat rats are usually sitting around talking shop, asking me about the Gracie's and their family history, and the more advanced students are passing on tips to the newcomers. Others wait for the showers. It is usually well after most peoples bedtime. Usually, just short of shoeing them out with a broom, they leave.

Some go off for a late dinner, others to their families.

I am pleased that there is a real camaraderie in the air. At the end of the day, I have taught adults self-confidence, focus, and discipline through self-defense, and I have taught children self-defense through lessons of discipline, focus and self-control. At the end of the day, both groups leave with everything the Gracie Miami School of Self-Defense offered in the morning.