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Shred Lord - Chronicles of a Modern Swordsman

If you build it, they will (not necessarily) come!

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shred_lord
, 22nd December 2009 at 01:12 AM (1388 Views)
April 2008.. I was nervous but committed to starting a new Scottish Dojo in Hamilton. I was convinced that there would be enough people in area who would start if they didn't have to drive into Glasgow to sustain a small club.

Unfortunately, a year and nine months later, the club remains resolutely small. Average turnout is about 5 plus me, which barely covers costs and makes sessions difficult to teach. Also, with so few, I think we lack the feeling you get by having lots of people bang and crash around together.

So, although I'd rather only have a few new people at a time, I'm in position now, where I'm going to have to advertise to get a load of people thought the door so that in six months we'll not be in the situation where two people not turning up makes the session a real trial to balance the new guys and those in armour.

If I'd known that leading a Dojo would be so difficult beforehand, I probably wouldn't have started one in the first place.. oh well, I was and remain committed.

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Updated 22nd December 2009 at 01:15 AM by shred_lord

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Comments

  1. Alicia's Avatar
    All the best, I really hope you guys make it!
  2. chidokan's Avatar
    over the years I have had classes with between 1 and 75 people in a small hall... (75 is NOT funny, just scary with that many iaito.. kendo between 0 and 40, however that 0 is a wasted evening...) Attendance is cyclical dependent on what films are out, whether or not the local manga fans from the university want to come, and the vagaries of employment for more senior students. Don't worry about it, the important thing is to turn up yourself, teach those who do come, and keep the club going. The kendo dojo in Darlington which I attended for many years sadly closed down due to expensive hall/lack of students/students leaving for work abroad. Hence me using a university.. hall is free, if they dont turn up, I can train anyway, and my 'hard core' students have somewhere to meet up as they come home on holiday. Kendo appeals to uni students, so why not move into your local uni???
  3. Kent Enfield's Avatar
    I was a founding member of a university kendo club. Within two years, I think I was the only original member left. It took several years before the club grew and developed enough to become somewhat self-sustaining. Leading that club was enough work that I'm specifically choosing not to start another one in my current location. Maybe in the future, but not now. It was just way too much work.

    But, since you've already made the decision to do so, I'd go for slow steady growth rather than trying to make a big push. If your group is completely invisible, that's one thing. But if you've got someway for people to find you (a website is really, really good), those who are interested will. I think for leading a small group there are two things are important: developing a way of running class that works with mixed levels and instilling a sense of responsibility in the seniors, even if they aren't very senior. At the least, letting you and the group know when they can't make it is a big help.
  4. hl1978's Avatar
    I've founded a couple of clubs before and helped my current one grow.

    Honestly what made the club grow the most was to have staggered sets of beginners classes every three months. I would say that's probably whats made my current club grow from about 6 regular members to 38 members. That way beginners have a support group with people at the same stage of training as them. Otherwise they wind up being the lone person in the corner doing tsuburi on the own, or the only person without bogu etc. We made this change and far more people stuck around.