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Success Stories from Fellow School Owners
Tim Flynn
Owner/Master Instructor
Kato Karate
I started SKILLZ in the summer of 2019 as a Gold Member. Fell in love with the concept and wanted my whole school to become SKILLZ.
Became SKILLZ Gold Lifetime Member February 2019 and enrolled in weekly SKILLZ coaching with Michael.
SKILLZ is a very new concept in my area. There is a lot of work to be done to educate my community that I am not just a “Martial Arts School” but a Child Development Center.
Went from a Single Man operation to having 2 Instructors and a Front Desk Person all during the Pandemic. During the Pandemic, while other schools were forced to closed down, Kato Karate was allowed to remain open and run the SKILLZ classes as we were able to prove to the State of Minnesota that we were not just a “regular Martial Arts School.
My Goal as a SKILLZ Ambassador is to help other SKILLZ schools with advice and share ideas to help them grow and become a “Local Child Development Expert” in their area!
I have been a SKILLZ GOLD MEMBER for over a decade now. I can honestly say it has been one of the best things I have done for my School. I became a school owner quite by accident and quickly discovered I was completely unprepared for the task at hand.
I believed that if my staff and I knew our martial arts.. the kicking and punching material, we would be SUPER successful. I found that wasn’t the case and realized that parents need answers to questions about their children that had absolutely nothing to do with kicking and punching. Parents needed to know the WHY. Such as “WHY is my child doing XYZ”…,” WHY can’t I get my Child to behave during XYZ?”…
16 years ago my young team was overwhelmed with the whys, our parents would ask.
I have a formal education in Psychology and graduate school classes in Social Work and would find myself constantly answering these questions for parents so much that it felt like that was all I was doing.
I began to notice that my young staff begin to avoid the parents and didn’t want to interact with the children very much because they felt overwhelmed with trying to “understand” the behavior in class. I knew I needed some answers for them, something that would empower them with knowledge as to how kids developed.
Then I found SKILLZ.
The stages of development breakdown for students was GOLD! My staff loved it! It provided answers and solutions for their questions. They no longer had to shrug their shoulders and say “I don’t know” when a parent asked WHY?
My parents loved it! SKILLZ helped them see that their child was NORMAL and age-appropriate. They felt they could ask any staff member a question and get an immediate answer.
I loved it! I no longer had to explain age-appropriate behavior again and again because no one else knew the answers.
But the real win was the difference it made in my students. My students are well known in my organization for having empathy, kindness, being a good friend to others, along with having great martial arts skills.
This is directly related to using SKILLZ in our School. Parents consistently use the word FUN when describing our classes to others.
My current staff LOVE coming to work and talking with parents and students and often times tell me stories of using SKILLZ knowledge in their everyday life.
From the Life Skillz to the Stages of Development, SKILLZ has everything you need to serve your students and your community at the highest level.
I am excited to be 1 of 8 ambassadors for SKILLZ and to help other school owners realize the benefits of using SKILLZ in their schools.
If you want to provide an even better experience for your parents and students SKILLZ is definitely the way to go!
Sharon Rueckert
Co-Owner / President
Inspiration Martial Arts
Chad Bullock
Owner / Instructor
Ignite Martial Arts
Hello, Chad Bullock here from the True Great White North!
I’m extremely honoured to be one of the SKILLZ ambassadors. With my wife, five! Children and eight staff, we operate two academies in British Columbia, Canada! Our academies have been with SKILLZ since the beginning years; however, they never truly embraced the full potential of SKILLZ till recently. We are incredibly proud to be a part of this organization that has provided so much wealth of knowledge and support for our industry during a global pandemic.
Teaching and imparting knowledge has always been apart of what I do, thanks to the early intervention of my instructor in my life, and SKILLZ allows us to do that on such an extraordinary level for children, teens and adults! Yes, I said adults, cause if you have not heard of the new Warrior SKILLZ, you need to check it out; think of it as Chuck Norris and Jim Rohn both teaching your adults!
Being apart of SKILLZ has allowed us to pivot during this global pandemic to continue providing our service and even greater value to our students month by month, day by day. Bringing science, tradition, and FUN all together in one place to inspire, guide and lead the future of our communities to be the best versions of themselves. Giving them an unfair advantage over others their same age!
SKILLZ is continuously pushing the boundaries and mindset of utilizing martial arts to deliver cutting-edge child-development programs. We are extremely honoured and proud to be a part of this worldwide organization.
Hey everybody! My name is Alex Klettke. I am the proud owner of Family Strong Sussex alongside my wife, Meg.
As a dad of two very spirited boys, I know firsthand how important it is for kids to be involved in activities that support them as a whole person. SKILLZ has by far offered the very best experience for not only my kids but the students my wife and I teach every week in our studio as well!
Why is that? Because we have been able to come alongside parents and give them real-life support for physical to emotional struggles happening in their kids’ lives.
It is not uncommon to see tears of joy in our studio when a child is able to conquer their fears or overcome their personal challenges after learning the tools they need to achieve their goals!
My students never cease to inspire me and push me to be the best teacher I can be for them!
My family and I are so blessed and grateful to be a part of SKILLZ. And I know that I speak for our entire SKILLZ Strong Family when I say Thank You to Team SKILLZ Worldwide for all they do to help us support kids, teens, and adults in their journey!
Alex Klettke
Owner / Manager
Family Strong Sussex
Ramona Gruber
Owner / Instructor
SANKAN Kampfkunstschule
My name is Ramona Gruber and my family owns the SANKAN Kampfkunstschule, a karate school located in Germany and more specific in the Bavarian Forest, which is a very rural area in the South-East of Germany.
Our school was founded in 2004. In 2018 we joined SKILLZ and the system of working on age-specific skills with all the scientific background behind it and the various drills really helped our school grow and bloom.
Specifically, in 2018 and 2019 our cancellation rate sank steadily and our retention rate increased immensely.
Even though the times were tough in 2020, SKILLZ helped us stay on track and provided an enormous amount of virtual and social distant material.
This was great (and still is, since we went into our second lockdown in November 2020) for our students and their development throughout the scenario of this global crisis.
SKILLZ was also great for our school as we were able to keep most of our students as active members during the pandemic.
In 2016 as I was preparing to buy the school I had trained at since 2004, there were some problems that needed to be addressed immediately. Enrollment was down, the student body was mainly teens with very few adults and it was losing money.
My search through viable solutions led me to SKILLZ Free Tips and in September 2016. I started to incorporate the drills into classes and at a program at a local daycare.
My partner and I started teaching all the classes with the teenage “instructors” assisting, and as if by magic by December we had added 35 students that were 5-6-years-old into our program.
When we officially took over the business in January 2017, we continued to revise our curriculum and incorporate the SKILLZ Drills into our classes. At the end of 2017, our official student count was at 98.
In March of 2018, seeing how the free SKILLZ Content had contributed to the growth of the school, I decided to sign up for a SKILLZ Membership.
We moved forward with the primary goal of adding a program for 3-4-year-olds to our membership options.
The done for me class planners, curriculum videos, and start-up guides would quickly allow me to launch a 3-4-year-old program, so I jumped in with both feet.
Within a month I had 5 students and more importantly a steady stream of new students as parents told friends who told friends.
I also took advantage of other SKILLZ training courses like:
- Learning about PIES
- Stages of Development
- The seven steps to teaching a drill
- The 10 laws of instruction
- Instructor Certification Course
These courses allowed me to grow as an instructor, to have better conversations with parents during pre-evaluations and enrollment meetings, and they helped me to develop my team.
Based on the above in 2020 I became a SKILLZ Lifetime Gold Member.
Here are some of the other ways that SKILLZ has helped my business grow and evolve:
1) During COVID-19, Skillz virtual drills have helped my school enroll 20 virtual students. It also allows me to teach virtual classes to Middle and High School students during their PE classes.
2) I edit the SKILLZ blog posts for use on my website, Google My Business posts, and as quarterly expert contributor articles published in a local magazine.
3) I have used SKILLZ Drills and Planners to run summer camp sessions at local daycare centers.
4) When Spectrum SKILLZ was launched, it was the perfect complement for a program I had developed for my school, and the IEP students enrolled in Public and Private Schools in my area.
The organized curriculum allowed me to meet with Therapists and Autism Advocates and have professional conversations and make professional presentations.
My efforts to serve the community also resulted in me receiving the 2020 Mission Exemplifier Award from the Autism Society of Central Virginia.
SKILLZ has opened a world of possibilities and allows me to offer families in my area a hybrid of traditional martial arts classes and SKILL Specific Classes.
With the common thread in all programs being, teaching from a child development perspective and delivered in the way they learn best.
As of today, we are growing steadily, and much of that growth is as a result of incorporating SKILLZ Methodology into our class for all ages, even adults.
Eric Rangel-Ribeiro
Manager
Gentle East Martial Arts – Midlothian Virginia
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