Design Martial Arts Programmes That Retain, Develop and Scale
Work directly with Phill Payne to design child-centred, retention-focused martial arts programmes that improve the experience for students, align your coaching team and create sustainable long-term growth.
Most programmes don’t fail due a lack of effort, they fail because of a lack of purposeful design.
Many martial arts organisations invest heavily in marketing, business systems and internal processes, yet still deliver programmes that don’t meet the wants and needs of the children they coach. The side effects are predictable:
- Inconsistent delivery across classes, locations or instructors
- Children dropping out due to a lack of intrinsic motivation ("It just isn't fun anymore")
- Parents who don’t fully understand or value the long-term journey
- Progression stalling due to a 'one size fit's all' approach to delivery
- A shift in focus from great coaching towards great marketing
The result is erratic retention, frustrated coaches, confused parents and programmes that rely on constant recruitment just to stand still.
From Delivery to Design
The difference between programmes that retain children for years and those that lose them within months rarely comes down to the quality of the martial art being taught. It often comes down to how deliberately the programme has been designed around the children inside it.
The shift looks like this:
- Teaching techniques → Designing purposeful learning experiences
- Managing classes → Building systems that support consistency
- One size fits all delivery → Coaching designed around the individual child
The MAC Way is the framework developed through 30 years of coaching practice and ongoing doctoral research that makes this shift possible. It combines the MAPLE Framework with the supporting systems that align programme design, coaching delivery and long-term sustainability.
One Club Improves, An Entire Network Benefits
The root cause of poor retention across most organisations is rarely a marketing or systems problem, it is most often a coaching problem. Specifically, it is the absence of a structured, child-centred approach that consistently meets the developmental wants and needs of the children being coached. Addressing that at organisational scale is where the greatest and most sustainable gains are found.
For a single club, improving monthly dropout from 6% to 3% doubles the sustainable membership ceiling and generates tens of thousands in additional annual revenue without a single extra pound spent on marketing. Across a network of affiliated clubs, franchise locations or member organisations, the compounding effect of that improvement can be transformational.
Consider a franchise or governing body with 50 affiliated clubs, each averaging 100 members. A 1% improvement in average monthly retention across the network does not produce a marginal gain. It produces a structural shift in the health, sustainability and reputation of every club within it. Clubs that retain members longer build stronger communities, develop more consistent coaching teams and generate the financial stability needed to invest in their own development. The network effect means that improving retention in one club has the capacity to raise the standard and reputation of the whole.
For governing bodies and franchise operators alike, the implications extend beyond revenue. Whether the priority is satisfying Sport England funding requirements through demonstrable participation data, closing the performance gap between the strongest and weakest clubs in a network, or simply building an organisation where strong retention is the norm rather than the exception, the principle is the same. Unlike revenue generated through new member recruitment, retained revenue carries very little additional cost. The majority of every pound generated by improved retention flows directly to the bottom line.
At scale, retention is not only a coaching metric, it is a business one. It starts with getting the coaching right.
What We Can Build Working Together
Every engagement is shaped around your organisation, but typically covers some or all of the following:
Structured Children’s Programmes
A clearly mapped curriculum aligned to child development principles and physical literacy, with age-appropriate content designed to engage children at each stage of their development. Built to be consistent and scalable across multiple classes, instructors or locations so that every child receives the same quality of experience regardless of when or where they train.
A Connected Long-Term Participation Pathway
Individual programmes retain children most effectively when they sit within a bigger picture that gives the journey meaning and direction. Working together, we can develop a Participation Development Model appropriate for your organisation. This is a structured framework that connects your programmes across age groups and stages, reducing the dropout that occurs at transition points and giving children, parents and coaches a shared sense of where the journey is heading. Depending on your organisation’s size and context, this could incorporate elements such as age-appropriate training frameworks, long-term development stages, coach education pathways and the values that run through everything you deliver.
Consistent Coaching Delivery
Shared coaching frameworks and language that create consistency across teams and locations, supported by targeted coach education and alignment so that the programme your coaches deliver on a Tuesday morning feels the same as the one they deliver on a Saturday afternoon.
Stronger Parent Understanding and Trust
Shared coaching frameworks and language that create consistency across teams and locations, supported by targeted coach education and alignment so that the programme your coaches deliver on a Tuesday morning feels the same as the one they deliver on a Saturday afternoon.
Sustainable Programme and Business Design
Improved lifetime value per student, reduced reliance on constant recruitment and systems that support growth without increasing complexity. A programme built to last rather than one that demands constant reinvention to stay viable.
Who This Is For
This consulting service is designed for organisations and clubs that are serious about building programmes that work long term:-
- National governing bodies developing or reviewing children’s programmes
- Franchise and multi-location martial arts organisations
- Umbrella membership organisations looking to offer a more modern, child-centred approach to their member clubs
- Established clubs with a coaching team, a growing membership and the capacity to invest in building something genuinely transformative and scalable
This is not for you if:
- You are looking for a quick fix and don’t have the time or capacity to work collaboratively
- You want different outcomes but are not open to changing how you currently operate
- You are not yet committed to putting the child’s experience at the centre of your programme
Grounded in Practice, Informed by Research
This work is not theoretical. It comes from someone still coaching on the mats every week, running two full-time martial arts centres and actively researching the very challenges you are trying to solve.
- Monthly averaged dropout rate of 3% across both clubs over the last 12 months, against an industry average of 6 to 8%
- BSc (1st Class Honours) and MSc in Sports Coaching from Leeds Beckett University
- Currently undertaking doctoral research focused on the educational wants and needs of martial arts coaches in order to retain and develop the children they teach
- Full-time martial arts school owner (Warrior Factory) with two active venues and around 400 students
- Creator of the MAPLE Framework, a research-informed, child-centred coaching model
- Experience supporting coach education and programme development within organisations such as British Taekwondo
- 30 years of coaching experience across all ages and stages
Discovery
A focused conversation to understand your current programme, structure, team and challenges
Programme Audit
A review of your curriculum, coaching delivery, systems and the specific dropout host spots
Strategy and Design
A structured plan developed specifically for your organisation, aligned with your goals, capacity and context.
Implementation Support
Practical, hands-on support for your team as changes are applied in real sessions and real clubs. This is not a document handed over and left with you.
A Simple, Structured Process
There are no off-the-shelf packages here. Every engagement begins with a genuine understanding of your organisation before anything is recommended or built. The process is collaborative by design. You know your clubs and your coaches and the objective here is to leverage our frameworks, research and experience to help you build something that lasts.
Core Areas We Can Help With
Every engagement is different, but common areas of focus include:
- Identifying dropout hotspots within your programme
- Programme design, review and restructure
- Participation Development Model design, a structured framework for long-term student retention and progression within your organisation
- Coach Development Pathway creation
- Coach education workshops and custom online training
- Organisation and governing body consulting
- Ongoing advisory and implementation support