About – Martial Arts Coach

Coaching for Retention

MartialArtsCoach.com was created to help martial arts coaches design and deliver child-centred programmes that meet the developmental needs of children, support the expectations of parents and enable coaches to make a good living doing what they love.

In research we carried out with martial arts coaches in 2025, many described their work as more than a hobby or a job. For them, coaching was a meaningful pursuit that shaped their identity and way of life. Yet even with this passion, building programmes that truly engage children and retain them long term can still be challenging.

This platform exists to help coaches bring greater clarity and structure to what it means to design and deliver truly child-centred martial arts programmes.

Why This Work Matters

Many children begin martial arts with excitement and enthusiasm, yet a large number dropout within a relatively short period of time. While the reasons vary, the way programmes are designed and coached can play an important role in whether children look forward to attending their next martial arts class or invent reasons why they don't need to train today.

The martial arts sector is highly fragmented with little to no standardisation in what qualifies someone to become a coach. Often the ability to perform a martial art is still seen as the primary qualification required to teach it. While some formal coach education opportunities do exist, they are limited and often tied to individual organisations. As a result, many coaches learn primarily through trial and error and 'on the job' training.

Formal coach education alone does not guarantee great coaching. Some outstanding coaches have developed their skills through years of experience, reflection and care for the children they teach. However, if coaches simply replicate the way they were taught without questioning whether those methods still serve today’s children, the profession risks standing still. Progress comes when experience, reflection and research are combined with a willingness to keep learning.

MartialArtsCoach.com exists to help close that gap by providing practical frameworks and ideas while creating opportunities for coaches to learn from and exchange ideas with one another.

Mission

The mission of MartialArtsCoach.com is simple:

To help martial arts coaches leverage child-centred programmes to build lifestyle businesses they don’t need or want to retire from.

When programmes are designed around the wants and needs of children, everything else tends to fall into place. Children enjoy their training, they make progress and parents feel they have chosen the right place for their child to grow. Few parents would ever stop bringing their child to an activity they genuinely love.

When average retention is measured in years rather than months, the benefits compound. Students make greater progress, clubs become more sustainable and coaches have the time and stability needed to develop the next generation of instructors.

Over time, this creates the conditions for coaches to build a martial arts school that supports both their students and the life they want to lead.

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The Story Behind MartialArtsCoach.com

MartialArtsCoach.com grew out of years of coaching experience, running full-time martial arts centres and studying sports coaching more formally.

Working with children and families every day provided valuable insight into what helps young students stay engaged in martial arts and what causes them to drop out. After decades of coaching children in martial arts, it became clear that strong programmes rarely happen by accident. They are intentionally designed and adapted over time to meet the changing wants and needs of their members.

Alongside running clubs, Phill Payne spent more than a decade studying sports coaching at university, completing both a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in the field. He is currently undertaking doctoral studies as part of a Doctor of Professional Practice programme. This “pracademic” perspective (one foot in practice and the other in academia) has helped provide a deeper understanding of child development, coaching practice, motivation and learning environments.

These experiences led to the development of a more structured approach to coaching children in martial arts, blending practical coaching experience with research-informed thinking from sport, education and child development.

This approach became the foundation of the MAPLE Framework.

The MAC Way pillars

The MAC Way is built on four pillars: the MAPLE Framework is the primary pillar that provides the coaching model and this is supported by three secondary pillars that help martial arts schools build sustainable programmes, effective systems and rewarding careers

Primary Pillar

MAPLE Framework

A child-centred coaching framework designed to help martial arts instructors create engaging programmes that retain children and support long-term development

Secondary Pillars

Conscious Business

A multi-stakeholder approach to club design that balances financial sustainability and ethical practice with the well-being of children, parents and coaches.

Smart Systems

Tech-enhanced systems that streamline operations, improve communication and create more time for meaningful coaching interactions.

Lifestyle Design

A person-centred approach to club ownership that supports your energy, family life and long-term vision for a coaching career you don’t need to escape from.

Vision

While the mission of MartialArtsCoach.com focuses on helping individual coaches design better programmes for children that help build a sustainable lifestyle business, the long-term vision is broader.

MartialArtsCoach.com is being built to become the world hub for children’s martial arts coaches.

A place where coaches come not only to find ideas and resources, but to reflect and discuss how we can come together as a community and improve the way children are coached in martial arts.

Through shared learning, reflection and the exchange of practical experience, the goal is to help raise the overall standard of coaching for children across the martial arts sector.

Because improving how children are coached today shapes the future of martial arts tomorrow.

Who This Platform Is For

MartialArtsCoach.com is designed primarily for martial arts club owners and coaches whose primary focus is building programmes around the holistic development of children.

These coaches care about:

Long-term engagement rather than short-term compliance
Professional and ethical coaching standards
Positive learning environments for children
Sustainable club models that support their lives as well as their students
Continuing to research, learn, reflect and improve their coaching practice over time

The approach presented here may not align with every martial arts instructor. While some coaches try to force every child into a rigid martial arts system that has not changed for decades, we prescribe adapting the martial arts experience to better meet the needs of each child.

This platform is intentionally designed for those who want to place children at the centre of their coaching practice.

Contributors

MartialArtsCoach.com was never intended to represent the perspective of a single coach.

The platform brings together coaches, educators and practitioners who share a commitment to improving the way children are coached in martial arts.

Below you will find contributors who share their insights, experiences and ideas through articles and resources across the platform. This list will start off small but will grow over time.

Phill Payne

Phill Payne has been coaching martial arts since 1996. He holds a BSc and MSc in Sports Coaching and he is currently undertaking doctoral research at Leeds Beckett University. He is the creator of the MAPLE Framework and has worked with National Governing Bodies such as British Taekwondo to develop their national children's programme. He runs two martial arts centres and founded MartialArtsCoach.com to help coaches build sustainable, child-centred businesses.

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Start Your Journey

If you are committed to designing and delivering child-centred programmes and building a sustainable lifestyle business teaching martial arts to children, you are in the right place.

You can start by exploring practical insights on the blog or by accessing free tools to help strengthen your children’s programme.