Mittmaster Courses

How To Create A Syllabus That Excites Students, Increases Retention And Produces Elite Martial Artists

Have you ever tried to write a syllabus for your school? 

It’s usually a total nightmare. Either you can’t decide where to start or if you do start you get overwhelmed and never get it finished. This typically happens because of three common issues:

1. You have no structure or system for creating your syllabus so you just throw everything you know into it and hope it will kind of work out. It usually doesn’t.

2. Or you over analyse everything “tweaking” each detail until its perfect. But because perfection is unattainable you never actually get it finished

3. Or, you are too busy with work, family, teaching, and life in general that you never get around to starting.

Typically you end up like this guy....

In order to create a syllabus that keeps students excited, builds retention and creates elite martial artists you need a PLAN.

This is where my Simple Syllabus System comes in.

This system, that I’ve developed over the last decade is designed to make creating your syllabus quick, simple and believe it or not FUN.

Your syllabus is a living thing. It should reflect the latest developments in both your martial arts training but also in the industry as well. For example, all modern striking syllabi should at least address the concepts and techniques used in MMA. 

Your syllabus is not dead, unchanging forever. It should improve with each generation of student that comes through your school. This keeps it fresh and challenging and keeps students excited about learning.

At my school, we edit our syllabus at least once a year, sometimes twice. We take out the drills and techniques that are not working and add our latest developments.

“But, won't the students find it stressful, if you change the syllabus frequently,” you ask.  Yes, I answer.

But, that’s not a bad thing. The two things all people need is certainty, so we feel safe and predict the future. But too much certainty is boring, so we also need a certain level of “uncertainty” to create excitement. This is what I advise you to do with your syllabus. The core drills provide the certainty and the new drills create uncertainty.

This is how I built a school of 350 members of which 30+ are black belts who have trained for more than a decade each.

Syllabus design is CRUCIAL if you want to create great martial artists and run a profitable business.

My Simple Syllabus System is based on 8’S

Simple

Your syllabus must be simple to learn, teach and master especially for new students. If you overload beginner grades you are actually encouraging students to quit your school.

Systematic

Your syllabus should be systematic. By creating a systematic approach you make it far easier to teach to both your students and instructors.

Structured

Your syllabus must be structured so that it follows a logical sequence. This makes it easy to learn. Too many instructors syllabi are just a mix of random techniques throw together with no rhyme or reason.

Strategic

Your syllabus should be designed with an overall goal in mind. If you begin with the end in mind you can work back to the beginning. So, you need to be very clear on the eventual goal of your syllabus.

Scalable

This means your syllabus should be taught effectively whether you have 10 or 500 students. Typically, many instructor’s syllabi work fine with less than 50 students but fail because of their complexity when they add more students to the mix.

Safe

This is vital. If your syllabus is not designed correctly and structured well it poses a risk to your student’s safety. For example, I was at kickboxing school recently where they had beginners learning Axe kicks in their very first session and unsurprisingly one of the beginners pulled their hamstring. If a beginner gets injured in their first three months they are almost guaranteed never to return.

The final two S’s are a SECRET, but they are the ones that make sure your students keep training for decades.

The Simple Syllabus System will cover everything you need to build a syllabus that WORKS. 

This online course contains six modules which will include:

1. Videos of me teaching you the concepts of syllabus design

2. Course notes which you can print and work through to build your own syllabus

3. Homework exercises designed to help you take action and actually get the thing written

4. BONUS online content that will help you build a simple working syllabus

So, if you’ve ever struggled with designing your syllabus, started then stopped or tried and failed then this course is perfect for you.

In the end, you will have a complete, simple, structured syllabus that will keep your students happily training for years.

Plus, I will contact you throughout the course to check how your syllabus is coming along, offer advice, support and keep you accountable (so you actually get it done this time).

If you’ve ever wanted to create a syllabus that is fun, challenging and progressive, but haven’t known how this course is for you!

See you on the inside

Mittmaster Matt