No Mat Fees

So last night a visitor came out to the gym. He had gotten information from Reddit about our gym and stopped by. Sadly, I wasn’t teaching a whole lot of technique that day. It was more of a drill what you know and then roll hard. We have a few guys getting ready for competition so these are good days to refresh and drill techniques they’re working on.

I wrote a blog recently and I shared that one of the business practices that irks me is charging visitors a mat fee. Especially if they are just in town visiting. I think it gets away from the brotherhood of the martial art. I  always encourage my students to buy a shirt to patch when they visit gyms to show support and as a way of saying thanks. But I dislike the outright mat fee.

I’m not trying to get on a soap box here. But after talking to him once we finished class. He said that one of the factors that drove him to stop by our gym opposed to competitors is that we didn’t charge a mat fee. Again, making a visitor feel welcome, meeting a new friend, letting my students feel a different style and allowing a visitor to feel ours is worth more to me than a one time mat fee.

Thanks again for stopping by Adrian! You’re always welcome to the gym whenever you’re in Louisville. Oh and thanks to Chris (Winky) for the shout out on Reddit.

-Chewy