Your team,
licensed properly.
The best clubs grow when instructors share the load with motivated assistants and volunteers, and our entire system, from the compliance register to the training pathways, is built around making your whole team checked, trained and supported.
Sharing The Load, Without Sharing The Risk
Running a successful martial arts club doesn’t mean doing everything alone. With the right systems in place, your team can help you focus on what you do best: teaching, mentoring and building your community. But let’s be clear about something too many clubs get wrong: just because someone is “only a volunteer” doesn’t mean they can’t pose a risk, and if an assistant or helper harms a child or vulnerable adult, you as the lead instructor remain legally and ethically responsible. That’s why we provide a rock-solid framework for licensing, compliance and safeguarding, so every assistant and volunteer in your club is an asset, never a liability.
Three Truths Every Club Owner Needs To Hear
If they harm a child, the liability rests with your club. Unpaid does not mean unaccountable, and safeguarding law doesn’t distinguish volunteers from staff.
If they injure a student through poor standards, you’re still accountable. Their competence is your responsibility the moment they step on your mats.
If they aren’t properly vetted, your insurance may not respond. The cheapest corner to cut is the most expensive one to have cut when it matters.
Licensing through BMABA holds assistants and volunteers to the same standards as instructors: enhanced DBS and PVG checks, safeguarding training, insurance and identity verification, all logged and verifiable.
A System Built Around Assistants & Volunteers
The Instructor Training Pathway (ITP)
A measured, certified way to train your assistant instructors and cadet leaders: structured development with full certification and support at every stage, so “learning on the job” becomes a documented, professional pathway rather than a hope.
The Cadet Route For Young Leaders
Tomorrow’s instructors are in your junior classes today. Our cadet coaching development gives young leaders a safe, age-appropriate, certified route into assisting, building your succession plan years before you need it.
Integrated CPD For Every Role
Assistants and volunteers aren’t an afterthought in our CPD: core training, including child safeguarding as core study, comes integrated with their membership, with the full course-by-role inclusion published openly in our handbook.
One Compliance Register For The Whole Team
Every assistant and volunteer sits on the same national records as instructors: DBS status, safeguarding training, insurance and CPD visible at a glance, feeding your club’s live RegulationReady standing automatically. No chasing paperwork; the system does the heavy lifting.
Team Technology That Keeps Standards Watertight
Private club groups, secure club-only messaging that keeps safeguarding front and centre, shared files and announcements, all synced across every device through the free MyBMABA app.
A Complete Development System, Tailored By Your Club
The Instructor Training Pathway is fully interactive and genuinely yours to shape. Manage developing instructors, junior cadets and adults alike, from one dedicated screen: set stages, track progress, log observed sessions and sign off milestones. Crucially, clubs can tailor the pathway, adding your own essential CPD or in-house training as a required part of the process, so the certified route your assistants follow reflects how your club actually teaches. The full framework is published openly in our handbook.
- Juniors and adults, managed on one pathway screen
- Add your own CPD or in-house training as required steps
- Progress tracked, milestones signed off, all recorded
Cadet Awards Young Leaders Actually Want To Earn
For cadets, the ITP runs as a progressive Bronze, Silver and Gold award structure, a familiar, aspirational format in the same spirit as the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, giving young leaders real milestones to work toward and real certificates to show for it. And here’s the part worth saying twice: the entire pathway is completely free. The process, the tracking, the awards and the certification cost nothing; the only thing you ever pay is the assistant instructor or volunteer membership itself.
Assistant Certification That Looks The Part
Every licensed assistant instructor receives full, professional certification: the same premium, verifiable credentials our lead instructors carry, issued instantly as high-definition digital documents and backed by the live national register. For your assistants it’s recognition that their role matters; for parents and venues it’s instant, checkable proof that everyone teaching their children is exactly who they should be.
- Instant HD digital certification for every assistant
- Verifiable through the live national register
- The same professional standard as lead instructors
Volunteers Get Real Training & Real Credentials Too
Volunteers aren’t an afterthought on a cheaper ticket: at £9.99 a year they receive their own certification and a genuinely useful CPD bundle included as standard, the BMABA Induction Training Award, Child Safeguarding in Martial Arts, SEND in Martial Arts (Level 1) and the CHIMA Concussion & Head Injury Management Award. And your club can run every volunteer through the full compliance stack: identity verification, DBS checks where the role requires them, and safeguarding training whenever they’re helping around children, all logged to the same register as everyone else. For £9.99, it’s a remarkably useful resource in its own right.
- Induction, Child Safeguarding, SEND Level 1 & CHIMA included
- Identity verification, DBS and training run by your club as needed
- Certified, registered and visible on your compliance screen
See Your Whole Team’s Compliance At A Glance
The Hub’s compliance screen gives clubs one unified view of everyone assisting: who’s active, what vetting standard each person is working to, which checks are outstanding, whose training is complete and whose is due. No spreadsheets, no chasing, no guesswork, just a live, honest picture of your team’s standing, feeding your club’s RegulationReady status automatically.
- Who’s assisting, and to what vetting standard
- Outstanding checks and due training, flagged clearly
- Feeds your live RegulationReady standing
No More WhatsApp Groups And Scattered Paperwork
Managing a team shouldn’t mean unmoderated apps and untracked conversations. MyBMABA gives you a dedicated, GDPR-compliant ecosystem: private club groups with their own forums, file sharing and resource libraries; secure, club-only messaging that keeps conversations appropriate and accountable; and compliance built in, with every user tied to our national records so you know at a glance who’s verified. Phone, tablet or desktop, everything synced.
- Private club groups with forums, files & announcements
- Secure messaging with safeguarding front and centre
- Compliance dashboards tied to national records
Your Whole Team, Compliant, Without Cost As A Barrier
Assistant Instructors
£19.99per yearFull licensing, compliance, CPD access and team technology for every assistant.
Volunteers
£9.99per yearThe same compliant, insured, supported framework for every helper in your club.
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ISO 9001:2015 Certified
The world's most recognised quality management standard. Our processes, governance and conduct are independently audited every year under UKAS accreditation, the same benchmark used for hospitals, universities, and major corporations.
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ISO 27001:2022 Certified
The international standard for information security, held alongside ISO 9001 as a UK martial arts first. Your club's data, your members' details and our digital infrastructure sit inside an independently audited security management system.
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Regulated Community Interest Company
We're overseen by the Office of the Regulator of Community Interest Companies, with a legal asset lock that means our income must serve our community purpose forever. Not-for-profit as a legal structure, not a slogan.
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Safeguarding Code in Martial Arts
The Sport England-approved national safeguarding standard. We hold organisational certification and are the only independent martial arts body authorised to issue SCiMA certification to clubs in-house, through our free Club Colours programme.
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CIMSPA Training Provider Partner
Recognised by the Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity. Our CPD and qualifications are developed to CIMSPA's national professional standards, with programmes submitted for formal endorsement, confirmed course by course.
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Cyber Essentials Certified
A UK Government-backed scheme confirming we hold essential security controls to protect our systems, data, and users from common cyber threats. A key mark of trust when handling sensitive safeguarding and membership data.
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Certified Social Enterprise
Independently certified by Social Enterprise UK as a genuine business for good. Our income is reinvested into grassroots martial arts, youth projects, and instructor support, not shareholders or private interests.
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UK Register of Learning Providers
A recognised organisation on the UK Government's official Register of Learning Providers (UKRLP), affirming our legitimacy as an education and training provider able to work credibly with funding bodies, employers, and public agencies.
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Registered With The ICO
Legally registered under UK data protection law, meeting our obligations under the Data Protection Act and UK GDPR. Together with ISO 27001, it protects the personal data of every member, club, and partner we work with.
Multi-Award Winning & Nationally Recognised
What Do Our Members Say?
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Matt J Can't Rate Them Highly EnoughHaving left my previous association in November, and being very daunted by the prospect of being responsible for all my own compliance and everything else I can honestly say BMABA have made the whole thing possible and even pleasant. The training resources are great, it's been fantastic for me to be able to quickly up skill my team, the insurance is really easy to sort out, the team are super friendly and helpful, the perks on Gold membership are also fantastic.
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John Tomsett Outstanding Club Association and Insurance ProviderI have been a customer of BMABA for two years now, and I am extremely impressed with their services. First and foremost, the customer service provided by BMABA is exceptional. Their team is responsive, professional, and genuinely dedicated to ensuring that our needs are met. Whenever we had a query or require assistance, they responded rapidly and effectively.
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Georgina E Really impressive, 21st century MA organisation. 10/10Found these guys in Martial Arts Illustrated doing a piece on professionalism in martial arts and thought, as an instructor, they might be worth looking at further. Really impressed from the moment I hit their website through to now, 3 months on as a member. Great staff, Giovanni is rediculously knowledgable and our club is now growing under the banner of what has got to be the best martial arts org in the UK.
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Michael Willington Definately recommended. Unbelievable Association.The BMABA are unlike any other org I've come across in this industry. Their honest, professional, politics free and most importantly, they know what they're doing. Website is leaps and bounds ahead of the rest, insurance is comprehensive and their overall customer service is just unlike anything else I've had in 25 years of martial arts. Amazing through and through. Would definitely recommend.
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Jonathan D BMABA – the Martial Arts Association you NEEDI joined the BMABA right in its infancy (I believe I was their second member!). Giovanni is the most helpful, respectful and genuine person who has turned the possibility of a non-political, highly respected and supportive Martial Arts Association into a reality. I could bang on for hours about the BMABA but don't take my word for it – go and visit the BMABA website and see for yourself.
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Fabian Burdett 2020 This team deserves a MedalAs we all know 2020 has been the year from hell for martial arts. One thing that has come out of that is BMABA have done everything in their power to keep clubs like mine up to date with what's happening and tried to push the government to notice us. Couldn't wish for a better association to be a part of. Once again big THANK YOU to you guys for all the help. 💙🐺👊
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Matthew Robert Cooling-Stones These guys are the real dealAs i'm heading into the brave world of starting up my own small self defence club in our village, i can say with complete honesty and satisfaction that BMABA have been the most supportive and upfront association i have come across. i have seen and had first hand experience with the Mcdojo's offering you the greatest adventures of a life time. but these guys are the real deal… i hold my head high, and say with great pride "i am a BMABA member"
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Anna Martensson Highly IMPRESSED by the BMABAAs someone with 22 years of experience in martial arts, who saw enough big egos and leaders who only look after their own benefits… I am highly IMPRESSED by the BMABA. I wanted to make sure they don't just promise the world but actually deliver. They support us all the way and constantly look for new ways of making our whole industry better for ALL of us. THANK YOU!!
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Adrian Jackson Always quick to respond and thoughtfulAlways quick to respond and thoughtful. Great service delivered at a very reasonable price and very supportive of the community. Been a member for a couple of years now and recommend highly
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Daniel Leaver Simply the best organisation I have ever worked withSimply the best organisation I have ever worked with. Everything is so stress free and I am definitely sticking with them for the rest of my career.
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Grow Your Club Without Growing Your Risk
Every assistant and volunteer checked, trained, insured and supported, on pathways and registers built for them from the ground up. Join free and bring your whole team into the framework.
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