We Have Made 15 Pledges To All Clubs To Help You Recover From Covid-19

These pledges cement our association’s rock-solid and industry leading response to Coronavirus. We’re as certain as can be that no other martial arts association in the UK is doing as much as us to support grass roots clubs and instructors returning to the Dojo and surviving the impact of Coronavirus.

We have launched our new Covid-19 Exit-Strategy Toolkit For Clubs

With everything from a Covid-19 Aware Martial Arts Instructor Qualification through to help liaising with councils, editable professional marketing material, access to subsidised insurance, the latest Government Guidance interpreted for martial arts, help running online and outdoor sessions as well as a full plan to help you recover your club when dojos do re-open, we have the martial arts industry’s most comprehensive package for instructors.

Best of all, it’s completely free with membership.

As a leading UK martial arts association we understand the obvious and acute anxiety the COVID 19 ‘Coronavirus’ is causing martial arts clubs and instructors.

We appreciate there are a number of concerns. Aside from the obvious health worries, the UK martial arts industry faces an existential threat in terms of the immediate cashflow impact the illness will be having on clubs and dojos.

We’re leading what is being named the martial arts industry’s largest response to issue yet through a number of support measures designed to prop up and support clubs and instructors of all sizes.

  • We're allocating thousands of pounds of emergency funding and discounting to ensure clubs of all sizes can continue to access insurances and other key martial arts provisions - such as DBS checks, safeguarding training and first aid training - in the midst of an immediate cashflow crisis.
  • We're providing a dedicated contingency planning centre aimed at tying together a full response for clubs and instructors. This includes co-ordinated student press releases, best practice guidance and specialist instructor only COVID 19 forums to discuss commercial concerns.
  • We're providing our members with pre-packaged press releases which can be sent directly onto students and parents to help communicate key messages around the on-going practicalities of continuing martial arts training.
  • We're providing crisis management guidance to help clubs deal with cashflow crunches, as well as strategy and contingency plans to help clubs find the best way of surviving the COVID 19 illness and any knock-on economical impact.
  • We're rushing forward the design and implementation of a student portal to support our clubs in student retention and digital engagement during any Government imposed shut down of leisure facilities.

What have we already done to support our marital arts clubs & instructors through Coronavirus?

We have introduced a completely free Covid-19 Aware Martial Arts Instructor Qualification and a Coronavirus Recovery Toolkit packed with dozens of incredible services to help you mitigate the damage being done by Coronavirus.

This includes everything from a free Covid-Aware Martial Arts course through to help liaising with councils. Understanding Government guidance through to free marketing material and risk assessments. You can learn more and explore the Recovery Toolkit here.

We’re funding £30,000 of subsidies and discounts, with more available if needed.

Whilst we can’t provide grants to clubs (we have far too many to make this viable) we are providing in excess of £30,000 subsidies to anyone who needs it. Be it a new registration or a renewal – membership, insurance, safeguarding training and so on; everything is discounted and we’re providing further price cuts wherever possible to help our clubs. If we breach the £30k (which we are set to) we have lined up another £15,000 in support. If we reach the £45k mark we’ll extend it again. You don’t need to do anything to access this discounting – it’s applied to every price on our website automatically.

We’ve footed the bill for insurance adaptations and are innovating with our broking team

We were one of the very first associations to be able to confirm to our members that your BMABA instructor insurance, served via our group cover policy, will cover both pre-recorded and live-stream remote sessions. We took that one further by providing a dedicated online delivery suite to provide help with logistics, mechanics and technology too. Whilst the only real current restriction (in insurance terms) is clubs not being able to recruit new members online, we’ve also overcome this too. This will be a UK first and we will confirm details very shortly.

We directly partitioned Government for clarity around Outdoor Martial Arts Instruction, and succeeded

When the UK Government announced one to one outdoor personal training being allowed, we pushed – hard – to gain clarity for martial arts instructors and coaches too. We achieved this clarification and put into place measures, guidance and insurance allowances to enable our instructors to teach outdoors.

We’re commissioning thousands of pounds of research and datasets

Without data it’s impossible to make a balanced argument for help from Sport England. Martial Arts traditionally has nothing in place to provide data or background. To remedy this, we’re funding thousands of pounds of research both internally and externally to the association. Already our National Survey has received thousands of responses and it’s just a start. We’re funding all of this internally for the benefit of the whole industry. You can learn more from our Fighting Chance Foundation.

We’re building the UK’s largest group of martial arts social enterprises

It’s crucial we now have the might of a large proportion of the UK martial arts sector behind us if we are to speak on its behalf. To help us reach more clubs and instructors and influence more industry change, we’re launching the BMABA Group of Social Enterprises. This is absolutely massive so we’re going to both keep it slightly underwraps, and save it for a separate press release shortly. We assure you, the Group will come with benefits for every member and we look forward to sharing it shortly.

We’re petitioning Sport England to step in and help you

This is the big one. Having launched £195,000,000 of funding to help the UK sport and recreation sector survive Covid 19, we’re determined our clubs should receive a cut of this. We’re engaging with Sport England and conducting emergency funding surveys to ensure we know what support is needed, has been awarded and has been turned down.

This is in and among our huge response to Covid 19 which includes massive updates and upgrades to our membership packages, tonnes of free confidential support and help plus so much more to help UK martial arts through coronavirus.

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We’re providing our Coronavirus Response Centre and associated resources free of charge to all BMABA members, including those who join us on our free affiliate membership level.

We’re completely without funding, and this initiative has been funded and launched by us in house to try and bridge an apparent lack of management elsewhere within the UK martial arts market where clubs and instructors are concerned.

Your Questions Answered

We’ve launched a Coronavirus Response Centre free of charge for all our members to provide a ‘joined-up’ approach to supporting our clubs through the COVID 19 illness.

We’ve done the following;

  1. Created a custom, bespoke ‘instructor only’ area where BMABA clubs can access the latest guidance, best practice and updates on Coronavirus.
  2. Created a number of key provisions, such as student press releases that are ‘pre-packed’ and ready to go straight to your club.
  3. Created support guides, articles and helplines to provide practical guidance and advice to clubs suffering from acute commercial issues relating to the virus.
  4. We’re discounting a wide range of essential services – including insurance and membership – to ensure clubs can continue to access key provisions despite any economic downturn.
  5. We’re putting aside thousands in reserve to keep our members afloat in terms of key provisions and resources for as long as the COVID 19 matter persists.
  6. We’re raising the profile of martial arts with the public and fast-tracking a student portal to provide direct student retention and digital engagement on behalf of our clubs, especially during confinement.
  7. We’re working with suppliers and other major industry stakeholders to try and create an environment that is as supportive as possible for our martial arts clubs and instructors.
  8. We’re helping clubs in cash-flow crisis with deferred payments and insurance plans to ensure they remain open and active.
  9. We’re providing the latest updates and guidance from the Sport & Recreation Alliance, ‘translates’ for martial arts clubs to ensure our members have the best industry guidance on how to deal with Coronavirus.
  10. We’re providing a range of other services to help our effected clubs continue training and to remain in business.

We have extensive and stress-tested contingency plans in place for our operations and the Association as a whole. We’re already financially viable and debt-free, so we’re implementing some strict funding measures to control funding and ensure we have plenty of reserves in the bank to fund the organisation through any period of COVID 19 relates economic downturn.

We’re implementing pricing cuts across all of our publicly advertised membership services and fees, including instructor insurance to help new members access key provisions, insurance, licensing and membership at discounted rates to help your club’s reserves if you’re feeling the sting of the sudden economic downturn caused by Coronavirus.

For larger clubs, we’re also providing access to heavily discounted services and insurances, with the Association discounting (and footing the bill for) up to 70% of the relevant fees. This is designed to ensure your club remains commercially viable and in business, even if your cashflow suffers from a short term quarantine or downturn.

All renewing members are supported through similar measures, and this is communicated via our MyBMABA Section.

We have a range of best practice guidance and advice provided from our member’s area, MyBMABA. We’ve built a specialist Coronavirus Contingency Management Section to help clubs understand how to manage cashflow, survive financially turbulent periods and how to manage ‘in the dojo’ practicalities like cleaning, hygiene and communication with parents and students.

We’re entirely self-funded and receive no support or financial assistance from Sport England, UK Government, The National Lottery or any other agencies. We’re directing our Social Enterprises’ profits into the Contingency Fund and our Coronavirus Response for the benefit of the UK martial arts industry.

We have launched our new Covid-19 Exit-Strategy Toolkit For Clubs

With everything from a Covid-19 Aware Martial Arts Instructor Qualification through to help liaising with councils, editable professional marketing material, access to subsidised insurance, the latest Government Guidance interpreted for martial arts, help running online and outdoor sessions as well as a full plan to help you recover your club when dojos do re-open, we have the martial arts industry’s most comprehensive package for instructors.

Best of all, it’s completely free with membership.

To Access Our Coronavirus Contingency Service You Will Need To Be A BMABA Registered Instructor

We’re providing 6 months free membership for every UK martial arts instructor to allow you free access to our Coronavirus Response Planning. We also have discounted premium options for clubs requiring multiple instructor registrations, insurance or other key provisions.

Important: We’ve taken every effort to ensure the information presented here is accurate and up to date, however due to the fast changing nature of COVID 19 we can offer no assurances or guarantees about the validity and/or accuracy of content contained above. Accordingly, this should not be assumed to be advice of any kind. To find out latest guidance and best practice advice, please login to MyBMABA and visit the Coronavirus Action Centre.

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