Martial Arts ARTICLES Page 6
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An interview with Graham Slater PART 2 2010
5. I notice the IMA is promoted as a ‘peak body' in the martial arts industry. There has been some confusion in recent years, with some martial arts industry groups claiming to be ‘the' peak body, when in fact there are many recognised peak bodies. Can you briefly explain what a peak body is and how the IMA fits this tag?
There are some individuals and groups that feel that this tag should be exclusive to them because they don't want competition. Some feel that an association must be a National Sport Body (NSO) recognisted by the Australian Sports Commission to be a peak body, but you don't.
The main benefit of being an NSO is the access you have to government funding and we have never needed it because of the way we manage and invest funds. We do qualify to be a NSO and it is something we are considering purely to enable us to sponsor athletes from any style or school. I've seen superb athletes competing in the NAS and other mixed styled tournaments and I think that they should have every right to access government sponsorship along with swimmers and cyclists.
With an industry as diverse as martial arts we can't say that any one individual or association is ‘the' peak body. From the IMA's point of view, we didn't just decide to start calling ourselves a “peak body”. It has been a term that government, corporations and other groups have used to describe us, for a long time, because of the things we do.
We examined a university study that defines a “peak body” (the document can be viewed on our website) and decided that the term was an acceptable label for the functions we perform :
•Serve industry needs through active consultation;
•Provide extensive services and products to industry;
•Contribute to education and provide support and direction;
•Provide a strong and united voice for the industry on state and national levels;
•Generate and maintain a position of trust, confidence and respect in the industry;
•Facilitate the availability of nationally recognised training;
•Lobby and work with local and national levels of government;
•Liaise with corporations – insurance companies;
•Work to promote/expand and project the industry's profile;
•Become a reference point through industry expertise and knowledge;
•Represent a substantial portion of the industry (large membership base);
•May be a private company, government dept or a non profit association;
•Governance should be transparent, with regular open industry-wide meetings.
6. What are the biggest issues facing martial arts instructors and school owners, in your opinion, and what services does the IMA have in place to assist with these?
I make it a point to try and answer the phone and read my emails personally so I can keep my finger on the pulse. By communicating with around 1500 instructors each month I feel confident I can answer your question accurately. These are the top four issues facing instructors and school owners:
A. Lack of information on changing legislation relating to martial arts. Many instructors are looking over their shoulder for fear of the government preventing them from teaching. It's not an unwarranted fear either. There are a lot of people who are not being approved for the Working with Children check. We feel it is our job to inform as many instructors as possible about changes in government policies and help them work within the law.
B & C. Appropriate qualifications & insurance. More instructors are being asked by consumers and venue hirers if they are appropriately qualified and possess insurance. The fact is many instructors, from a legal standpoint, don't have suitable qualifications to teach martial arts and as a result find its hard to obtain insurance at affordable rates. The IMA helps instructors “up-skill” their qualifications and notifies them whenever there are changes to legislation that they need to address.
D. Finding a working model for a successful school or association. Instructors want to know the best method of recruiting and retaining more students. The truth is there is no single method and what works for one school may not necessarily work for another. We recruit consultants and successful school owners to share their business models on our seminars. If an instructor can't attend the seminar we will still send them out materials so that they can continue to learn and be exposed to new ideas. I meet a lot of instructors that have years of martial arts experience and high level skills but are still unsure as to how to run their school as a business. This is where we can help. The IMA is about sharing the knowledge martial artists need to succeed in all aspects of their art.
7. This month, the government's ‘Working With Children' check system will come into force. How will that affect instructors and what involvement, if any, will the IMA have in helping roll out this legislation?
The legislation is quite clear. Any instructors paid or unpaid, coaching anyone deemed to be a child (under 18 years of age) without a WWC would be breaking the law. The IMA has been approached by the Justice Department to help inform as many instructors as possible. Our role has been to arrange industry meetings, circulate material to the members and associates on our database and post the forms and information on our website. The next big issue will be weapons licensing and how it restricts instructors from teaching their curriculum. It is an issue that is a major concern for over 50% of all martial arts schools in Australia and I want to make sure that the martial arts community understands the legislation and how they can work within it or work to change it.
IMA - International Martial Arts Alliance division of Martial Arts Australia - MAA
