Martial Arts Summer Camps - 3 Reasons To Run Them

Summer is poised to be another massively profitable season for businesses and organizations hosting camps for kids, including martial arts summer camps. As video games, social media and endless streaming options lure kids in, parents are eager to get kids away from screens and keep their minds and bodies active during the summer months. 

And with that strong demand comes an equally strong opportunity for martial arts schools to maintain and grow their business by running their own summer day camps. According to the Sports and Fitness Industry Association, over 5 million kids participate in sports camps each year.

Still on the fence? Read on and we’ll explain why organizing camps can help your school in 3 key areas: Cash Flow, Retention, and Prospecting.

CASH FLOW

Prior to Covid-19, the market size of the summer camp sector was increasing rapidly, growing from $2.91 billion in 2011 to $3.91 billion in 2019, according to IBISWorld. You read that right – ONE BILLION dollars of growth in less than a decade. 

While summer camps took an inevitable hit in 2020, they bounced back slightly in 2021. And in 2022, CNN Business noted that summer camp demand heavily outweighed supply due to numerous camps closing permanently during Covid-19. Existing camps are often out of space, with people waitlisted in hopes of getting in.

With this high demand also comes a willingness to spend money to keep kids active during the summer. According to the American Camp Association, the average cost of summer camp in the United States is around $87 per day. 

So let’s put this simply: parents with money to spend, scrambling to find summer activities for their kids and get them out of the house, are desperate for options. There’s no better opportunity to maintain your business’ cash flow through the summer months than to meet this very real and pressing need for day camps. 

 

RETENTION

Summer can be a scary time for a martial arts business owner – between family vacations, sports and other activities, there’s an increased risk of attrition with students who are being pulled in many directions and away from your school. But instead of potentially losing them to other programs, why not step up and position yourself AS the place for them to spend their summer days? 

Consider proactive outreach to your students and their parents – whether you’re directly prompting them to sign up for a camp program you’ve already created, or even sending them a survey to find out what they’d most like to see from a martial arts summer camp. 

And of course, Kicksite’s communication and marketing tools can help you accomplish this. Once your camp program details are nailed down, create an Event or a lead capture form and landing page or for signups, then blast it out to your students via email and text, all within your Kicksite software. 

This personal effort will resonate with parents and can ultimately reduce student dropoff by giving them the opportunity to continue training through the summer and into the next school year. 

 

PROSPECTING

Current student retention is an obvious benefit of running a martial arts summer camp program, but we’d be remiss not to mention the huge opportunity to bring new students into your school as well.

As noted, many of the summer camps that parents relied on in the past are at capacity due to fewer options available. Who’s to say that a kid originally interested in soccer camp couldn’t have an equally good time trying their hand (and feet) at Taekwondo? And let’s be realistic: the benefits of balance, strength, focus and discipline developed through martial arts can translate to a variety of other sports or physical activities that a student participates in.

Kicksite makes prospecting super easy. Once your summer camp sign-up landing page has been created, you can share it far beyond your current customer base. Drop the link into social media posts, create a QR code to go on signage, submit to national online camp directories, or share with media outlets in your city that provide summer camp listings to local parents. 

Are you ready to jump in and start planning your very own summer camp? With the help of Nick Mitria of Pure BJJ we’ve collected the best practices and recommendations for running a summer camp in this Summertime Success Webinar. But that’s not all, we also compiled all the highlights in a handy guide for you. Click the image below to download a guide to summer camp planning: