Today we’d like to introduce you to Randall Koch.
In 1990, Koch Martial Arts started as a traditional Taekwondo school for children and adults in Newport, Oregon. Over the years KMA expanded to three locations on the central Oregon Coast and offered a variety of programs including Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Krav Maga, Kickboxing, Mixed Martial Arts and pre-school aged classes.
In 2009, Koch Martial Arts sold its schools in Oregon and relocated to Pompano Beach aiming to live in an area with warmer weather and more people for the new Krav Maga Worldwide™ Official Training Center that specializes in reality-based self-defense training for adults.
Randall experienced his first Krav Maga training when attending an 8 hour seminar taught by Krav Maga Worldwide™ chief instructor Darren Levine and lead instructor John Whitman in Seattle, Washington in 1999. He was so impressed with the effectiveness of the system that he wanted to learn more but there were no Krav Maga schools where he lived in Oregon. So he decided to purchase the entire Krav Maga Worldwide™ instructional video set and learn as much as possible on his own. He integrated the techniques into his current martial arts training as well as cross-training for the martial arts students he taught. The feedback from his students in regards to the Krav Maga techniques was overwhelmingly positive!
In 2001, he became a Krav Maga Worldwide™ licensee. That year he completed and passed his first level of instructor training in Jacksonville, Florida and has taught Krav Maga classes ever since. He has continued to train through the higher levels of instructor training at various locations throughout the country, including the Krav Maga Worldwide™ National Training Center in Los Angeles, California. He is currently qualified to teach Levels 1 through 5 of the Krav Maga Worldwide™ curriculum.
Has it been a smooth road?
I started teaching Taekwondo to children part time as an assistant instructor when I was 14 years old. I found teaching children was very challenging at first. At the time, I did not know a lot of teaching skills. Being young, the children did not respect my authority and did not always follow my instructions. At this time, I was skeptical about becoming a martial arts instructor as a career choice.
However, things changed. A little before my 18th birthday, I completed the requirements to become a certified instructor through the American Taekwondo Association. This certification process showed me how to become an effective instructor, especially when teaching children. By learning how to organize a class and use effective teaching skills, the classes I taught became much easier to run. The children enjoyed learning more because the classes were more fun and exciting. The parents became happier seeing how more organized and structured the classes and curriculum were.
This is when I knew I wanted to teach and run a martial arts school for a living! I started managing the Taekwondo school and teaching all the classes while I was still a senior in high school. Eventually, I became the owner of the school.
But being young, I had very little business experience and it became a struggle to meet my expenses each month. I was happy to just break even. I spent the first couple of years sleeping at my martial arts school and struggling to make a living. I realized I had to spend the same amount of time towards learning business skills that I devoted to my martial arts and teaching skills. So I put in the work. I read many self-improvement and business books. I attended martial arts industry business seminars all over the country. It didn’t happen overnight, but each year my martial arts school student count grew and my business became more profitable.
By the time I was 25 years old, I expanded to three martial arts schools and had a staff of five employees. You would think I was finally successful! However, the problem was I was now overworked, stressed out, and unhappy. I was working 60-80 hours a week. I had little time for my own martial arts training. I had little time for my personal life.
I was also unhappy with the lack of effectiveness of the Taekwondo that I was teaching, and traditional martial arts in general. The training did not prepare a student to be able to defend themselves in a real attack or self-defense situation. I realized the limitations of Taekwondo at an early age, and I at least cross trained in other styles such as Karate and Kickboxing to try and improve my own skill set. When the UFC first came out in 1993, after that, any opportunity I had to learn Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, I would. But back then, finding good instructors in this style was difficult. I had to order VHS instructional tapes and learn as best I could off of them. I started integrating more effective techniques in my classes, as well as for my own personal training.
The problem was when I taught children, the majority of parents didn’t care that I wanted to teach their kids more effective techniques so they could really defend themselves. It also bothered me that I was a national class Taekwondo competitor at the time but a lot of kids, and their parents, didn’t really care about learning proper martial arts technique. All they seemed to care about was when they would get their next rank belt, whether they truly deserved it or now. I was frustrated that I could perform and teach Taekwondo at a very high level, as well as integrate more effective techniques for self-defense… but only a small percentage of my students and their parents seemed to care. I even had some parents comment “I don’t want my child to learn how to fight”. In my mind I was thinking “What the hell do you think martial arts techniques are for? It does have the word ‘martial’ in there for a reason!”
I realized I needed to change what I taught, and who I taught. When I moved to Florida in 2009, I decided to eliminate every aspect of running a martial arts school that I didn’t like, and keep the rest. So I decided to teach Krav Maga as my primary system, and integrate other effective techniques from Mixed Martial Arts based styles, to teens and adults only. I won’t teach anything anymore that I don’t think will work in a real self-defense situation.
I found adults appreciate learning techniques that actually work in a self-defense situation a lot more than children and their parents. Children just want to earn belts and have fun. Parents just want “another activity” for their kids. It bothered me that I had devoted 20 plus years of training and competing in Taekwondo at a high level but I was looked at not much different than a kid’s volunteer soccer coach who never played a soccer game a day in their life. 20 plus years’ experience vs. volunteer coach who learned the game through a book. I never thought that was fair.
I’m truly thankful for the 1,000 plus children I taught earlier in my teaching career. I wouldn’t be nearly as good of an instructor without that experience. But now, I’m thankful to only teach students who truly appreciate and understand what they’re learning.
Some of the posters hanging up in our Krav Maga training center state “Improving and Saving Lives”. I truly believe I’m helping students become more physically fit, confident, and safe. I didn’t get that feeling before when teaching traditional martial arts primarily to children. I truly believe in what I do now for a living. I truly believe that I’m helping my students become better people. Now that I’m in my 40s, believing in what I do for a living is much more important than how much money I make.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Krav Maga Worldwide™. Tell us more about the business.
Krav Maga is the official self-defense system of the Israeli Defense Forces. It offers you an easy-to-learn yet highly effective self-defense system that emphasizes instinctive movements, practical techniques and realistic training scenarios.
Whether you are big or small, male or female, young or old, you can use Krav Maga to protect yourself.
Our center offers separate Krav Maga classes for beginner, intermediate and advance students. This insures beginners are properly taught the fundamental techniques, while our more experienced students can continually progress through the system. We are one of the few Krav Maga facilities in Florida qualified to teach Levels 1 through 5 and the Apprentice Instructor Program of the Krav Maga Worldwide™ curriculum. In addition, we have classes for our Fitness/Conditioning and Fight Programs.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
I see Krav Maga becoming more mainstream. If you were to ask the majority of people in South Florida if they know what Krav Maga is, the answer would be “no”. More people in South Florida will become aware of what Krav Maga is over the next 5-10 years.
Contact Info:
- Address: Krav Maga Worldwide™ Official Training Center
1401 S Dixie Hwy E, Ste 5E
Pompano Beach, Florida 33060 - Website: www.KravMagaTraining.com
- Phone: 954-957-KRAV (5728)
- Email: info@KravMagaTraining.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KravMagaTraining/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/kravmagaschool
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/user/KravMagaOnline
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