The American Judo Development Model’s (AJDM) Foundational Task Force (FTF) wanted to establish a baseline of what commonalities make a successful Judo Club so they can identify and replicate those traits to help fulfill one of the American Judo Alliance’s (USA Judo, USJA and USJF) goals.

A process was developed to go to dojos directly to help define aspects of success. A general survey was conducted where 14 dojos responded to a high level survey and a group of 8 were willing to do an in-depth survey While some of the survey findings and characteristics of a successful club seem elementary, what differentiates a successful club from others is its commitment to implementation, intentional observation and continual improvement of the club and its students, were insightful.

It was found that characteristics of a successful clubs are unique to their individual circumstances including purpose, location, business model, longevity, reputation etc. However, the repeated characteristics of the successful clubs interviewed revealed the following formula:

• Respect & Recreation = Returning members


• Returning members + Reaffirmation = Retention


• Retention = Reputation


• Reputation = longevity, legacy and Referrals/Replacement (new membership)


• All these Rs = ROI/Revenue


• What “R” you doing to retain and grow membership in your dojo?

If you would like to review an Executive Summary and Analysis or the Compiled In-depth Survey Results, please contact AmericanJudoDM@gmail.com.

As the AJDM continues to grow please watch for courses that address how to implement many of these successful traits and characteristics at your dojo. Please send question comments, and/or ideas to AmericanJudoDM@gmail.com.