September 30, 2025 • 35 mins
Our most important Podcast yet...
In this week's episode of Black Belt Banter, hosts Master Jimmy Hong and Master Chan dive into the critical risks facing martial arts school owners and the importance of specialized insurance coverage. They're joined by Mrs. Beth Block from Block Insurance, who brings over 30 years of expertise in protecting martial arts schools, childcare centers, and private and charter schools. The episode covers the essential policies to keep children safe, the rule of three, social media guidelines, and the importance of defensive insurance coverage. Tune in to learn how to safeguard your martial arts school and protect your students, staff, and reputation.
Block Insurance – Providing specialized coverage for martial arts studios nationwide, with over 30 years of expertise in protecting what matters most.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
In this week's episode, we tackle the critical
risks facing martial arts schoolowners and why securing
specialized insurance coveragecan't wait another day.
Welcome to Black Belt Banterthe best podcast to help your
martial arts school increase inprofits and generate substantial
revenue.
(00:21):
I'm Jimmy Hong and my co-hostis Master Chonley.
Today we're joined by Mrs BethBlock, a true veteran in the
world of specialized insurance.
For over 30 years, beth and herteam at Block Insurance has
been protecting martial artsschools, child care centers and
private and charter schoolsacross the United States.
(00:42):
She's built her reputation ondeep industry expertise, clear
communication and charterschools across the United States
.
She's built her reputation ondeep industry expertise, clear
communication and a commitmentto making sure business owners
understand exactly how tosafeguard what they've worked so
hard to build.
In this episode, mrs Bethshares her insight on the unique
risks martial arts schoolowners face and why having
(01:03):
specialized coverage isn't justsmart, it's essential.
Mrs Block, master Chun-Li,welcome to the show.
It's a critically importantshow.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Master Lee, I'm going to just hand it over to you, I
think this is one of the mostimportant podcasts we've ever
done and I'm so happy that wehave Mrs Beth Block here.
I want to talk about somethingthat is probably not the most
pleasant thing to talk about,and it's essentially this we all
work with kids and since wework with kids, there is a
(01:36):
unique risk to working withchildren, and there's a thing
that we need to do as leaders inthe martial art industry is
that we have to keep thechildren safe, and because we
work with kids, we're going tonaturally attract people that
like to do harm with kids andit's not a pleasant idea and
it's one of these things.
We have to have the rightpolicies and the procedures in
(01:58):
doing that, and it's not justfor the martial art industry,
it's for anything like USAGymnastics had a huge issue with
underage kids.
Usa Swimming soccer, theCatholic Church you know to be
blind to the fact that us asmartial arts school owners, that
we are blind or ignorant aboutthe possibility of this possibly
(02:19):
happening in our ownorganizations, is asinine.
It's important that we have theright policies and procedures
for our students and keepingthem safe.
So without I know I hit hard alittle bit in the beginning and
everybody's delete.
I'm done listening, but youknow what are some things that
martial arts schools should have.
Mrs Block for something thatshould keep the kids safe and
(02:43):
policies within their schools.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
There is a whole host of answers to that're not
inside the studio.
That means you need policiesand procedures in place that
make it completely clear, placethat make it completely clear.
There are no relationships ofany sort outside the dojang with
a student, ideally with anystudent, but absolutely any
(03:36):
student under the age of 18.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
And that's a great.
That's a great point, mrsBlock'm sure Master Chan-Li can
attest to this is making surenot just your staff but your
leadership team, all of thatthey have no social media
connections.
Invite of these kids to theirown personal account.
Make sure that is that correct,mrs Block.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
That is absolutely correct.
Your leadership team becomes anissue because frequently those
teenagers have relationshipswith teen students inside school
, and so you need to developpolicies that address that as
well, because inside your studiothe leadership team has a
(04:28):
position of authority that youcannot afford to have carry over
into their relationship inschool.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
And that's another strong point, and we forget this
.
As business owners, they dohave position of authority,
position of power, because thesestudents look up to these black
belts and leaders and weempower them.
And I'm not just talking aboutyour head instructor, I'm
talking about how you'retraining your leadership team,
(05:03):
from teenagers on, even toadults.
They're part of the leadershipteam and we forget that the rest
of the school we empower theleadership team as the master
instructor and we forget thatthe rest of school sees them as
an authority figure as well, andthat's one of the part that the
point that you're makingAbsolutely, mrs Block authority
(05:23):
figure as well, and that's oneof the part that the point that
you're making absolutely, mrsBlock.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
So making sure having a policy the communication
policy, I think is veryimportant that they're not
allowed to contact students fromtheir devices to talk to them
or have a social communicationswith them, and it's one of these
things you've got to be sternon, because the only reason they
met that student is throughyour organization.
(05:46):
So you have to be in control ofthat and controlling of all
that data that they're notallowed to like give out phone
numbers to other people orconnect with them.
They can connect to themthrough if you have a group meet
among the staff.
That's one of the channels thatwe use if they want to talk
amongst the staff.
But having, you know, a19-year-old staff member contact
(06:09):
a 15-year-old staff member viaa personal text is a huge no-no.
It's one of those things thatyou should say that it's not
allowed to do.
It's one of these things thatyou want to make sure that they
are understanding.
That is one of the cardinalsins of your, of within your
organization.
That's something that'ssomething that shouldn't happen.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
It needs to be grounds for immediate
termination.
You need to have policies andprocedures that your entire
staff knows.
If they cross one of theselines, they are immediately
terminated, and this needs to beone of those lines.
Right?
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Mrs Block, so I don't know if you're aware, a lot of
the school owners they create aleadership team to groom or
train potential as potentialstaff members.
As they get rising ranks andlearn more experience, do they
need to be informed in policies,just like how you would train a
(07:14):
staff member and do that rightaway, or do you wait until they
become staff members?
What is your take?
Speaker 3 (07:20):
Right away Because again you've put them in a
position of authority.
The rest of the students lookup to them.
They have that power position.
They need to be trainedimmediately on the
responsibilities that go alongwith that.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
What are some of the examples that you feel that's
going to be important that welay out immediately and
consistently thereafter?
Speaker 3 (07:50):
So I'm not going to focus just on your leadership
team At this point.
It applies to everyone.
Leadership, whether they're ateenager or an adult.
Everyone needs to understandthat they are a professional.
They are somebody that thelower ranks are looking up to
(08:14):
and, as a result, theirrelationship can be
professionally friendly, but notfriends, and that's a very
important distinction.
You want instructors that aregoing to have a good working
relationship, that students aregoing to look up to, but it's
(08:36):
not 1970 anymore.
It's really not okay to go havedinner on the weekend with the
family of one of your students.
That just doesn't fly inAmerica.
Learning where those lines arelearning that if you have a
(08:56):
picture of a child that isunrelated to you on your phone,
you can end up going to prisonfor having done that, and so
making sure people know theirpersonal devices are not to be
used for taking pictures.
They're not to be used forcommunication.
(09:17):
You're using solely thestudio's communication channels
and devices.
People need to know that theyare responsible for a standard
of conduct outside the studio aswell as inside, because your
outside behavior impactssomebody's view of the studio.
(09:44):
If you have, on your socialmedia personal feed, opened
everybody a picture where you'rehalf dressed and half drunk.
That impacts people's view ofyou.
You need to be aware ofappropriate touch and you need
(10:04):
to have specific policies andprocedures on what's appropriate
touch and what isn'tappropriate.
If you leave me to, I'll keep.
Yeah, I know.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
I just want to talk about like social media real
quick, and what we've done inour own organization is that
they my instructors ask me wecan't friend our students.
I'm like, no, you can't unlessyou have a separate instructor
page and it's only martial artsstudents, right?
You shouldn't have a anotherpage for your personal page.
And then that was a policy thatwe made within our own
(10:40):
organization is that you have aprofessional page and then you
have a private page.
And here's the law ofunintended consequences.
We have people that are on theleft and we have people on the
right and, especially with thelast few elections, some of our
senior instructors had reallystrong opinions one way or the
other and I said, if you guysblast that, you're going to lose
(11:03):
50% of your credibility to ourstudents and then you're going
to be useless to us as anorganization.
So you need to make sure thatyou have a professional page,
that you do not talk about yourpersonal stuff, and it's
important that when you'refriending, you cannot friend
anybody under the age of 18.
Or if they friend you, youcan't do that under the age of
18.
But I highly, highly discouragethat they don't engage, right
(11:30):
and that you don't do that andit's an important part of them
developing that because you'regoing to lose credibility.
And in terms of the friend, thisis the biggest.
I know this is the biggestissue in every martial arts
school Be friendly, but don't bea friend.
And we want you to be friendlyto your students, having them
over at your house or you comingand going to their house and I
(11:51):
know in your mind you're like Ican do that.
Let's take that one stepfurther.
Are you comfortable with yourinstructors going to your
students' house?
If that answer is no, then youshouldn't be doing it either,
and it shouldn't happen becauseof the fact that you know you
being the owner of the school orthem being agents of the school
(12:11):
.
They represent your academy andif something happens, that puts
you in liability.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
Even if you're comfortable with them going.
Even if nothing ever happens,the door is open to accusations
and all it takes is anaccusation to potentially take
away everything you've workedfor and wipe out all the good
(12:39):
you've done in your community.
Why would you open the door toan accusation?
I'm going to back the truck upand talk about you telling your
instructors they can haveprofessional instructor pages If
they set those up themselves.
(13:01):
You have no access that theydon't give you.
You don't know who they'reprivate messaging with.
You don't know what they'resaying.
I'm sorry.
You've got to say no to privateinstructor pages.
You need to have control.
(13:21):
If you want a school sponsoredpage for every instructor,
that's great, but you have thecontrol over it.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
Then it should just be that's the bottom line,
because I don't want to createmore work.
Is you shouldn't just?
You shouldn't friend yourstudents?
Speaker 1 (13:39):
period exactly so.
It's okay to have a publicschool page where all your staff
and instructors are there andeverybody can see as a public,
but just making sure thatthere's no private
communications, even on aofficial school page, is what
you're saying exactly and yeahit makes
Speaker 2 (14:01):
perfect sense.
I, you know.
I know of a incident thathappened at a school where two
teen instructors I think one waslike 15 and one was 17 and
whatever, and male, female and Ibelieve the 17-year-old asked
the 15-year-old if you show meyours, I'll show you yours or
mine, and sent a text of a nakedpicture of himself.
(14:23):
And then the other staff memberdid not do it, just thought it
was funny that she could baitsomeone to do it, and then
proceeded to show the otherstaff members that were also
underage.
And then that school ended uphaving an incident where there
were other kids now that wasconsidered child pornography,
that they were exposed to childporn, and it delved into this
(14:45):
huge issue and both kids couldhave gotten in incredible
trouble because of the fact that, you know, even though they
were minors, they weredistributing child porn.
That was the law they werebreaking, and so the school
owner dealt with it, dealt withall the parents.
It came to a peacefulresolution.
Both kids were let go in theorganization and now they
(15:08):
learned a valuable lesson.
And so I know we say it's kidsbeing kids and whatever, but you
just don't know.
And even though instructor hadnothing to do with it, it became
this like contentious issue.
So once again it goes back totraining and policies and making
sure that, hey, the only wayyou can communicate with one
another is through your, youknow, slack or GroupMe or
(15:31):
whatever channel you created,and that they shouldn't be
texting each other personallythrough other channels and
things like that, because itjust opens up another wall of
liability as you're trying tomitigate, kind of what is proper
and what's improper.
And I'm not saying that youhave bad people, I'm not saying
that.
What I'm saying is you have tohave policies to keep them safe,
(15:54):
right, because you may get onebad apple that ruins it for
everybody, and so you're justmaking sure that you keep that
in place with going on.
Another policy that I believeis super important is the rule
of three, oh, that you alwayshave a third person in the room
(16:23):
because you just don't know whatcan be accused.
I had a school owner that wasaccused of having a possible
affair with a mom and apparentlythe mom was having fantasies
about the instructor, but therewas no interaction.
Having fantasies about theinstructor, but there was no
(16:45):
interaction.
And the school has cameras.
Everything was recorded.
There was nothing that wasinappropriate and essentially it
was a person that was a littlebit off kilter and the husband
was upset.
It was just a hot mess.
But because he had backed it upand followed the rule of three
and this, like I said, theschool owner did nothing wrong.
It was just the fact that youhad someone that was emotionally
(17:08):
off or disturbed, that thatstarted having fantasies about
the instructor and then thehusband accused everybody of
things like that.
It's crazy.
I'm sure you've heard a lot ofcrazy stories that have gone on.
I can't even imagine some ofthe stories that you've heard
over the years.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
A lot of stories and I'll share one or two with you
in a minute.
I want to talk about the ruleof three.
Where I train, adult class isalways the last we finish at
about nine o'clock at none, andyou have teenagers in the class
(17:48):
that are too young to drive, butthe parents aren't waiting and
after class everybody chats alittle bit and heads out the
door.
I will always linger becausesometimes mom or dad is late
getting there to pick up thatteen that can't drive, and I
(18:10):
will not ever leave myinstructor alone in the studio
with someone under the age of 18.
18, I highly recommend thateveryone put in place a practice
or a procedure to make suretheir instructors don't end up
(18:31):
in that bad position.
Whether it's finding an adultstudent that's there that you
can ask to hang out, like I do,whatever it is, that's the
solution for the individualstudio.
You need to have a plan and youneed to practice that plan 100%
(18:51):
.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
I know from Master Chalene and myself.
We've been in the industry solong.
We've heard worst-casescenarios not only once but
multiple times throughout theyears, and that's from our
network of people not ourfriends, but who we known about
or known of, and that's notincluding news that we've caught
(19:17):
the wind of.
I know I've said this manytimes my 12-year-old boy is in
soccer and there was just anincident a few months ago in our
local region that all thecoaches know who was accused of
that, of the worst-case scenariowith a child, and it was such a
(19:38):
big headline.
But it's not just within themartial arts industry.
This is every industry thatinvolves youth sports or sports
youth.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
Every industry I serve involves youth and I've
been working with industriesthat serve youth for 38 years
now, holy moly, and over thatcourse of 38 years, I have seen
hundreds of broken bones andother physical injuries.
(20:13):
Unfortunately, I've seen morethan 100 cases of abuse and
molestation.
That's a lot.
Yes, sir, yes sir.
My mission is to keep thatnumber as low as I possibly can,
(20:33):
and if anybody walks away fromthis podcast inspired to put new
policies and procedures inplace, maybe I've saved another
child.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
And, once again, if you're working with kids, you're
going to naturally attractindividuals that want to do harm
to children, and it is your jobas an instructor and as a
person that works with childrenand having the right policies
and procedures that keeps thekids safe, and I can't stress to
you enough that it's critical.
(21:10):
The rule of three is one of thebiggest things that you can do.
I know one more terrible storyand, just to give everybody an
idea, I went through a trainingcalled Kid Safe and I did it
with the local police departmentand I took our instructors to
go.
And I did it with the localpolice department and I took our
instructors to go, and thepresenter was talking about how
a teacher that she worked withwas accused of something
(21:33):
inappropriate with a 12-year-oldand detectives were called.
He was dismissed.
All these things happened andafter a year and a half battle,
his reputation was druggedthrough the mud.
He got fired, he had to go to adifferent industry.
He was a school teacher and thekid, after a year and a half,
finally cracked and said yeah, Iaccused my teacher of
(21:57):
inappropriate relations becauseof the fact that he wouldn't let
me go on a field trip because Ididn't hand in my homework, and
so there's two sides of thiscoin I'm talking about is that
we also got to protect you.
You can't just be like, ah, youknow what, I'm a good guy.
That can't happen to me.
I have cameras in all my schoolsthat record all the
(22:19):
conversations in the cameras inthe offices and everywhere,
record all the conversations inthe cameras in the offices and
everywhere.
And so and we every year, everyJanuary, we go over our safety
protocols and procedures withall our staff and what we ask of
them, and it's super importantthat you do the same After this
podcast.
If you guys want to send MasterJimmy Hong an email, I'll be
(22:39):
happy to give you my safetypolicies and so forth.
I'm with you, mrs Block.
I want to keep our industrysafe, I want to keep the
instructors safe and, moreimportantly, I want to keep the
kids safe.
And, like I said, we're notaccusing you of anything.
It's just the fact that youhave to have policies for
everybody that is within yourorganization in terms of making
(23:00):
sure that nothing bad happens.
So I want to talk about thenext steps.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
I'm sorry.
Before we go to the next step,mrs Block, do you have policies
and documentations you can sharewith the school owners
available?
Speaker 2 (23:12):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
First of all.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
I'm offended that you have been have to ask that
because you're talking to theamazing Beth Block.
She doesn't have what it's likea manual man.
It's like it's the playbookthat you should just keep your
mouth shut when you like.
Do these things.
You know what I'm saying?
It's just ridiculous.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
I should keep my mouth shut on a podcast.
I will, we will.
We will include your contactinformation on our show notes
below or below our video andYouTube description box.
So please, the audience andlisteners, look for that below
for Mrs Block's contactinformation.
Contact her for your insuranceand she'll gladly forward you
(23:56):
the policies that we're talkingabout right now.
I'm sorry, Mrs Block, Go ahead.
Speaker 3 (24:00):
We'll forward them, even if you don't talk to me
about your insurance, I'll askyou about your insurance, but
I'll forward the policies andprocedures either way.
Can I tell one more story thatI think is really important?
And thank you so much fortalking about the teacher whose
(24:20):
life was ruined because therewas a kid that was upset, and
that happens all the time.
I also have to say three yearsago I think it was three or four
years ago I got shocked down tomy toenails, which is hard to
do with everything I've seenover the years.
(24:42):
It was a case in a martial artsstudio that there truly was an
adult molesting a child, a19-year-old and a 14-year-old.
It was the first time I eversaw a female be the molester,
(25:05):
and I think that there is I knowthere was for me.
I think there is at large thebelief that it's only the males
that you have to worry aboutbeing the molesters.
For decades that was true.
It is not now.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
I see news all the time now about these teachers in
middle school and high schoolthat are female teachers
molesting underage boys.
So to your testament, I don'tknow if we were just ignorant
back then or it's alwayshappened or it's happening more
frequently now, but I've noticedin the news cycle that's pretty
prevalent as well and that'ssomething that we need to really
consider.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
It has ramped up a lot over the last decade.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
Yeah, I think you make a great point.
I think it's not just to bemale female.
Speaker 3 (26:04):
Female male.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
It could be any of that.
At the end of the day, I thinka hint of paranoia in the world
of safety is completely okay,all right, and I think that's
okay.
To be ignorant and unaware andhaving this idea that it
couldn't happen to me isreckless.
It really is and I just like Isaid, I know this is not a very
(26:26):
pleasant podcast to be a part of, but I think it's an important
message that all people need tounderstand, because we have to
have the proper policies andprocedures to make sure that we
follow and, like I said, if itcan happen to the Boy Scouts of
America and USA Gymnastics,right, then it can happen at our
(26:47):
schools.
So we've got to make sure we dothat.
So I want to ask you to thenext question is what does most
policies in the martial artindustry?
They have coverage for thevictims and they have coverage
to also keep the school safe.
How does that work?
Can you just give us a roughkind of idea of what that is
like?
Speaker 3 (27:04):
safe or how does that work?
Can you just give us a roughkind of idea of what that is
like?
Absolutely.
(27:25):
There is a variety of coverageoffered and so I'm going to
start with in my.
I work with about 575 martialarts studios across America and
of that group, half of them donot have any abuse coverage
because they don't want to payfor it.
So just in my little subset,half of the studios are
uninsured period no-transcriptOf the half that have coverage,
(27:56):
depending on the company they'rewith is how much coverage they
have.
Some companies, some insurancecompanies, include the defense,
the legal defense, in the limit.
It's included in the $100,000limit.
It's included in the $100,000limit.
I have a client right now whospent years being defended
(28:21):
quarter of a million dollars indefense.
That would have been exhaustedand they would have been on
their own.
There's a company I representthat offers million-dollar
limits and the defense is partof that million bucks.
But at that, even with aquarter of a million in defense,
(28:44):
there would have been $7.50left to pay a judgment.
If there had been a judgment,if something had really happened
, the insurance company would beinking the check from the
get-go.
The company that offers themillion bucks is the most
expensive company out there foreverything, including abuse.
(29:05):
The third company I representoffers a hundred grand of
coverage but unlimited defenseof coverage, but unlimited
defense.
In my opinion, the defense isthe most vital part of an abuse
coverage because if you'reputting all these policies and
(29:26):
procedures in place, if peoplehave adequate training and they
can prove all of that, they dothe background checks and have
those in file, then they aren'tnegligent.
What they really need is thedefense.
So it's all over the place inthe industry on what the
(29:51):
coverage is and there's a wholelot of people in the martial
arts industry that believe allinsurance coverage is the same,
whether we're talking aboutabuse or anything else, and the
bottom line is it's not all thesame.
If you don't take the time anddon't have somebody educate you
(30:13):
on the differences, you find outwhen it's too late, when
something's happened.
Speaker 1 (30:20):
That's fascinating that your recommendation is
making sure that your policycovers your defense costs,
because those lawyer fees, Imean that's, and these things
could go for years.
I know a school owner who'sbeen doing it since, who's been
(30:41):
defending his name since beforestart of COVID that's five years
ago and it's so, talking withthem, the defense cost is so big
that I don't know how he did it.
I still don't know how he didit.
But that's fascinating thatyour recommendation is the
(31:01):
defense cost over the insurancecost.
Speaker 2 (31:05):
This is when the stuff hits the fan.
Then you start looking at it.
But you got to be proactive.
My house got flooded nine yearsago and I went, oh yeah, I'm
sure we have flood insurance,whatever.
And the adjuster calls me andgoes where did the water come
from?
I'm like what?
Did it come through the windowor in the basement window or
whatever?
I said no, it came through oursump pump field.
And he goes oh, you don't havesump pump insurance.
(31:27):
I go, no, it still got flooded.
No, but the water, what?
That was like a $30,000 issue.
I had to pay $30,000 to redo mybasement and I just sat there.
If I just would have paid anextra like 75 bucks a month,
this would all have been coveredor whatever.
Or get a battery operatedbackup, whatever.
(31:50):
But that's a terrible example.
But it's one of those things.
You got to look at your stuff.
And two things herepreventative have the right
policies and procedures, keepthe kids safe, keep your
instructors safe, keep you safe,keep your assets safe, keep
your students safe, keep all thechildren safe.
That's like the biggest thing.
And the second thing is reviewyour coverage and so forth.
(32:11):
Mrs Block, I just want to thankyou for coming on this podcast.
If you don't mind coming onagain and maybe talking about
some training that every schoolowner could do, that you were
talking about before, would yoube willing to do that, ma'am?
Speaker 1 (32:27):
I would love to, and I'll have a set of headphones
next time, oh, but also evenbefore that, you're going to be
joining us at the ASA Summitthis next month in October 3rd
and 4th, and everybody, audience, everybody please go to Mrs
Block, discuss this.
If you have more questions onthis or any other questions
regarding protecting yourbusiness and school, let's call
(32:51):
it a day there.
I know that was a heavy subject, but we just felt it was so
important to discuss there.
I know that was a heavy subject, but we just felt it was so
important to discuss.
A big thank you to Mrs BethBlock from Block Insurance for
stepping onto the mat with ustoday.
Remember, in martial arts wetrain to protect ourselves, but
school owners need to protecttheir students, families
themselves and their reputationtoo.
(33:12):
This is Black Belt Bantersigning off and we look forward
to talking with you next time.
Thank you, mrs block.
Master chonley, a big thank youas well.
We'll see everybody next time.
In this week's episode, we tackle the critical
risks facing martial arts schoolowners and why securing
specialized insurance coveragecan't wait another day.
Welcome to Black Belt Banterthe best podcast to help your
martial arts school increase inprofits and generate substantial
revenue.
(00:21):
I'm Jimmy Hong and my co-hostis Master Chonley.
Today we're joined by Mrs BethBlock, a true veteran in the
world of specialized insurance.
For over 30 years, beth and herteam at Block Insurance has
been protecting martial artsschools, child care centers and
private and charter schoolsacross the United States.
(00:42):
She's built her reputation ondeep industry expertise, clear
communication and charterschools across the United States
.
She's built her reputation ondeep industry expertise, clear
communication and a commitmentto making sure business owners
understand exactly how tosafeguard what they've worked so
hard to build.
In this episode, mrs Bethshares her insight on the unique
risks martial arts schoolowners face and why having
(01:03):
specialized coverage isn't justsmart, it's essential.
Mrs Block, master Chun-Li,welcome to the show.
It's a critically importantshow.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Master Lee, I'm going to just hand it over to you, I
think this is one of the mostimportant podcasts we've ever
done and I'm so happy that wehave Mrs Beth Block here.
I want to talk about somethingthat is probably not the most
pleasant thing to talk about,and it's essentially this we all
work with kids and since wework with kids, there is a
(01:36):
unique risk to working withchildren, and there's a thing
that we need to do as leaders inthe martial art industry is
that we have to keep thechildren safe, and because we
work with kids, we're going tonaturally attract people that
like to do harm with kids andit's not a pleasant idea and
it's one of these things.
We have to have the rightpolicies and the procedures in
(01:58):
doing that, and it's not justfor the martial art industry,
it's for anything like USAGymnastics had a huge issue with
underage kids.
Usa Swimming soccer, theCatholic Church you know to be
blind to the fact that us asmartial arts school owners, that
we are blind or ignorant aboutthe possibility of this possibly
(02:19):
happening in our ownorganizations, is asinine.
It's important that we have theright policies and procedures
for our students and keepingthem safe.
So without I know I hit hard alittle bit in the beginning and
everybody's delete.
I'm done listening, but youknow what are some things that
martial arts schools should have.
Mrs Block for something thatshould keep the kids safe and
(02:43):
policies within their schools.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
There is a whole host of answers to that're not
inside the studio.
That means you need policiesand procedures in place that
make it completely clear, placethat make it completely clear.
There are no relationships ofany sort outside the dojang with
a student, ideally with anystudent, but absolutely any
(03:36):
student under the age of 18.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
And that's a great.
That's a great point, mrsBlock'm sure Master Chan-Li can
attest to this is making surenot just your staff but your
leadership team, all of thatthey have no social media
connections.
Invite of these kids to theirown personal account.
Make sure that is that correct,mrs Block.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
That is absolutely correct.
Your leadership team becomes anissue because frequently those
teenagers have relationshipswith teen students inside school
, and so you need to developpolicies that address that as
well, because inside your studiothe leadership team has a
(04:28):
position of authority that youcannot afford to have carry over
into their relationship inschool.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
And that's another strong point, and we forget this
.
As business owners, they dohave position of authority,
position of power, because thesestudents look up to these black
belts and leaders and weempower them.
And I'm not just talking aboutyour head instructor, I'm
talking about how you'retraining your leadership team,
(05:03):
from teenagers on, even toadults.
They're part of the leadershipteam and we forget that the rest
of the school we empower theleadership team as the master
instructor and we forget thatthe rest of school sees them as
an authority figure as well, andthat's one of the part that the
point that you're makingAbsolutely, mrs Block authority
(05:23):
figure as well, and that's oneof the part that the point that
you're making absolutely, mrsBlock.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
So making sure having a policy the communication
policy, I think is veryimportant that they're not
allowed to contact students fromtheir devices to talk to them
or have a social communicationswith them, and it's one of these
things you've got to be sternon, because the only reason they
met that student is throughyour organization.
(05:46):
So you have to be in control ofthat and controlling of all
that data that they're notallowed to like give out phone
numbers to other people orconnect with them.
They can connect to themthrough if you have a group meet
among the staff.
That's one of the channels thatwe use if they want to talk
amongst the staff.
But having, you know, a19-year-old staff member contact
(06:09):
a 15-year-old staff member viaa personal text is a huge no-no.
It's one of those things thatyou should say that it's not
allowed to do.
It's one of these things thatyou want to make sure that they
are understanding.
That is one of the cardinalsins of your, of within your
organization.
That's something that'ssomething that shouldn't happen.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
It needs to be grounds for immediate
termination.
You need to have policies andprocedures that your entire
staff knows.
If they cross one of theselines, they are immediately
terminated, and this needs to beone of those lines.
Right?
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Mrs Block, so I don't know if you're aware, a lot of
the school owners they create aleadership team to groom or
train potential as potentialstaff members.
As they get rising ranks andlearn more experience, do they
need to be informed in policies,just like how you would train a
(07:14):
staff member and do that rightaway, or do you wait until they
become staff members?
What is your take?
Speaker 3 (07:20):
Right away Because again you've put them in a
position of authority.
The rest of the students lookup to them.
They have that power position.
They need to be trainedimmediately on the
responsibilities that go alongwith that.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
What are some of the examples that you feel that's
going to be important that welay out immediately and
consistently thereafter?
Speaker 3 (07:50):
So I'm not going to focus just on your leadership
team At this point.
It applies to everyone.
Leadership, whether they're ateenager or an adult.
Everyone needs to understandthat they are a professional.
They are somebody that thelower ranks are looking up to
(08:14):
and, as a result, theirrelationship can be
professionally friendly, but notfriends, and that's a very
important distinction.
You want instructors that aregoing to have a good working
relationship, that students aregoing to look up to, but it's
(08:36):
not 1970 anymore.
It's really not okay to go havedinner on the weekend with the
family of one of your students.
That just doesn't fly inAmerica.
Learning where those lines arelearning that if you have a
(08:56):
picture of a child that isunrelated to you on your phone,
you can end up going to prisonfor having done that, and so
making sure people know theirpersonal devices are not to be
used for taking pictures.
They're not to be used forcommunication.
(09:17):
You're using solely thestudio's communication channels
and devices.
People need to know that theyare responsible for a standard
of conduct outside the studio aswell as inside, because your
outside behavior impactssomebody's view of the studio.
(09:44):
If you have, on your socialmedia personal feed, opened
everybody a picture where you'rehalf dressed and half drunk.
That impacts people's view ofyou.
You need to be aware ofappropriate touch and you need
(10:04):
to have specific policies andprocedures on what's appropriate
touch and what isn'tappropriate.
If you leave me to, I'll keep.
Yeah, I know.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
I just want to talk about like social media real
quick, and what we've done inour own organization is that
they my instructors ask me wecan't friend our students.
I'm like, no, you can't unlessyou have a separate instructor
page and it's only martial artsstudents, right?
You shouldn't have a anotherpage for your personal page.
And then that was a policy thatwe made within our own
(10:40):
organization is that you have aprofessional page and then you
have a private page.
And here's the law ofunintended consequences.
We have people that are on theleft and we have people on the
right and, especially with thelast few elections, some of our
senior instructors had reallystrong opinions one way or the
other and I said, if you guysblast that, you're going to lose
(11:03):
50% of your credibility to ourstudents and then you're going
to be useless to us as anorganization.
So you need to make sure thatyou have a professional page,
that you do not talk about yourpersonal stuff, and it's
important that when you'refriending, you cannot friend
anybody under the age of 18.
Or if they friend you, youcan't do that under the age of
18.
But I highly, highly discouragethat they don't engage, right
(11:30):
and that you don't do that andit's an important part of them
developing that because you'regoing to lose credibility.
And in terms of the friend, thisis the biggest.
I know this is the biggestissue in every martial arts
school Be friendly, but don't bea friend.
And we want you to be friendlyto your students, having them
over at your house or you comingand going to their house and I
(11:51):
know in your mind you're like Ican do that.
Let's take that one stepfurther.
Are you comfortable with yourinstructors going to your
students' house?
If that answer is no, then youshouldn't be doing it either,
and it shouldn't happen becauseof the fact that you know you
being the owner of the school orthem being agents of the school
(12:11):
.
They represent your academy andif something happens, that puts
you in liability.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
Even if you're comfortable with them going.
Even if nothing ever happens,the door is open to accusations
and all it takes is anaccusation to potentially take
away everything you've workedfor and wipe out all the good
(12:39):
you've done in your community.
Why would you open the door toan accusation?
I'm going to back the truck upand talk about you telling your
instructors they can haveprofessional instructor pages If
they set those up themselves.
(13:01):
You have no access that theydon't give you.
You don't know who they'reprivate messaging with.
You don't know what they'resaying.
I'm sorry.
You've got to say no to privateinstructor pages.
You need to have control.
(13:21):
If you want a school sponsoredpage for every instructor,
that's great, but you have thecontrol over it.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
Then it should just be that's the bottom line,
because I don't want to createmore work.
Is you shouldn't just?
You shouldn't friend yourstudents?
Speaker 1 (13:39):
period exactly so.
It's okay to have a publicschool page where all your staff
and instructors are there andeverybody can see as a public,
but just making sure thatthere's no private
communications, even on aofficial school page, is what
you're saying exactly and yeahit makes
Speaker 2 (14:01):
perfect sense.
I, you know.
I know of a incident thathappened at a school where two
teen instructors I think one waslike 15 and one was 17 and
whatever, and male, female and Ibelieve the 17-year-old asked
the 15-year-old if you show meyours, I'll show you yours or
mine, and sent a text of a nakedpicture of himself.
(14:23):
And then the other staff memberdid not do it, just thought it
was funny that she could baitsomeone to do it, and then
proceeded to show the otherstaff members that were also
underage.
And then that school ended uphaving an incident where there
were other kids now that wasconsidered child pornography,
that they were exposed to childporn, and it delved into this
(14:45):
huge issue and both kids couldhave gotten in incredible
trouble because of the fact that, you know, even though they
were minors, they weredistributing child porn.
That was the law they werebreaking, and so the school
owner dealt with it, dealt withall the parents.
It came to a peacefulresolution.
Both kids were let go in theorganization and now they
(15:08):
learned a valuable lesson.
And so I know we say it's kidsbeing kids and whatever, but you
just don't know.
And even though instructor hadnothing to do with it, it became
this like contentious issue.
So once again it goes back totraining and policies and making
sure that, hey, the only wayyou can communicate with one
another is through your, youknow, slack or GroupMe or
(15:31):
whatever channel you created,and that they shouldn't be
texting each other personallythrough other channels and
things like that, because itjust opens up another wall of
liability as you're trying tomitigate, kind of what is proper
and what's improper.
And I'm not saying that youhave bad people, I'm not saying
that.
What I'm saying is you have tohave policies to keep them safe,
(15:54):
right, because you may get onebad apple that ruins it for
everybody, and so you're justmaking sure that you keep that
in place with going on.
Another policy that I believeis super important is the rule
of three, oh, that you alwayshave a third person in the room
(16:23):
because you just don't know whatcan be accused.
I had a school owner that wasaccused of having a possible
affair with a mom and apparentlythe mom was having fantasies
about the instructor, but therewas no interaction.
Having fantasies about theinstructor, but there was no
(16:45):
interaction.
And the school has cameras.
Everything was recorded.
There was nothing that wasinappropriate and essentially it
was a person that was a littlebit off kilter and the husband
was upset.
It was just a hot mess.
But because he had backed it upand followed the rule of three
and this, like I said, theschool owner did nothing wrong.
It was just the fact that youhad someone that was emotionally
(17:08):
off or disturbed, that thatstarted having fantasies about
the instructor and then thehusband accused everybody of
things like that.
It's crazy.
I'm sure you've heard a lot ofcrazy stories that have gone on.
I can't even imagine some ofthe stories that you've heard
over the years.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
A lot of stories and I'll share one or two with you
in a minute.
I want to talk about the ruleof three.
Where I train, adult class isalways the last we finish at
about nine o'clock at none, andyou have teenagers in the class
(17:48):
that are too young to drive, butthe parents aren't waiting and
after class everybody chats alittle bit and heads out the
door.
I will always linger becausesometimes mom or dad is late
getting there to pick up thatteen that can't drive, and I
(18:10):
will not ever leave myinstructor alone in the studio
with someone under the age of 18.
18, I highly recommend thateveryone put in place a practice
or a procedure to make suretheir instructors don't end up
(18:31):
in that bad position.
Whether it's finding an adultstudent that's there that you
can ask to hang out, like I do,whatever it is, that's the
solution for the individualstudio.
You need to have a plan and youneed to practice that plan 100%
(18:51):
.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
I know from Master Chalene and myself.
We've been in the industry solong.
We've heard worst-casescenarios not only once but
multiple times throughout theyears, and that's from our
network of people not ourfriends, but who we known about
or known of, and that's notincluding news that we've caught
(19:17):
the wind of.
I know I've said this manytimes my 12-year-old boy is in
soccer and there was just anincident a few months ago in our
local region that all thecoaches know who was accused of
that, of the worst-case scenariowith a child, and it was such a
(19:38):
big headline.
But it's not just within themartial arts industry.
This is every industry thatinvolves youth sports or sports
youth.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
Every industry I serve involves youth and I've
been working with industriesthat serve youth for 38 years
now, holy moly, and over thatcourse of 38 years, I have seen
hundreds of broken bones andother physical injuries.
(20:13):
Unfortunately, I've seen morethan 100 cases of abuse and
molestation.
That's a lot.
Yes, sir, yes sir.
My mission is to keep thatnumber as low as I possibly can,
(20:33):
and if anybody walks away fromthis podcast inspired to put new
policies and procedures inplace, maybe I've saved another
child.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
And, once again, if you're working with kids, you're
going to naturally attractindividuals that want to do harm
to children, and it is your jobas an instructor and as a
person that works with childrenand having the right policies
and procedures that keeps thekids safe, and I can't stress to
you enough that it's critical.
(21:10):
The rule of three is one of thebiggest things that you can do.
I know one more terrible storyand, just to give everybody an
idea, I went through a trainingcalled Kid Safe and I did it
with the local police departmentand I took our instructors to
go.
And I did it with the localpolice department and I took our
instructors to go, and thepresenter was talking about how
a teacher that she worked withwas accused of something
(21:33):
inappropriate with a 12-year-oldand detectives were called.
He was dismissed.
All these things happened andafter a year and a half battle,
his reputation was druggedthrough the mud.
He got fired, he had to go to adifferent industry.
He was a school teacher and thekid, after a year and a half,
finally cracked and said yeah, Iaccused my teacher of
(21:57):
inappropriate relations becauseof the fact that he wouldn't let
me go on a field trip because Ididn't hand in my homework, and
so there's two sides of thiscoin I'm talking about is that
we also got to protect you.
You can't just be like, ah, youknow what, I'm a good guy.
That can't happen to me.
I have cameras in all my schoolsthat record all the
(22:19):
conversations in the cameras inthe offices and everywhere,
record all the conversations inthe cameras in the offices and
everywhere.
And so and we every year, everyJanuary, we go over our safety
protocols and procedures withall our staff and what we ask of
them, and it's super importantthat you do the same After this
podcast.
If you guys want to send MasterJimmy Hong an email, I'll be
(22:39):
happy to give you my safetypolicies and so forth.
I'm with you, mrs Block.
I want to keep our industrysafe, I want to keep the
instructors safe and, moreimportantly, I want to keep the
kids safe.
And, like I said, we're notaccusing you of anything.
It's just the fact that youhave to have policies for
everybody that is within yourorganization in terms of making
(23:00):
sure that nothing bad happens.
So I want to talk about thenext steps.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
I'm sorry.
Before we go to the next step,mrs Block, do you have policies
and documentations you can sharewith the school owners
available?
Speaker 2 (23:12):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
First of all.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
I'm offended that you have been have to ask that
because you're talking to theamazing Beth Block.
She doesn't have what it's likea manual man.
It's like it's the playbookthat you should just keep your
mouth shut when you like.
Do these things.
You know what I'm saying?
It's just ridiculous.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
I should keep my mouth shut on a podcast.
I will, we will.
We will include your contactinformation on our show notes
below or below our video andYouTube description box.
So please, the audience andlisteners, look for that below
for Mrs Block's contactinformation.
Contact her for your insuranceand she'll gladly forward you
(23:56):
the policies that we're talkingabout right now.
I'm sorry, Mrs Block, Go ahead.
Speaker 3 (24:00):
We'll forward them, even if you don't talk to me
about your insurance, I'll askyou about your insurance, but
I'll forward the policies andprocedures either way.
Can I tell one more story thatI think is really important?
And thank you so much fortalking about the teacher whose
(24:20):
life was ruined because therewas a kid that was upset, and
that happens all the time.
I also have to say three yearsago I think it was three or four
years ago I got shocked down tomy toenails, which is hard to
do with everything I've seenover the years.
(24:42):
It was a case in a martial artsstudio that there truly was an
adult molesting a child, a19-year-old and a 14-year-old.
It was the first time I eversaw a female be the molester,
(25:05):
and I think that there is I knowthere was for me.
I think there is at large thebelief that it's only the males
that you have to worry aboutbeing the molesters.
For decades that was true.
It is not now.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
I see news all the time now about these teachers in
middle school and high schoolthat are female teachers
molesting underage boys.
So to your testament, I don'tknow if we were just ignorant
back then or it's alwayshappened or it's happening more
frequently now, but I've noticedin the news cycle that's pretty
prevalent as well and that'ssomething that we need to really
consider.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
It has ramped up a lot over the last decade.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
Yeah, I think you make a great point.
I think it's not just to bemale female.
Speaker 3 (26:04):
Female male.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
It could be any of that.
At the end of the day, I thinka hint of paranoia in the world
of safety is completely okay,all right, and I think that's
okay.
To be ignorant and unaware andhaving this idea that it
couldn't happen to me isreckless.
It really is and I just like Isaid, I know this is not a very
(26:26):
pleasant podcast to be a part of, but I think it's an important
message that all people need tounderstand, because we have to
have the proper policies andprocedures to make sure that we
follow and, like I said, if itcan happen to the Boy Scouts of
America and USA Gymnastics,right, then it can happen at our
(26:47):
schools.
So we've got to make sure we dothat.
So I want to ask you to thenext question is what does most
policies in the martial artindustry?
They have coverage for thevictims and they have coverage
to also keep the school safe.
How does that work?
Can you just give us a roughkind of idea of what that is
like?
Speaker 3 (27:04):
safe or how does that work?
Can you just give us a roughkind of idea of what that is
like?
Absolutely.
(27:25):
There is a variety of coverageoffered and so I'm going to
start with in my.
I work with about 575 martialarts studios across America and
of that group, half of them donot have any abuse coverage
because they don't want to payfor it.
So just in my little subset,half of the studios are
uninsured period no-transcriptOf the half that have coverage,
(27:56):
depending on the company they'rewith is how much coverage they
have.
Some companies, some insurancecompanies, include the defense,
the legal defense, in the limit.
It's included in the $100,000limit.
It's included in the $100,000limit.
I have a client right now whospent years being defended
(28:21):
quarter of a million dollars indefense.
That would have been exhaustedand they would have been on
their own.
There's a company I representthat offers million-dollar
limits and the defense is partof that million bucks.
But at that, even with aquarter of a million in defense,
(28:44):
there would have been $7.50left to pay a judgment.
If there had been a judgment,if something had really happened
, the insurance company would beinking the check from the
get-go.
The company that offers themillion bucks is the most
expensive company out there foreverything, including abuse.
(29:05):
The third company I representoffers a hundred grand of
coverage but unlimited defenseof coverage, but unlimited
defense.
In my opinion, the defense isthe most vital part of an abuse
coverage because if you'reputting all these policies and
(29:26):
procedures in place, if peoplehave adequate training and they
can prove all of that, they dothe background checks and have
those in file, then they aren'tnegligent.
What they really need is thedefense.
So it's all over the place inthe industry on what the
(29:51):
coverage is and there's a wholelot of people in the martial
arts industry that believe allinsurance coverage is the same,
whether we're talking aboutabuse or anything else, and the
bottom line is it's not all thesame.
If you don't take the time anddon't have somebody educate you
(30:13):
on the differences, you find outwhen it's too late, when
something's happened.
Speaker 1 (30:20):
That's fascinating that your recommendation is
making sure that your policycovers your defense costs,
because those lawyer fees, Imean that's, and these things
could go for years.
I know a school owner who'sbeen doing it since, who's been
(30:41):
defending his name since beforestart of COVID that's five years
ago and it's so, talking withthem, the defense cost is so big
that I don't know how he did it.
I still don't know how he didit.
But that's fascinating thatyour recommendation is the
(31:01):
defense cost over the insurancecost.
Speaker 2 (31:05):
This is when the stuff hits the fan.
Then you start looking at it.
But you got to be proactive.
My house got flooded nine yearsago and I went, oh yeah, I'm
sure we have flood insurance,whatever.
And the adjuster calls me andgoes where did the water come
from?
I'm like what?
Did it come through the windowor in the basement window or
whatever?
I said no, it came through oursump pump field.
And he goes oh, you don't havesump pump insurance.
(31:27):
I go, no, it still got flooded.
No, but the water, what?
That was like a $30,000 issue.
I had to pay $30,000 to redo mybasement and I just sat there.
If I just would have paid anextra like 75 bucks a month,
this would all have been coveredor whatever.
Or get a battery operatedbackup, whatever.
(31:50):
But that's a terrible example.
But it's one of those things.
You got to look at your stuff.
And two things herepreventative have the right
policies and procedures, keepthe kids safe, keep your
instructors safe, keep you safe,keep your assets safe, keep
your students safe, keep all thechildren safe.
That's like the biggest thing.
And the second thing is reviewyour coverage and so forth.
(32:11):
Mrs Block, I just want to thankyou for coming on this podcast.
If you don't mind coming onagain and maybe talking about
some training that every schoolowner could do, that you were
talking about before, would yoube willing to do that, ma'am?
Speaker 1 (32:27):
I would love to, and I'll have a set of headphones
next time, oh, but also evenbefore that, you're going to be
joining us at the ASA Summitthis next month in October 3rd
and 4th, and everybody, audience, everybody please go to Mrs
Block, discuss this.
If you have more questions onthis or any other questions
regarding protecting yourbusiness and school, let's call
(32:51):
it a day there.
I know that was a heavy subject, but we just felt it was so
important to discuss there.
I know that was a heavy subject, but we just felt it was so
important to discuss.
A big thank you to Mrs BethBlock from Block Insurance for
stepping onto the mat with ustoday.
Remember, in martial arts wetrain to protect ourselves, but
school owners need to protecttheir students, families
themselves and their reputationtoo.
(33:12):
This is Black Belt Bantersigning off and we look forward
to talking with you next time.
Thank you, mrs block.
Master chonley, a big thank youas well.
We'll see everybody next time.
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