MAAT vs Manual Academy Management: Which One Is Right for Your BJJ or MMA Gym?

Key Takeaways (TL;DR)

• Manual systems work well when your academy is very small but don’t scale with growth. It's time consuming and prone to revenue leakage.

• MAAT automates admin work, tracks payments, bookings and belt progress. It's built specifically for BJJ/MMA fills classes, boosts engagement, and cuts down admin hours.

• For serious growth, MAAT provides the tools to run your academy like a professional.

The Context: Scaling a Combat Sports Academy

Teaching high-quality classes is only part of running a martial arts gym.

As your academy grows, managing memberships, payments, attendance, and communication gets increasingly complex.

Without a system, things fall through the cracks and that can cost you students and revenue.

This comparison looks at how manual systems and MAAT perform across key operational areas.

What is Manual Management?

Manual management typically means a mix of tools:

• Spreadsheets for attendance and payments
• Messaging apps (WhatsApp, Facebook) for communication
• Handwritten notes or reminders for follow-ups

Pros:

• Low cost
• Easy to set up
• Total control

Cons:

• High risk of errors and missed payments
• Time-consuming
• No automation or reporting
• Doesn't scale beyond 20/30 students

What is MAAT?

MAAT is gym management software built specifically for BJJ and MMA academies.

Created by martial artists, MAAT includes:

• Automated payment collection
• Belt & stripe tracking
• Attendance monitoring & analytics
• Class booking via mobile app
• Multilingual interface
• Gamified leaderboards
• WhatsApp-based support

It’s everything you need in one place, optimized for the way combat sports gyms operate.

Feature-by-Feature Comparison

1. Membership Payments

• Manual: Requires constant chasing. Bank transfers or cash payments easily slip through.
• MAAT: Sends automated reminders, processes recurring payments, and shows real-time payment status.

Why it matters: Payment consistency is critical in BJJ, where many students are on monthly memberships. Missed payments disrupt cash flow and can go unnoticed in manual setups.

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2. Class Attendance & No-Shows

• Manual: No-shows often go unnoticed; you can’t track trends or follow up.
• MAAT: Real-time booking and cancellation via app, plus inactivity tracking and alerts.

Why it matters: BJJ gyms have limited mat space. Tracking no-shows ensures every class is full, and allows proactive follow-ups before students quit.

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3. Admin Workload

• Manual: Coaches spend hours a week on admin instead of teaching.
• MAAT: All admin tools, payments, booking, communication, are in one place.

Why it matters: Coaches should focus on students, not spreadsheets. Reducing admin work by over 3/4 hours a week helps build better teams and stronger community.

4. Belt & Stripe Tracking

• Manual: Promotions are remembered manually or scribbled in notes.
• MAAT: Built-in belt tracking with thresholds, dates, and progress history.

Why it matters: Progression is a core part of student motivation. Structured tracking builds trust in your academy's promotion process.

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5. Communication

• Manual: Disorganized and scattered across messagging apps.
• MAAT: Centralized communication via the News in-App section, plus WhatsApp, SMS and E-Mail integrations for direct messaging.

Why it matters: Clear and consistent messaging improves student retention and reduces confusion around schedules, fees, and events.

6. Scalability

• Manual: Works only for small academies, becomes chaotic with more students.
• MAAT: Built to grow more students doesn’t mean more chaos.

Why it matters: As your student count grows, manual tools become bottlenecks. MAAT ensures your systems stay organized no matter your size.

Final Verdict: Manual Tracking or MAAT?

If you’re just getting started and have fewer than 40 students, manual might work for a while.

But once growth kicks in, manual systems cost more in time and lost revenue than they save.

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👉Are you interested in learning more about this topic? Check out our article!

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For BJJ and MMA academies aiming to grow, MAAT is the clear winner.

Built for the combat sports world, it handles everything from belt tracking to payment automation.

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