About Club Forge
Built by Kieron Greeff, who runs Ichiban Leeds. It exists because the right software for UK dojos didn't.
Why I built this
I run Ichiban Leeds, a karate club in Leeds. I’ve been training for a long time and running the club for some of it. Every year, I’d spend a Sunday in October updating a spreadsheet of who was due for grading, cross-referencing it with a separate list of who’d paid, and then sending individual emails to about forty families. It worked. Badly.
I looked at the software that existed. Most of it is built for gyms — CrossFit boxes, PT studios, generic fitness. Martial arts is tagged on. The BJA Mon structure for junior judo grades? Not supported. A family of four where two parents and two kids all train but pay one bill? Approximate, at best. GDPR for a club holding children’s data in the UK? Usually an afterthought.
The American options are worse — built for a different legal context, different currency, different conventions.
So I started building the tool that should already exist. Something quiet. Something that handles the actual complexity of how martial arts clubs run — grading, family billing, a thing by the door for check-in — without pretending it’s all simple.
Ichiban Leeds
Ichiban Leeds is a karate club in Leeds. It’s where Club Forge is being built and tested — not in the abstract, but on actual classes with actual members.
Every feature on Club Forge has been thought through against what a real session at Ichiban looks like: forty-odd members, a mix of adults and juniors, a handful of family memberships, a grading every few months. If it doesn’t work at Ichiban, it doesn’t ship.
This software is being built for my own dojo first. Once it works there — properly, not just technically — it’ll open up to other UK dojos.
What I believe about software for clubs
- Built around martial arts, not adapted from gyms. Kyu grades, Mon tabs, junior-to-adult transitions, governing body structures — these aren’t edge cases, they’re the job.
- Made in the UK, for UK law, in pounds sterling. Not a US product with a currency selector bolted on.
- Quiet, calm software. Not bright, loud, dashboardy “engagement” software. A club management tool should feel like a well-organised filing cabinet, not a social media platform.
- One app, built around roles. Owners, coaches, and students are doing different things. The interface adapts to each — kiosk mode at the door, a full management view for coaches and owners.
- Honest about what’s done and what’s coming. This website only lists features that are real. If it’s not on the features page, it isn’t built yet.
What’s still being built
The membership system, rank ladders, student tablet, GDPR compliance, and email sequences are done. There’s more to build:
- Grading workflow — the structured process for running a grading event
- Attendance — session-by-session tracking with streak and history
- Payments — Stripe integration for in-app billing
- Coach profiles — separate access levels for assistant coaches
- Dashboards — club-level overview for admins
None of those are on this website yet, because none of them are ready. If you run a dojo and these matter to you, check back. The blog is where I write about what’s being built and why.
See what’s already built, or read the latest.
Interested in Club Forge?
Club Forge is being built and tested at a working dojo in Leeds. Register your interest and we’ll be in touch when it opens to new clubs.
Register your interest