MOTTO & CONSTITUTION
MEMBERS
PRACTICE POLICY & RULES
Maintaining a safe practice is a goal of our club and is a significant concern. If you are feeling ill, dizzy, or lightheaded during practice, please stop, rei to your partner, and sit on the side of the room. Usually a senior student or an instructor will check to make sure that you are okay. Please tell someone if you are leaving the room to go to get water or to the bathroom as it is our shared responsibility to keep everyone safe. We strongly encourage bringing a water bottle to keep on the side (away from the practice area) to drink from while you are in the "out spot" during rotations.
Please understand that this safety policy is not a "blank check". As our practices get more advanced and rigorous, there will be times where you will be placed under stress and will feel uncomfortable. This is a significant part of kendo training, both to get you used to functioning in a highly stressful environment, and also to push your limits to further develop your stamina.
It is everyone's responsibility as senior and junior students to understand the difference between "pushing your limits"; and becoming ill.
Club Practice Rules
In order to make our practices more efficient, have more time to cover material, build our stamina, and become better kendoka, we have implemented the following 9 rules for our practices:
1. Before practice begins, the first student with an M-card should get the floor mop from the equipment room on the second floor and begin mopping the floor. Mopping the floor is a shared responsibility, so people should trade off mopping parts of the floor so everyone has time to get ready.
No one should be doing suburi, warming up, or doing any kendo before the place that we practice is ready. This includes stacking any mats out of the practice space, moving any tables or chairs to the waiting room area, and insuring we have the most space available to practice in.
2. Everyone who is in bogu must bring a minimum of 2 shinai every time to practice. Write your name on the handle and be prepared to loan one shinai out to a beginner, as instructing beginners is a part of our shared responsibility. This is also to ensure that there is little or no delay if a shinai is broken during practice.
3. If you are late and warm up has already begun, warm up and stretch completely on your own including suburi. It is very rude to join a warm up already in progress. Be prepared to join us from footwork drills or seiretsu.
4. All warm up exercises are to start precisely at 8:30 AM and are to be finished by 8:55 AM, regardless of who is leading. Take initiative before the practice is to start and choose who will lead the stretching and suburi portions of practice. It is a great idea to rotate this role as everyone can benefit from leading practice.
5. During seiretsu, if you find that you are unable to put your Men on by the time the senior most instructor has his Men on and is standing and ready, please correctly excuse yourself from the line up and leave your Men to the side for that week. Return to the rotation with your Kote on and ready to go. Practice having your Tennugui, Men, and both Kote on in less than a minute 20 seconds. This is actually really slow with practice.
6. During any double line exercise including uchikomi, kakarigeiko, and gigeiko, only individuals with a rank of shodan and above should be making verbal comments, corrections, or explanations after the final rei either as a result of finishing an exercise or because the anchor has called "yame". However, it is always best to show by example. Save questions for before or after practice.
7. The command "rotate" is generally not used in practice. Once you finish your final rei either as a result of finishing an exercise or because the anchor has called "yame", rotate on your own. If the next position is not ready, wait politely directly behind them giving enough space to avoid potential collisions. Once they move away, you are then ready to move directly into correct position. Look to the anchor to adjust your distance automatically.
8. If there is a gap or hole in the line because someone has exited the line, be aware of your surroundings and adjust automatically up the line relative to sensei or the opposite side toward sensei.
9. Shorten the time between exercises by running to form all lines, including seiretsu. In addition, geikeiko partner selection is determined by rotation and is not free choice. Time is always in short supply, so make the most of the practice by quickly adjusting appropriately to eliminate waiting around – especially if you get tired.
