Please read the club guidelines carefully. These exist to ensure that everyone is safe and can enjoy classes in a supportive environment.
Each week you should:
- Mark classes you regularly attend with “Yes” or “No” on Discord, ideally when the class list for the forthcoming week is posted towards the end of the weekend. It cannot be overemphasised enough how much an accurate roll-call helps with lesson planning, please don’t wait until the last minute to mark your attendance if it can be avoided.
- Try your best to attend class whenever possible. If you’re carrying an injury please let me know and I can find a way to work around it. We’ve had students training in a limited capacity in the past with everything from broken bones to snapped Achille’s tendons…. Just get in touch to let the head coach know in advance so something can be prepped for you. In the absolute worst case, turn up, grab a comfy seat, and take notes!
- Stay away from class if you’re carrying an infectious illness such as a very bad cold or norovirus. Follow NHS guidelines on an appropriate amount of time to take off. Please do contact the head coach and they can provide you with reading material to be getting on with.
- Check the Discord when you’re able to! I understand many people turn off notifications, but if you can at least keep the notifications enabled from the admin channel that would be a great help, or make it part of your routine to check once a week or so, ideally before you leave the house for any classes you attend in case there are any important notifications or changes to proceedings that have been announced.
Before class starts:
- Please do your absolute best to be on time for the start of the class, and we’ll do our best to make sure the class starts on time (pending hall switchovers or mats being put out!) Remember, the advertised start time is precisely that, you should aim to arrive a few minutes earlier than this, and leave appropriate time to put on suitable kit if the class you are attending requires it.
- Remove jewellery and watches and keep fingernails trimmed short, especially when grappling.
- Make sure you’re wearing appropriate sports-type clothing (t-shirts, shorts, tracksuit pants, leggings etc), with no jeans, boots, or anything that can snag.
- Ensure a good standard of personal hygiene. (This is especially important in grappling classes!)
- Make sure your kit (your own or club gear) is in good working order and is safe to use.
During class:
- Start each new drill slowly and increase speed gradually after discussing appropriate levels with your partner. Never start an activity without full consent from whoever you’re training with. Keep communicating with your training partner(s).
- Ensure that you are training techniques that have been demonstrated and are relevant, don’t teach techniques to people unless you are a YSD certified instructor or have been specifically asked to do so by an instructor.
- Please stay on topic, do not deviate from drills to teach things from other clubs, martial arts, or random corners of the internet.
- Always wear protective equipment appropriate to the activity being carried out.
- Do not give any unsolicited feedback to your fellow students, especially during freeplay. That is what coaches are there for.
- Whether you are training solo, with a partner, in a posse of three or in a small group please continue to engage with the activity.
- If you have to leave the hall please let the instructor know you are popping out for a moment. You don’t need to let us know why, we just need to know you’re leaving so we don’t move the group on to something else.
- Do not leave kit lying around on the hall floor if it can be avoided, if it must be left on the floor please tuck it to the edges of the hall.
Please be aware:
- Do not teach anything learned at the York School of Defence to anyone outside of class without permission of the head coach.
- By attending classes you consent to having photographs taken whilst training and during club related activities including social events. (You can request to have your face and/or body blurred out of any images that will be released publicly).
- We generally expect students to be looking to purchase their own equipment (generally a mask, light gloves, and groin protection (if required) or similar PPE depending upon the class you attend) within six months of joining the club. Please check with the head coach before buying anything! Don’t rush straight into buying swords, your first purchase should always be a suitable fencing mask and gloves.
- There are safeguarding and reporting policies available on the school website and you must agree to abide by them to train with the YSD.
- By signing up to a class please note that a spot in the class is reserved solely for you. All classes are limited to a maximum number of people and many of them operate on a waiting list basis. Please try to attend as regularly as possible, if you find you are struggling to attend an assigned class on a regular basis (particularly in a busy class) please discuss this as soon as possible with the head coach.
- Please make sure you check the payment terms and conditions, class guidelines, and other reporting, safeguarding and policy documents before getting in touch with a query.