Hygiene Policy for Practitioners and Parents

We want to thank you for taking this aspect of our club classes seriously and helping us keep everyone safe, clean and healthy. Here are some rules to ensure we remain safe and healthy but also to help us to be the most disciplined Jiu-Jitsu practitioners for martial arts in Perth:

Feet and Shoes:

1. Clean Feet – We must insist that our practitioners always wash their feet before training.

2. No Shoes on the Mat – Whether you intend on getting involved or not, there should be no shoes on the mat, and yes, this also applies to mums, dads, and siblings.

3. Wearing Shoes – While you should never wear shoes on the mat, you should wear them everywhere else. Please note this is especially important when using the bathroom or going outside – those feet will be in someone’s face, and pretty soon, this will also happen the other way around.

Personal Hygiene:

1. Hands and Feet – Please keep fingernails and toenails as short as possible. As you might expect, your training partner will not appreciate having the talons of an eagle wrapped around any part of their body.

2. Illness – Stay at home if you feel sick. As much as we love our training partners, we do not want any contact with your flu or nasty virus. Keep in mind, the training with an illness of any kind is also detrimental to your health. As for parents, you can probably understand that nobody wants their children to grapple with a flu stricken child. Think about it, even a runny nose is unfair on the training partner.

3. Cuts and Wounds – Cover any cuts or breaks in your skin with a bandage. Naturally, these breaks make you susceptible to infection, and open wounds are not good for a Jiu-Jitsu environment. In case you might be asking yourself, this also extends to warts, scrapes, and minor cuts.

4. Washing Clothes – Always wash your gi/uniform after every class with no exceptions. Moist or sweaty clothing is a breeding ground for bacteria, and dirty gi will be noticed immediately by your instructor and training partner and it is gross. Please try not to be " that person" .

5. Removing Jewellery – Remove any form of jewellery including necklaces, earrings, and wedding rings before training. As you should know, these can inflict damage and lead to open wounds.

6. Tie up Long hair – Long hair should always be tied back.

Warts, Virus and Staph infection

Unfortunately, ringworm, warts, herpes, and staph are a common occurrence contact sports. At the same time, please do not be embarrassed to inform us about skin infections as they do happen and they can be treated quite easily. That being said, for the well-being of our practitioners, we need to treat every possibility with great vigilance.

1. Warts - While this may not be the worst type of infection, this is certainly one which can have a grim impact on your training partners. In the case of warts, you should always avoid training and consult a doctor for advice. In many cases, the doctor might tell you to cover it up and carry on. However, grappling with a band-aid is not nearly enough, and a good quality athletic tape is needed at the very least.

2. Cold sores - Cold sores are a real pain and very contagious until the blisters or sores dry out. Thankfully, there is oral medication available and cold sores tend to dry very quickly. However, please note that you should not and cannot participate in classes until these cold sores pass. We hate to enforce this rule but we need to do so in order to protect training partners from contracting any viruses.

3. Staphylococcal - Staphylococcal is an extremely contagious bacterial infection which can make you very ill. Also known as “Staph”, this infection is usually mild and identified by superficial rashes, pimples and/or boils on your skin. Prompt medical attention and antibiotics are recommended, and the illness can take more than two weeks to subside.

Unfortunately, cleanliness and hygiene do not prevent you from contracting a skin infection. For this reason, if you suspect that you or your child may have any kind of skin infection, please do not ignore the symptoms and seek medical attention before revisiting the mat
Finally, thank you for reading through these rules and for your commitment to the underlying principles of our club. We want to keep everyone safe in the academy, but in truth, we also know that discipline and focus is crucial for your journey to master this ancient art. As you can see, there are many factors which can disrupt your progress and these can also inflict unfair setbacks on your training partners.