SAFE Judo

CNYJudo's Commitment to SAFE JUDO

CNYJudo therefore commits itself to the highest standards of safety. This means at minimum:

• Begin each practice session with thorough warm-up and the study of break-falls

• End each practice with appropriate cool-down, recap, or community practices, as sensible in the moment

• Only demonstrating techniques that are safe for the skill level of the student cohort

• Implement the Kohai-Sempai principle, in which less advanced students accept guidance from more advanced students

• Maintain a safe, respectful, collegiate, and friendly atmosphere throughout the judo class and the entire gym

• Maintain the highest standards of personal hygene and cleanliness of the athletic space

• Adopt person-positive culture and welcoming anyone to "come as they are"

• Demonstrate an absolute zero-tolerance policy towards Title IX infractions, antisemitism, racism, dishonesty, or other violations against common community standards.

This means that our instructors, at the minimum:

• Are members of national organizations governing Judo (e.g., USJF, USJA, JBBA, or USA Judo in the United States)

• Hold a nationally recognized rank awarded by aforementioend governing body

• Insured, e.g., through their national governing bodies

• Educated in the instruction of Judo and stay up to date on developments and skills (e.g., by routinely attending seminars)

• Maintain current instructor certifications as required by their governing bodies. This typically requires concussion training, CPR training, SAFEsport training, regular athletic medical examinations, and a clean criminal background check.

In return, we expect our Affiliate organizations to NEVER:

• "haze" new members, e.g., only granting community access or respect if a person submits to demeaning treatment

• exert a domineering stance towards lower-ranked students, e.g., "a while belt may never refuse to 'roll' with a black belt"

• make students "earn" respect, e.g., by making them clean toilets before they are allowed to practice

• engage in physical reward/punishment systems, e.g., no "promotion gauntlets" or extra pushups for being late

• place the "business* over sport", e.g., by adopting less safe practices only because it improves student retention

• hold back* students' promotion/advancement unless personal favors are satisfied or competition success is achieved.

(* This excludes cases where a student is no longer in good standing with their gym, e.g., due to failure to pay membership fees.

CNYJudo reserves the right to discontinue Affiliate memberships or refuse service to gyms and individual members who fail to uphold these standards.