Mat Rant

The rate that our mats are being torn up is greater than the rate at which we are raising money to replace them. This means we either need to start raising money faster, or we need to slow down the mat destruction rate. Since the Jiu-Jitsu class spends the largest amount of time on the mats, we are often believed to be the ones destroying them the most. Whether that's true or not, we have a responsibility to take as good of care of them as we can.

The number one enemy of the mat is metal. It can easily grab and tear the surface of the mat, and you should avoid wearing it at all times. Sometimes Sensei Beggs will check to make sure that your hair tie does not have a tiny metal enclosure on it (even those are strictly forbidden in Judo, as well as any other metal). During nogi practice, you should take care to not wear clothing with snaps or zippers (which is bad for Jiu-Jitsu anyway). You should remove any type of jewelry before stepping onto the mat. Flat wedding bands are allowed, but I would recommend taping them, for safety if nothing else. I used to leave my nose stud in for Jiu-Jitsu, it was so small I didn't think it would be an issue, until one day when it caught on someones gi and ripped out. If you need to wear some type of brace with metal in it, that is allowed, but you should try to be careful.

If we all do our part to take care of the mat, we can increase it's longevity. The most important thing is to try to keep it from getting torn up in the first place, but you can also help by taping up any small tears you see (before they become big ones). There are usually rolls of tape on the shelf by the phone. Little things like that can make a big difference.

We have very nice, comfortable mats, which will cost in excess of $10,000 to replace. We've been raising about $1,000 a year towards their replacement. At that rate it will be at least another eight years before we can afford to buy new ones. Let's help to try to make the ones we have last as long as they can.

Gina Ethridge