Club Standards
Safety is everyone's responsibility. In grappling, another human being regularly places their body in your hands. That trust matters.
The UJJC Member Standard
- I protect my training partners.
- I tap without shame.
- I release without hesitation.
- I train clean.
- I control my ego.
- I welcome beginners.
- I respect skill without worshiping status.
- I can compete hard without making teammates my enemies.
- I make the room safer, stronger, and more enjoyable.
- I don't quit on myself.
- I leave ready to face tomorrow stronger.
The UJJC Safety Code
Etiquette
- Greet people.
- Learn names.
- Welcome the new person.
- Give instructors your attention during instruction.
- Give partners your attention during practice.
- Match intensity to your partner's size, age, experience, ability, and physical limitations.
- Ask before dramatically increasing intensity.
- Respect another person's decision to decline a roll.
- Keep unsolicited coaching during live rounds to a minimum unless safety requires it.
- Reset after a submission without celebrating another member's tap.
- Keep phones away from the training area.
- Photograph or record others only with permission.
- Treat visitors as future friends, not outsiders.
- Help keep the training environment clean.
Bullying, hazing, sexual harassment, discriminatory conduct, threats, deliberate humiliation, and reckless behavior have no place at UJJC.
Hygiene
- Arrive clean.
- Wear clean, dry training gear, washed after every session.
- Keep fingernails and toenails short, clean, and smooth.
- Remove all jewelry.
- Wear slides or shoes whenever leaving the mat.
- Never wear street shoes on the mats.
- Never walk barefoot into the restroom and back onto the mats.
- Cover minor cuts.
- Stay off the mats with significant or weeping wounds.
- Stay home when sick.
- Do not train with a known or suspected contagious skin condition.
- Secure long hair.
- No exposed zippers or hard hardware.
- No food, gum, or open drinks on the mats.
When in doubt, protect your teammates and sit the day out. There will always be another class.
Rank & Leadership
Belts represent learning, experience, skill, and responsibility. They do not create a social caste system. Higher rank should produce greater control, patience, humility, service, and responsibility — not entitlement. Members may respectfully question, clarify, or raise concerns without fear of retaliation. No coach, founder, champion, or senior belt is above the standards of the club.
Leadership is service.
When rules conflict
Where a written rule and member safety conflict:
Safety wins.
Where ego and the member experience conflict:
The member wins.
Where tradition and our founding principles conflict:
Our principles win.