Not At All
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Not At All
Thanks all. I felt a bit bad since the people there were really nice and welcoming and I had a great few weeks there, but the fear of funk kept me away. I did say something about the mat and, as I said, I got the gi will protect me thing. I don't think they really get it or keep it in mind. Hopefully they all remain ignorant and nothing happens.
I am going to go to a new school either next week or week after depending on how my first week back to school with my new class goes.
Ive heard so much mythological bullshit about the gi. Supposedly: The gi makes you smarter, the gi makes you better at mma, the gi prevents staph infection, the gi gives you a better workout, the gi makes you lose weight, the gi makes you stronger, the gi keeps you cool, the gi keeps you warm, etc etc.
Preventing staph and making you smarter are very common quotes and are the most ridiculous of them all. So the gi has magical powers that make you smarter and shield you from staph? Guys, a gi is not an ironman containment suit...
Again, I usually do a good job of upsetting someone on here. I did not mean to piss off you gi guys and I apologize if I did so. I respect BJJ and gi grappling.
That is terrible. They should be washed after every class. I wouldn't step foot on those mats again.
You could mop them before and after if you really like the training.
I have seriously have had a gi black belt look me straight in the eye and tell me the reason he canceled his one day a week of no-gi is because he was having a problem with staph and the gi prevents staph infection... He really believed it I think and so did his students. He still mopped his mats once a day though. He should have changed that to after every class and talked to the students about proper sanitation instead I say.
You are not over reacting by the way, I'd get out of there. With an attitude like that, it also guarantees the problem won't get fixed.
As bad as it is to not clean mats and thereby place your students at a health risk, it's WAY WORSE to put the Elementary School kids who use the same mats at risk! Don't just tell that teacher why you're leaving, look up some facts, print out a pamphlet, drop it by, and tell him straight up, not only are you risking your health, and the health of your students, but you are placing a bunch of kids in unnecessary risk. Or just show up to the next PTA meeting.
Without reading all the thread, at Harvard we practice on similar mats that we put out and we ALWAYS mop those down and then dry them BEFORE we do even warmups. We used to debate cleaning them after too, but since we share them with other clubs we realized we wouldn't have much control over that. If you don't see the instructor cleaning them before or after (although that's kind of after the horse has left the barn) then you should talk to the instructor privately. if he/she still resists, then you need to decide if you're willing to risk it or not (on a sidenote, Defense Soap does sell a foam you can put on your skin/rashguard/shorts before practice which is supposed to help protect you a bit, and you can use wipes right after before you get to a shower).
My two cents.....best wishes.
Thanks for all the support. Sometimes I am a little odd about things when it comes to personal cleanliness (I shower sometimes 2 times a day) so I wanted to make sure I wasn't just going into a crazy mode.
Kinda forgot to think about the kids that would use the mats after us. Kids get so many cuts and scrapes too, hope, I really hope, that nothing gets spread there. I've had ring worm (in HS) and it wasn't too hard to deal with, but I have a friend who got MRSA and that was no joke.