Safety – Werneck Family Jiu Jitsu

We know that these are unsettling times and we want to assure you that Werneck Family Jiujitsu is committed to the health and well-being of our community. We have been very closely monitoring the evolving situation with the Corona virus (COVID-19) and are following the recommendations of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the California Department of Public Health to ensure the safety of our students, teachers, and staff.

Given the nature of our sport, we have always done all we can to make our studio as safe & hygienic as possible. We clean and disinfect the mat (and restroom) daily and will continue to do so. In response to the current state of affairs, we have increased our regular disinfecting of all high traffic surfaces (i.e. benches, water cooler, doors, shelves, and flooring) from biweekly to daily. Alcohol-based sanitizer is available at the front desk.

We would like to reiterate some of our related school policies:

Don’t train while sick. If you or your child isn’t feeling well, stay home until fully recovered.
Maintain good hygiene. We would remind our students that regularly washing one’s hands & face with warm water and soap (at least 20 seconds) before and after class should be common practice.
Clean your uniform and gear after EVERY use. This isn’t just about b.o. – a dirty uniform can be very unhealthy for both you and your teammates.

At this time we are maintaining our regular schedule. We are monitoring state and federal recommendations daily, as well as the Roseville City School District policies, and will make adjustments should new developments and recommendations arise. We will notify all students via email should circumstances change.

Let’s all work together to do all we can to ensure everyone’s safety and health while in the studio.

image: courtesy of University of Tampa website.

Let’s face it, life here in the burbs of NorCal is pretty sweet. We are lucky to be raising our children in a time and place where they are unbelievably safe, and it keeps getting safer, despite what the media would have you believe. While all the improvements we’re witnessing are good news, I fear that in an overzealous attempt to guarantee their safety, we are actually putting our youth in harm’s way. Is it possible to be too safe?

“Why then, can one desire too much of a good thing?”

-Shakespeare, As You Like It

Why yes, William, one can have too much of a good thing. Take water for example – it’s not only good for you, it’s vital; we require water to survive, and many should drink more than they currently do for optimal health. Yet too much water is more than a little problematic; water intoxication (hyponatremia) can be fatal. So can drowning.

In this same fashion, the “better safe than sorry” mantra has been taken to an extreme. Our parks have rubberized crash pads under age-appropriate play structures, with nary a treacherous teeter-totter nor merry-go-round in sight. Even with all of this benign safety equipment, there’s always a parent near-by, hovering about like a helicopter from the local news station, waiting to jump in at the first sign of danger. Children rarely walk, or ride their bikes, to school. When I do see them biking, they look geared up for battle – not only sporting a helmet, but also wrist braces, and elbow & knee pads. Once at school, they’re not allowed to play freeze tag or dodgeball for fear someone might get hurt. Just like the public swimming pool, it’s become the land of NO: no running, no diving, no chicken fighting, no pushing, no this, no that, no…..

The teachers and/or parents always hovering nearby are also the new arbiters of all that is right. Not only are we making sure nobody gets physically injured, it is now of vital import that nobody’s feelings get hurt either. Anytime there’s a bit of disagreement, there’s an adult ready to jump in and straighten it all out. Read your local school board policy and you’ll note an emphasis on students’ feelings of safety.

“What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger.”

– Friedrich Nietzsche

In our pursuit to shield our children from any and all physical, emotional, and mental distress, we are also removing valuable opportunities for them to develop into strong individuals. Bumps, bruises, and hurt feelings (gasp!), are all very real, and vital components of children at play. These are opportunities for our children to develop better risk assessment, become more independent, learn to fall and get back up, and fine-tune their conflict-resolution skills. Perhaps most importantly, they will realize that their bodies, as well as their feelings, will not only heal, but be that much stronger because of it.

In his book Antifragile: Things That Gain From Disorder, author Nassim Nicholas Taleb asks us to think beyond fragility and resilience, and recognize that some things are antifragile; they need to be stressed and challenged in order to adapt and grow. The fine china we received from my in-laws is fragile; it breaks easily, and can’t heal itself. The plastic cups our daughters used as toddlers are resilient; they take a beating and remain relatively unchanged. We need to think of our children as neither fragile nor merely resilient – they are antifragile. Just like our muscles, bones, and immune system, our children get stronger when faced with challenges.

“Thus, when Heaven is about to confer a great office on any man, it first exercises his mind with suffering, and his sinews and bones with toil. It exposes his body to hunger, and subjects him to extreme poverty. It confounds his undertakings. By all these methods it stimulates his mind, hardens his nature, and supplies his incompetencies.”

– Mencius, 4th Century BCE

This is the nature of training in jiu jitsu. We are continually putting ourselves under pressure – the pressure of combat, in order to become physically, mentally, and emotionally tougher. BJJ students are antifragile; we are not made of fine china.

See you on the mat.