Koba code of conduct

Why we wrote our unwritten rules

When Koba was a smaller jiu-jitsu club, you learned the culture just by being on the mats.

A training partner would nudge you if your nails were too long. Someone would mention, mid-roll, that certain moves aren't a thing here. You'd watch, absorb, and eventually just know. Or, more often, you'd find out about 2 seconds after unwittingly breaking one.

That works fine at ten members. It starts to crack at fifty and beyond that, it just isn't practical.

As the club has grown, with more classes, more new faces every week, and kids, teens and adults all training under one roof, we've hit a simple truth: you can't rely on osmosis any more. So we've done what every growing club eventually has to do: we've written down the unwritten rules.

Why write them down

It's all about protecting our carefully nurtured gym culture. A written code means every member is held to the same standard, not just whoever happened to be paying attention that day. It means instructors have something clear to point to. And it means a brand new white belt can walk in on day one already knowing what "respect and control" actually looks like here, instead of learning it the hard way three months in.

What's actually in the rules?

Our members train to compete under many rulesets including IBJJF, ADCC, and MMA. So this isn't a repeat of any specific ruleset, this is a set of rules that apply whatever competition you may be preparing for.

Our new gym rules page covers the full picture:

• Dojo code of conduct, respect, control, and the golden rule: if a partner taps or asks you to stop, you stop, immediately.
• Personal hygiene, short nails, clean clothing, covered wounds, indoor footwear. Small stuff, easy to skip if nobody says it out loud.
• Mat care, keeping the shared space clean.
• Sparring safety, awareness of your surroundings, appropriate gear and so on.
• Banned moves, things like slams, spiking, and jumping submissions. Some are legal in competition, but we still don't allow them here, because the mats are for training safely and consistently.
• Stay home if..., the health guidance that keeps the whole club training instead of passing illness around, plus what to do if someone does get injured.

None of this changes what Koba's always been about. It just means new members get to feel the respect, care and safety of this club from their very first class, instead of picking it up by accident over months.

Take a few minutes to read through the full rules page, even if you've trained here for years, it's worth a refresher. And if you know someone who's been thinking about trying BJJ, send them our way for a free first class.