Grapplers across the Sutherland Shire rejoice: Gracie Miranda is open from July 1. Under guidelines from the New South Wales governments, community sports are once again free to recommence. For that reason, our Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu academy will finally be reopening its doors.
If you’re a current member, you should know that we have a few new guidelines for conduct. You’ll need to sign a new waiver, book classes you’re keen to attend in advance and, since water fountains aren’t yet allowed, come to Gracie Miranda with a full bottle of water.
If you’re not yet a member of our family for Sutherland Shire grapplers but are curious to become one, you may be wondering: How safe is Jiu-Jitsu really?
Safety first
The entire South East Sydney region, of which The Shire is just one part, has had 688 covid-19 cases at the time of writing. That’s roughly 0.07% of the region’s population. When it comes to countries affected by covid-19, Australia has been blessed.
But that doesn’t mean we’re not taking safety precautions extremely seriously.
The health of our members is paramount. We’re adhering to strict health and safety protocols, which includes rigorous cleaning of mats and the entire Gracie Miranda facility. This also unfortunately means members won’t be able to use our showers for the time being.
We’re also expecting help from our Gracie Miranda family. We always promote healthy hygiene, but now we’ll have to enforce rules stricter than ever.
To members new and old: Make sure your nails are properly groomed, that your gi (and your body) is clean and washed and, above all, don’t come to class if you’re sick or feeling unwell.
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is a safe martial art. Though mistakes do happen, the fact that it revolves around ground-based wrestling reduces the risk of many injuries. There’s limited slamming and zero striking, after all. But grappling involves a lot of body contact. For this reason, we also encourage members to wear their rash guards to classes.
Yet even though Jiu-Jitsu involves using your whole body, a large chunk of the skin-on-skin contact involves hands. We’ll be providing plenty of hand sanitizer to make this as hygienic as possible. Please use it!
Moving forward
If you’re new to martial arts and have spent the past few months thinking about new active hobbies to take up, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is a fantastic place to start. It’s a full-body workout and universally heralded as one of, if not the best, martial arts for self-defence.
Nothing prepares you for the mats: Not running, weight training or even CrossFit. But here’s the good news – every else has taken 3 months off BJJ, so they won’t be mat fit either!
Of course, we get that you may not be ready to take the plunge just yet. After all, community sports has just become permissible again. We understand that. Feel free to come get a free trial class in a month or two after you’re as confident as us that it’s a safe time to be training BJJ. (We wouldn’t be reopening if we didn’t believe it was!)
If you’re already part of our Gracie Miranda family, you probably can’t wait to get back on the mats. But part of you may also be nervous, especially if you’ve only been training for a few months or a few years.
Take this as a challenge. Over the course of your life, you’re likely to have one BJJ break or another. These can be caused by injuries, changes in living situations, parenthood, work, or any number of things.
Yes, you’ll probably feel rusty when you step back on the mats. But don’t focus on where you were, focus on where you are right now and focus on moving forward. Most importantly, focus on having fun.
See you all on the mats!
