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Anf
Anf's picture
Starting a small club/practice group

Hi all. A few of my fellow trainees and I want to start a little practice group. It would largely because by invitation only and it's not a formal dojo kind of thing. It would be a weekly get together for a few of us that want to really practice beyond just doing enough for the next grade. Trouble is, I seem to be struggling with finding a suitable venue. They all seem to have all manner of different rules. I'm just wondering if there's any advice on finding a venue, and also what is a reasonable price for hall hire. It seems to vary wildly from neither here nor there, all the way up to silly money.

Iain Abernethy
Iain Abernethy's picture

Church halls, sports halls, school halls, etc are what most people use. However, availability and costs can be an issue if you are talking about a very small group. With small groups and partners, I have trained in garages, back yards, open fields, car parks, living room with the furniture pushed to one side, etc. It therefore may be helpful to think of alternative locations. You just need a space that is free to use / cheap and safe.

For years we trained in a garage with no electricity and no heating. We managed to get mats from a local military facility. They were old and stunk of diesel. In the winter, we trained in the freezing cold. We wore woolly hats and gloves until we got warm, and then you could see the steam rising from everyone’s heads. There were no lights so we had to use candles and camping lanterns. Some of the best training sessions ever and lots of fond memories. I’d advise looking beyond halls and seeing what else you could use. As Funakoshi said, “Anywhere can be a dojo” :-)

All the best,

Iain

Anf
Anf's picture

Thanks Iain. I'll give all that some thought. I love the anecdote about the smelly mats and freezing unlit garage. That's proper determination :)

Iain Abernethy
Iain Abernethy's picture

Anf wrote:
I love the anecdote about the smelly mats and freezing unlit garage.

It was not the kind of the place we wanted to train in, but it was the kind of place we could train in … and we’ve got a lot of fond memories looking back :-)

All the best,

Iain

Paul_L
Paul_L's picture

In winter I put down matts on the patio, hang a lamp on the wall and train outside. Even keep training up over Christmas. Only when it rains or snows I train inside with a suspension trainer as the matts get too slippery. I think even a garden would be good enough, if you cant get a hall.