Going matless

INTI Dojo Wed 24/9/2014 class

Even though I already knew the answer I asked the student members nevertheless. "Do you want to lay out the mats for the practice?"

As for me since I and the senior students here have been working out on the hard tiled concrete floor for years we have gotten used to it and even come to enjoy the experience.

Anyway the jig-saw mats are past their useful life spans. All of them are broken, hardened, dirty and smelly due to abuse, neglect, and wear and tear. Hence as the old, hardened, smelly and broken mats have lost their useful function it makes little difference between bouncing on mats or on bare tiled concrete.

At the start of each new semester when regular Aikido practice resumes I let the students decide and go along with their decision whether to use the mats or not as the junior trainees who sign up for their first class may feel extremely uncomfortable or even intimidated working out on a hard surface.

Since the latest renovation of the Student Center the college management had relocated the store to the back of the building. The store is where all the martial arts equipment, including the mats are stored. The new store is so remote from the training hall that we have to walk 15 minutes to get there, and another 15 minutes carrying the jig-saw mats for the return trip.

Last semester prior to the renovation when the old store was located next to the students affairs department, it was just a only short walk from the store to the dojo. And because of the ideal location of the old store all the martial arts clubs eg Aikido, Karate, TKD, Chinese Kick Boxing were using the mats whether they needed them or not.

However starting from this semester I notice that Karate, TKD and Chinese Kick Boxing have stopped using the mats probably for the same reason as Aikido; the hassle of the long distance walk and time to the store to take out the mats and later to return them for storage.

Silence. Nobody said any thing or expressed an opinion, including the new trainees. So looking at the smiling faces and the knowing looks all round I took it as a collective agreement to work out on what we have been accustomed to doing and come to enjoy for years, the hard ceramic tiled concrete floor.