Mission

Goals

• Use authentic fighting arts training to make stronger, healthier, better people.
• Maintain the Pittsburgh area’s best competition teams for Jiu Jitsu, Thai Boxing, and MMA.
• Continue to grow as a business in order to provide career opportunities for our staff,  and to provide members with a sustainable and ever improving experience.
• Continue to build a community of people with common interests that can help each other and enjoy each other’s company.

Core Values

• A mindset focused on continuous improvement through effort
• Whatever a person’s skill level, values, age, gender, sexuality, economic status, etc.; each person matters to us
• We strive to treat everyone with respect, while acknowledging merit earned by skills, knowledge, and contributions
• Understanding people have different goals for their training
• A welcoming attitude, and expectation that everyone with the desire can succeed in our environment

We Avoid

• Over emphasis on hierarchy, including belt rank and “seniority”
• Cult or gang like mentality and behavior
• Over emphasis on cultural aspects of our arts, such as flags or titles
• Criticism culture
• Any negative or exploitative behavior (financial, physical, sexual, emotional, etc.) that uses our organization as a platform

Rules

Courtesy and Ethics

1. Treat everyone with respect and courtesy. 
2. Avoid controversial or potentially offensive subjects, including politics and foul language.
3. Immediately report any behavior in the school that you feel is dangerous, offensive, or inappropriate (whether by members, others, or especially instructors / staff) to staff, or confidentially through our feedback system here.
4. Please provide any positive feedback that could help us to provide the best experience possible through our feedback system here.
5. Only use the techniques we teach in sport, self defense, or the defense of others. Never use what we teach in a criminal or unethical capacity. 

Health and Safety

1. Always wear clean training clothing (washed between each use).
2. No clothing with offensive images or slogans. 
3. The bathrooms are the only place you should be shirtless or wearing only undergarments.
4. Keep nails trimmed.
5. Remove any jewelry before training and avoid clothing with zippers or other pointed pieces. 
6. Practice general good hygiene.
7. Do not come to class if you are sick.
8. Alert staff immediately if you have a skin problem, injury, health problem, or are feeling unwell.
9. Remove shoes before entering mat area.
10. Do not enter or linger on the mats during a class in which you are not participating unless invited to do so.
11. Always come to class prepared and with correct equipment.
12. Do not bring illegal items into the facility. 

Organization

1. Always take your membership card from the boxes and to class.
2. Be on time for class. Do not make it a routine to be late to class. If you are more than 20 minutes late for class please wait for the next class unless invited into class by staff.
3. Do not talk while the instructor is teaching.
4. Only the class instructor teaches techniques. Feel free to help your partner remember the steps shown by the instructor, but please don’t show unrelated techniques or attempt to teach over the instructor.
5. Respect the facility and keep it clean.
6. Leave bags and other personal items in the provided cubbies and lockers in an orderly fashion.
7. Do not leave locks on lockers overnight.
8. Facility opens 20 minutes before class times and closes 20 minutes after the last scheduled class time each day. Respect this schedule and only use the facility outside this schedule only with permission from administration.
9. Do not enter the staff only rooms, storage rooms, or offices without a direct invitation.

Live Training

1. Safety comes first. Protect yourself and your training partner. Always put safety as a higher priority than winning in all situations. 
2. Always respect the tap, and tap early. Do not allow a submission to go to the point of damage on yourself before tapping, and do not put additional pressure on a submission if you feel that it is at the point of damage even if your partner is not tapping. 
3. Spar at the appropriate intensity level, as designated by the instructor or your training partner.
4. Always be mentally present while on the mats. Protect yourself at all times and do not endanger others. 
5. Maintain control of yourself and your emotions. Leave the mat and cool down if upset, and let a staff member know, rather than allowing the situation to escalate. 
6. Know your training partner’s capabilities and do not use excessive force or inappropriate techniques. Err on the side of caution.
7. Do not use prohibited techniques. If you aren’t sure, ask an instructor before using the technique.
8. Be aware of your surroundings while on the mats and avoid being too close to other groups. Do not run into other groups; it is your responsibility to stop before running into others.
9. If you are not familiar with a position that happens in a live training situation, or something happens that you feel is inappropriate or are not sure of its appropriateness, or something happens that you feel is unsafe in live training please notify an instructor or staff and feel free to sit out the rest of the round.
10. You have a right to choose with whom you train. Never feel that you must train with someone, no matter their rank / seniority / etc. You can always say no to a training partner or situation. 

Youth Program 

1. No sideline coaching or instructing. Allow the instructors to lead class without interruption.
2. All non-members under the age of 12 must be supervised by an adult and should not enter the mat area while a class is in session.
3. Youth members should never enter the fitness facility.
4. It is the parent’s / caregiver’s responsibility to supervise youth members when class is not in session.
5. Bring youth members to class on time and pick them up no more than 20 minutes after class ends.
6. Please let instructors know of any injuries or conditions that require special consideration.