Before your first night

Adult classes are for ages 18 and up. Teens from 13 to 17 train in their own class on Tuesday and Saturday.

Yes. Anyone thinking of joining, and any parent of a teen, can sit on the bench by the door and watch.

A plain t-shirt and shorts or loose pants. Take off jewelry, tie hair back and leave shoes off the mat. We lend a uniform for gi classes.

We bow in, warm up at an easy pace, learn a technique and drill it with a partner, then roll or do positional rounds. We bow out and the instructor answers questions.

The gi is a heavy cotton uniform that gives you grips on the lapels and sleeves. No-gi is a t-shirt or rash guard and shorts. Most students train both, and the adult membership covers both.

A tap, on your partner or the mat, or the word stop, ends a drill or a roll at once. Everyone learns it before their first roll, and you can tap at any time.

Thursday starts with falls, then grips and throws taught in the gi. Nobody is thrown before they have learned to fall, and beginners are paired with a patient partner.

No. All fitness levels start here. Warm-ups are at an easy pace and an instructor shows you how to scale each drill.

A student is promoted when an instructor sees the skills, after class. Every student moves at their own pace. The belt path page lists what each color works on.

The plan you choose sets tuition. An adult membership runs six months and then month to month, a student term follows the semester, and the teens' plan is month to month. To stop, tell us in writing with 30 days' notice.

Come to another class at the same level that week, or tell the front desk if you need to pause for travel, exams, illness or an injury.

Tournaments are optional. Some students enter and many never do, and the instructors talk it through with anyone who is curious.