Wouldn’t life be great if we could always be on time? Sadly, it doesn’t matter how organised you are, there are occasions when being late is inevitable. However, some students are persistently late which can have an adverse effect on our classes.
Arriving late is distracting and can disrupt the flow of the class. The instructor might need to pause the lesson to acknowledge the late arrival, which can break the concentration of other students and interfere with the progression of the lesson.
Karate classes often begin with a warm-up and stretch to prepare the body for physical activity. Missing this part of the class increases the risk of injury, as your muscles may not be properly stretched and prepared for the more intense exercises that follow.
Martial arts teach transferrable skills and students will learn things which they will also apply to real life. Punctuality teaches students to be responsible for managing their time. It helps them understand the importance of planning ahead and setting priorities, fostering discipline that will serve them well in all aspects of life.
Karate often involves partner work or group activities. Arriving late can disrupt the pairing or group arrangements, forcing others to wait or adjust, which can be frustrating and unfair to those who arrived on time.
One of the most important values that karate teaches is respect – self-respect and respect for others. We bow in every session to show our respect for our training partners and instructors. Punctuality is a sign of respect in martial arts. Arriving late can be seen as disrespectful to the instructor and your fellow students, as it shows a lack of commitment and consideration for the established schedule.
There’s an old saying that ‘failing to prepare’ and ‘preparing to fail’ are the same. By turning up late a student has shown that they are sometimes mentally unprepared for the challenges that the training might throw at them.
A club needs rules and guidelines to be successful and deliver good quality training to its students. Here’s our rules for late arrivals:
- If a student arrives late, they should quietly get ready on the sidelines and then kneel in seiza. The instructor will beckon you to join in when it suits the class.
- There may be penalties for persistent lateness, eg, 10 press up for every minute late.
- If a student arrives so late that they miss the warm up and stretch, they will not be allowed to join in the class.
- There is no excuse for arriving late to a grading. Once a grading starts, any late students will be excluded.
