Medieval Combat Group operates a zero tolerance policy with regards to aggressive, violent, intimidating, harassing, or abusive behaviour, or unwanted attention or advances, or towards any of our members or anyone in attendance at any of our events.
- Harassment, defined as any behaviour which is directed at an individual or group which is non-consensual. This includes sexual harassment such as cat-calling, groping or stalking.
- Abuse, covering both verbal and physical abuse, including sexual assault, which results in an individual or group feel intimidated or unsafe.
- Discrimination, including verbal and physical expressions of discrimination, based on any characteristics,
- Violence, defined as any act of physical intimidation or aggression, including threats of violence.
All students, instructors, and visitors to the group are accountable for their own conduct and must refrain from any of the behaviours listed above. Medieval Combat Group reserves the right to expel offenders from any event or class and remove membership of the group.
Medieval Combat Group aims to be a welcoming and inclusive environment, whilst still providing a setting where our students can study and make progress in a safe fashion. To this end, we ask that all students, instructors, and guests of the class adhere to the following:
- Arrive on time, ready to start the class.
- Work diligently at the content – there is no such thing as ‘This is too basic for me to spend time on’.
- Respect your training partners – they are allowing you to partner with them and drill with them, repay this by striving to do your side of any drill perfectly and safely. Keep them safe and keep your actions useful.
- Strive for good control in all of your drills and sparring. This will make you a better fencer and keep your classmates safer.
- Respect the venue – we’re lucky enough to have nice venues, we would ask that all in attendance help to keep them that way.
- Respect the taught content – if we’re asking you to do something as a part of a drill, there’s a reason. Please don’t try to work out ‘the next move‘ or respond with ‘But I could just do this‘ – if you’re unsure of the reason for the drill, please ask, rather than disrupting your partners training with what you think it should be. There’ll be time for experimentation and freeplay at the end of class.
- Respect the instructors and committee members – Medieval Combat Group is a not-for-profit organisation, all instructors and committee members freely donate their time both in class and out of class to make the club run.
- Be aware of the safety requirements for any drill or sparring and ensure that you stick to them! If in doubt, mask and gloves as a minimum for drilling, with jacket, etc added as necessary for various intensities of sparring.
- Use of club kit is a privilege, not a right. Anyone abusing club equipment or leaving it lying around carelessly or generally not taking care of it, will find themselves banned from using it.
- If we don’t teach it, or don’t have the safety gear for it, don’t do it. It disrupts the class and gets in the way of everyone’s training.