Punishment for latecomers?

[mark]

In a another thread Kenzan mentioned that latecomers to his dojo were punished.

Naturally, the Shinai Spanking Gauntlet of Death.

Actually, after final Rei, latecomers must do 100 Haya Suburi in front of the whole class.

Does your dojo have special treatment for latecomers?

[JSchmidt]

No. While punctuality is desired, people have jobs, lifes etc that will come first.
To punish people for that will just turn people away.

[JCM]

Yes, we send Liam Neeson and his ninja squad to look for them (see Batman Begins)

Only joking, is not the case for us, maybe you can make this a poll thread?

[h2o]

If someone always are late, then I'd talk to them. Otherwise I am just happy that they got to practice, even if they were a tad bit late.

[Kenzan]

I see it as a good thing.
If Kendo is about molding one's character, why not have consequences for being late? After all, if you were late to your job, there certainly would be consequences, if you were late to an educational class, same thing.
If all of the Senseis can be on time, every time, why should not the same thing be expected of the students?

[Obulco]

In a another thread Kenzan mentioned that latecomers to his dojo were punished.


Does your dojo have special treatment for latecomers?

No. At the 4 dojos I attend with regularity, they do not do anything about people being late. Most people come on time and, when they cannot make it, they know what to do (or not to do) in order to not interrupt the ongoing class.

[R Stroud]

My conclusion is that there is a place for being strict with class starting time, and attendence, and a place to not worry about it. It relates to the appropriate activity for each particular dojo.

If the dojo is a collegiate team training for competition, or a national/regional team then yes, the coach/manager should be tracking this. In this case, there are other people trying to get on the team and others with a better attendence and practice ethic who should be allow to be on the team.

But in the case of a working man's dojo, or a general community type dojo, I believe that being late or missing are just a part of what it takes to manage life, work, family, and kendo. But of course the expectation is that everyone do their best to get to class ahead of time to clean the floor, set up bogu, etc.

A good example of the later is Noma Dojo in Tokyo, because the keiko starts at 7:00 AM, and the commute is so long, many people get there late. And many have to leave before the 8:00 AM stopping time during the week because they have to be somewhere for work. At this dojo, people come and practice, there is no warm up, there are no basic drills, just one hour of keiko. So it is pretty much up to each participant to get there and be ready.

However, what I see happening at a lot of dojo outside of Japan is that a strict application of rules for attendence and lateness are applied. In my opinion this is because the people in charge are simply recreating the type of training environment they went thru when in Japan or when they came up as a youngster.

This is something that the dojo sensei needs to discuss and work out so that it is aligned with the make up of the membership and the training goals at their club.

[Blamps]

In a another thread Kenzan mentioned that latecomers to his dojo were punished.


Does your dojo have special treatment for latecomers?

What does this acheive other than humiliating the person like an army sergeant major would when he tells one of his recruits to 'drop down and give him 50?'

[MikeW]

No, we (at least the UNC dojo) don't have any punishment for being late.

[The great I AM]

Whilst I would prefer if everyone who came to UCL was on time, I have to think of two things:

1) This is recreation, a hobby, not a job, not education. To penalise someone excessively will without fail mean that they will simply not bother coming the next time they risk running late.

2) It will turn people off.

I would rather keep a healthey active and friendly club than turn people away or act like a time-nazi.

[Kenzan]

What does this acheive other than humiliating the person like an army sergeant major would when he tells one of his recruits to 'drop down and give him 50?'

I think that it shows that there are standards, accountability, and consequences, just like everywhere else.

[h2o]

1) This is recreation, a hobby, not a job, not education. To penalise someone excessively will without fail mean that they will simply not bother coming the next time they risk running late.

What he said...

I guess the "drop down and give me 50" discipline might work in a few places. In my club I think that would quite soon lead to very few practicing people...

[h2o]

I think that it shows that there are standards, accountability, and consequences, just like everywhere else.

I can get half an hour late for my classes at the university and I would not be spanked or get extra homework from the teacher. I think it is punishment enough that I miss interesting and important parts of his class.

Also, I have never heard of anyone getting fired for being late once in a while. If you are constantly being late, that is another issue, but I don't see the point in punishing people for being late once in a while.

[Frame]

i'd rather have someone turn up to our club 5 minutes late every practice than someone who turns up on time once a month.

Sometimes being late is unavoidable, the tube line breaks down

Remember most clubs have problems getting people turning up in the first place.

[Dervish]

In the case of New York City, being late is simply a fact of life.