Sparring Gear - Compulsory and recommended items
 
Groin Guards, Head Guard, Mouth Guards
Groin: Compulsory for males to attend a Team tournament or grading to Red Belt or higher.
Head: Compulsory for anyone to attend a Team tournament or grading to Red Belt or higher.
Mouth: Not compulsory but recommended to wear a dentist fitted mouth guard at tournaments or grading to red belt or higher.

*please note - we highly recommend these items to keep your kids safe even if its just a "once off" sparring class to qualify for grading.
We understand there is some resistance for parents to purchase these items for beginner students so in those cases we make this compromise:
Students can attend a "once a term" sparring session to qualify for their grading without safety gear, however they will not be permitted to partake in the freestyle sparring section without a head guard and groin guard (males) and can only partake in the drills. Drills we can control to a much greater degree than the actual sparring which poses a much greater risk. 

*A word on mouth guards for kids - The basic mouth guards we sell for kids are no where near the quality that you will get from a dentist and can be quite uncomfortable for the kids to wear as they do not often mold exactly to your child's mouth. Given that breathing correctly is quite important, especially during an activity like sparring, wearing the mouth guard may be more of a concern than trying to mitigate a
the relatively small potential of a striking risk.
If you have a dentist fitted mouth guard by all means wear it, if not, its optional.
 
*Also note - Every grading from blue 3 stripe to red and beyond, students will be required to perform full contact sparring on the day with their own gear. Contact sparring is relatively safe with the right gear, definitely not safe without it. 
 
Arm and Leg Guards 
Highly recommended but not compulsory for anyone participating in any sparring event - class, grading, tournament. 
 
Hogu (Body Protector) We have plenty of these we can loan out, although if you're sparring regularly you will be better off with your own. Recommended but not compulsory for anyone participating in any sparring event - class, grading, tournament.