Split-Class Playbook

Mat Manual companion guide to "Teaching Two Classes in One Room." Print the format cards and deployment charts and keep them with your class plans. The worked weeks are written to be copied, then adjusted to your own timetable and rank bands.

Safety and Supervision Rules

These rules govern every format in this playbook. They are pass/fail.

• The instructor is responsible for every student in the room, in every format, at all times. A format that puts a group where you cannot see and hear it is not a format. Do not run it.
• Nothing with a safety gate runs away from the instructor or a trained assistant. Free sparring, throws, takedowns, and live grappling rounds are led by the instructor or a trained assistant, in person, never by a senior-student pod leader and never from a drill card.
• Pod leaders run repetition of material already taught. They do not introduce techniques, do not correct beyond the errors listed on their drill card, and stop the drill and call the instructor when anything looks wrong, hurts, or goes off the card.
• Contact levels are set by the instructor before partner work starts, per band, out loud. Pods and stations inherit the level set. Nobody raises their own.
• Stop any block at once for an injury, a bloody nose, dizziness, or contact harder than set. The class stops being a format problem and becomes a first-aid problem.