School hours

[The Pred]

So not counting holidays such as Christmas. Does your dojo close during the summer time for a short period such as a week? Or is it just closed during major holidays?

[Spartacus Maximus]

How long and what time a school is open is up to the instructor. The one's who are full time and do nothing else tend to keep their school open year-round for longer than instructors who run a school in addition to a full time job.

For both types though, it is unusual to close completely for more than a day or two. What usually happens is that training hours are shortened as activity slows down during holiday/vacation periods.

Then, of course there are exceptions such as the type of instructor who trains every single day whose school is open as long as they are present.

[Nidan Melbourne]

My club shuts up shop a week before Xmas and goes back 2 weeks into jan.

This gives everyone a chance to relax and recover

[RJCKarate]

We shut up for about 3 weeks over Christmas, 2 weeks mid-year, and 1 week in April/October as term breaks. So, we generally train for around 45 weeks of the year.

[Spartacus Maximus]

That's alright, but it is nice to know that one is welcome to train and seek advice at anytime of the year even if most other people decide they want to take a break.

[RJCKarate]

Our breaks are usually because I'm going to Okinawa. They also give me a chance to ensure my own karate is up to scratch. All our brown/black belts have a key and often just run informal sessions.

[The Pred]

Yeah, I think breaks are necessary since it can prevent burnout. Plus it's a great time to do any necessary repairs to a dojo.

[sensei8]

I'd usually close down for the entire Christmas week. I'd close for the day before, day of, and the day after, for Thanksgiving, and the same for New Years Day. That's about it.

Our Hombu, under the directions of either our Soke and Dai-Soke, never closed down, not even on Christmas day because, to them, some student might want to train. Didn't want to disappoint any student a chance to train, even on the major holidays and the like. When they went to Okinawa, they too, had enough Sandan's and above to run the floor. The SKKA, it being more of an office than anything else, closed like any other office building; holidays and the like, and at times, for days and weeks at a time.

Any other Holidays or SKKA functions or MA functions, I had enough black belts, Sandan and above, to run the dojo until I returned.

[DWx]

Ours is a full time school. We close between Christmas Eve and New Year's then also usually for a couple of weeks in the summer when my instructor and his family go on holiday. A group of us will still get together to train though.

[tubby]

the local branch closes for a week over Christmas (that's also the long summer holidays here), but you can go to other nearby branches during that time if you want, they close only a week around christmas/NY