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British Aikido Board


The National Governing Body for Aikido in the United Kingdom.
Aikido is a martial art founded by Morihei Ueshiba, that focuses on harmonising with your opponent, it can be practiced as a sport, self defence and an art using hand to hand and japanese weapons.

Welcome to the British Aikido Board

The British Aikido Board seeks to:-

  • Represent the majority of bona fide organisations practicing aikido in the United Kingdom.
  • Support, encourage and promote the highest standards of aikido within an environment of mutual respect for offering styles practiced.
  • Raise awareness of the value of aikido not only as a contributor towards healthy living, but also in the development of adults, young people and children, without regard to race, gender or creed.

The British Aikido Board operates primarily through its member Associations. There are 42 currently Full Member Associations with 5 Associate and Probationary Member Associations of regional and national status, who each retain their independence, both technically and financially, with a combined membership of some 5,000 , which includes 1233 instructors holding current Coaching Awards.

The Board is recognised by Sport England , as the only governing body for aikido in the United Kingdom and is a member of the Sport and Recreation Alliance.

 

The Board seeks to further the advancement of all styles of aikido and to establish and monitor standards of safety and behaviour for practitioners of aikido.

The Board advises member Associations on all relevant UK and European legislation and procedures and develops appropriate policies and codes of practice.

Other services provided include:-
•  Insurance cover, for members, instructors and Associations.
•  Promotion of a Nationally recognised Coaching Scheme in conjunction with UK Coaching / Sport England.
•  Organising a National Courses.
•  Supporting initiatives to encourage the teaching of Aikido in schools.
•  Publishing Newsletters and specialist information bulletins eg. Safeguarding and Coaching.

The Board has completed a number of initiatives, arising from the work of their major Governance Audit and through the adoption of a wide range of recommendations, contained in their Aikido Development Plan will support their key objective of encouraging all Aikido groups to join together under this “Aikido umbrella”.

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Insurance during COVID-19

Message from our insurance brokers, for those who are continuing to teach aikido.

From: Michael Cashmore <Michael.Cashmore@endsleigh.co.uk>
Subject: RE: Conona virus and insurance

…. Corona Virus / Covid 19.

Liability insurance protects you if claims are made that as a result of negligence, nuisance or trespass you caused injury or property damage. So if a claim was made that the coaches negligence caused injury via the corona virus then that would be covered in theory. However it would be very difficult you’d assume to pinpoint that transmission occurred and it was attributable to the coach, as it could have been picked up anywhere. So I don’t think you’d likely see a claim. The participant is also in some way choosing to attend the class against advice, so there would certainly be some contributory negligence on the part of the individual.

Behind all of this is the fact that insurance policies require you to act reasonably and mitigate loses where possible so clubs and coaches should considering the guidance that is being provided and if they cannot reasonably keep people safe they shouldn’t be holding their classes. Close contact in particular has been advised against.

They may well find that their venues start closing down shortly and not allowing them in anyway. If a mandatory quarantine is imposed yes, almost certainly the insurers would likely look to deny liability for any Corona based claim that it is alleged occurred during the shutdown.

At the moment I think people just need to act sensibly. Consider the demographic of people who may come and ask people who feel unwell or have a cough to stay away like the government has advised. It is incredibly hard to see how someone in months could reasonably attribute them catching the virus to a short period and short space and time where they were in an aikido class, but it doesn’t mean they won’t try and we just don’t know.

Sorry it’s a bit grey but unfortunately it is unprecedented. On balance until they are told to shut down completely insurance will cover them providing it cannot be said they are being reckless or deliberately endangering / placing people at risk.

Regards,

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