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Okotoks martial arts studios adjusting to restrictions

“Like everybody we understand the need to protect everybody, we’re part of the community and we have parents and uncles and aunts so we understand.”
SPORTS-Martial Arts Restrictions BWC 8612 web
Steve Vinden, proprietor of Okotoks Karate, poses at his recently renovated dojo on Nov. 28. The martial arts sensei, as with many others in town, has been forced to close his dojo and offer online classes with the most recent wave of restrictions from the province. (Brent Calver/Western Wheel)

The latest hit to martial arts training has been met with frustration, disappointment and understanding in the community.

In-person martial arts training has effectively been shuttered as part of Alberta’s COVID-19 public health emergency and targeted measures aimed at slowing the spread of COVID-19 announced on Nov. 24.

“A little bit frustrated, a little bit worried as well. Last time they told us we would close for two weeks we ended up being closed for three months back in March,” said Steve Vinden, sensei at Okotoks Karate. “I’m not really one hundred per cent convinced that it will be over and we will be able to reopen in December which would be devastating for my business.

“We just barely made it through the last one so we’ll see.”

Under the new health guidelines, martial arts facilities can be open for individual studio time, training or exercise only with no group fitness, group classes or group training permitted.

Okotoks Karate is venturing into the world of virtual teaching with Vinden beginning classes over Zoom on Nov. 28.

“Hopefully they will go relatively smoothly,” he said. “But Zoom classes aren’t going to financially keep the dojo viable for very long.”

After seeing its doors shut amid the pandemic induced lockdown in the spring, Vinden went to great lengths to give his students a chance to continue to participate in martial arts – albeit in a different setting at Okotoks’ Riverside Park.

“We taught outside all summer, I taught for four months outside for free actually,” Vinden said. “Really just to keep members in the community involved and give them a chance to get some exercise and do something good for themselves.

“We held classes five nights a week and then Saturday mornings as well.”

The club then re-opened at its new location on Oct. 1 with expansive safety guidelines in place including logging everyone in and out, taking temperatures, wearing masks and social distancing. Class sizes were also reduced significantly from the 25 to 30 mark down to 16 or so meaning more classes had to be taught to help make up that gap.

“We did all those things in all of our classes, we started doing partner work since March just focusing on our own technique, exercise, stretching, meditation,” he said.

Vinden said membership has expressed frustration with the new guidelines meaning in-person training is off the cards.

“They get a lot of benefit out of it, much more than just physical activity, it’s much more than just exercise,” he added. “It’s good for them mentally, spiritually, the physical side is important, too, but I think a lot of people just find that sense of community within the dojo and enjoy spending time with each other and pushing themselves to do better and not give up.”

The kids, in particular, are having a tough go of it with the impacts of the pandemic on school, socialization, Vinden said.

One of the positive impacts of the year has been the rise in adult membership at Okotoks Karate with Vinden positing that many folks need an outlet for the stresses of life right now and many want to train in the same discipline as their children.

“I think overall the parents, most of the families, they understand the importance of the lockdown,” Vinden said. “They understand why we’re doing it. Not all of them agree, but not all of them ever will.

“In the end, we’re just trying to do what’s better for the greater community and try to put ourselves aside a little bit. From a business point of view, it’s definitely challenging.”

At Okotoks’ Epic Martial Arts, which focuses on kids taekwondo and cardio kickboxing, the restrictions have put club activity on hold.

“For the five months of spring through fall that we were closed we had to shutdown,” said Carlos Santos at Epic Martial Arts. “Fortunately we worked out a deal with our landlord, so that was good, but obviously still an expense because you can’t provide classes.

“Our classes are group classes and they are focused on kids so that’s obviously tough. We don’t really do adult or one-on-one classes. That’s been the biggest difficulty.”

When the studio was able to re-open in September, the membership was eager to get back into the swing of things, Santos added.

“I love this, my kid does this there. This is something I grew up with and studied overseas, for my kid it’s important for him to be active,” he said. “Okotoks is a fantastic town for sports, we consider a lot of the parents our friends.

“…A lot of these kids have been with us for 10 years and we’ve watched them grow and some of them are new and starting. The kids love it, the parents interact with us.

“It’s important for the kids to be active. There’s a lot of calls for shutting things down, but for people, not only is it a business, but it’s important for the kids to stay active, to be with their friends and socialize. That’s my impression.”

Since re-opening, the group classes have been maxed out at 14, in order for proper spacing and physical distancing to be in place, with most classes well below that.

Other measures included mask wearing and reduced intensity of workouts. Also, the parents viewing area was closed off to reduce traffic.

“We are personally putting in quite a bit of money just to be able to come back when this does re-open,” Santos said. “We have to be optimistic, I’d like to see vaccines and data-based policy.

“Like everybody we understand the need to protect everybody, we’re part of the community and we have parents and uncles and aunts so we understand. And I guess in a way I’m glad that it hasn’t been a full-scale lockdown like some places, even though we’re shutdown I’m glad not everything across the board had to.”

Santos said the parent membership has indicated the youth are quite disappointed they are no longer allowed to train for the time being.

"Especially considering, for places like ours that has younger kids and schools allow kids to be open and interact,” he said. “Like many schools we instituted procedures to mitigate risk, between classes we wipe down equipment, we do fever checks when people walk in, we have the kids disinfect their hands.

“From what I’ve read, transmission among asymptomatic kids was negligible. If that’s the case and certain schools are allowed to be open we’re a little disappointed places like ours aren’t allowed to be open.

“I don’t know what the data says, has there been transmission from these kinds of kids in this kind of activity? That would be a good basis for making those decisions.”

Remy Greer

About the Author: Remy Greer

Remy Greer is the assistant editor and sports reporter for westernwheel.ca and the Western Wheel newspaper. For story tips contact [email protected]
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