June 2020
- Details
- Published: 11 June 2020 11 June 2020
- Last Updated: 11 June 2020 11 June 2020
Indoor classes remain cancelled due to COVID-19.
The adult class fun runs are underway – good to see everyone at Baker Park on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Remember, these sessions for our adult class members are optional and weather dependent. If you are interested, we meet in the Baker Park parking lot at 5:50 pm. Sessions run until approximately 8 pm.
With the announcement that Alberta is moving into Phase 2 of of the COVID-19 relaunch strategy on June 12, many people are wondering when we will resume in-dojo classes. Phase 2 allows for the reopening of indoor recreation, including gyms, fitness and sports facilities. However, as we train in a school, we follow the reopening limits imposed by the school boards. As such, our indoor training will not resume before September. We will provide additional information about reopening our dojo as it becomes available. Be aware that for outdoor training and for indoor training once it resumes, we will follow the health and safety procedures prescribed Alberta Health and our Chief Medical Officer as well as karate-specific training guidelines recommended by Karate Canada and Karate Alberta.
As far as recommendations for keeping up with your training – of course remember to stay active. Our current outdoor training is focusing on our Chito Ryu curriculum: everything we need to do as individuals to prepare for the next grading. If you are not involved in the fun runs, don’t hesitate to work on this at home! We have no specific timing in mind for gradings, but this is a perfect opportunity to concentrate on the areas you need to work on in order to be ready for grading opportunities.
Take care everyone. Be nice to each other and wash your hands!
Gary Sabean
Head Instructor
May 2020
- Details
- Published: 15 May 2020 15 May 2020
- Last Updated: 15 May 2020 15 May 2020
Classes remain cancelled due to COVID-19.
Hope you are all finding ways to keep active! Though we are still under significant restrictions, the conversations among public health and government officials have become more encouraging with proposed plans for lifting restrictions. Lifting restrictions will of course depend on how the disease progresses, but we are hopeful that we will return to some degree of normalcy before too long. Our opportunity to get back in the dojo depends upon when school boards reduce restrictions and upon the protocols we would have to put in place to train safely. We will keep you informed of any developments on how or when we may plan for a return.
I have received a few questions regarding fees. Note that any fees you paid up until we closed will be carried forward to cover your future training costs. For example if you had paid for March (we trained only two weeks in March), April and May, you would have credit for two and one half months of fees to be applied once we repoen. Please note that if you were behind in your fees, payment up to March 15 is still required.
In the meantime, keep practicing. And if you aren’t doing that, stay active and keep moving. With the weather getting nicer, and considering we may not get back to the dojo before September, we may think about beginning our Tuesday and Thursday fun runs at Baker Park for the adult class, if they work within Alberta Health guidelines. If we decide to go ahead with this, note that they are voluntary. Stay tuned for more information on fun runs.
Take care everyone. Be nice to each other and wash your hands!
Gary Sabean
Head Instructor
April 2020: Update
- Details
- Published: 29 March 2020 29 March 2020
- Last Updated: 29 March 2020 29 March 2020
Classes remain cancelled due to COVID-19.
Note that the Junior National Championships, slated for early May, have also been cancelled.
While we are all wondering what challenges we will face next, we have had some very positive news to share. Sensei Mariah Blunt has won a $1,800 bursary from Karate Canada! With support from the Government of Canada, Karate Canada created the annual Stay in the Fight Bursary, designed to help female athletes plan for their futures in the sport in coaching, officiating or governance.
Congratulations to Sensei Mariah; since she began training in karate in 2008, she has shown tenacity, drive and an unwavering commitment to achieving her goals. She is a force to be reckoned with in the Canadian karate scene and we are thrilled that Karate Canada is lending support to help her and other female athletes like her, to Stay in the Fight.
I hope everyone is staying healthy – both physically and mentally! Experts suggest that right now it’s important to set routines for both work and leisure time and to create small goals to achieve. Certainly, this takes a bit of discipline to do, but luckily you already understand discipline and focus because of your karate training. So, while there has been a proliferation of apps, videos, and live-streaming fitness classes, which are probably fun to try, remember, we have a few set workouts from our adult classes that are beneficial! Both our ab routine and tedos are solid workouts as is doing all the kihons and katas with focus and intensity.
Take care everyone. Be nice to each other and wash your hands!
Gary Sabean
Head Instructor
How to be a Good Karate Parent
- Details
- Published: 08 March 2014 08 March 2014
- Last Updated: 26 June 2016 26 June 2016
From Karate by Jesse http://www.karatebyjesse.com
Note: I came across the following article and thought our dojo parents might enjoy it. I know I did!
Gary Sabean
Imagine the horror:
- You’ve been driving your kids to Karate class, tournaments and camps for years.
- You’ve spent boatloads of money on uniforms, belts, gradings and equipment.
- You’ve invested hundreds of hours to relentlessly push your kids to the limit.
Then one day…
BANG! They quit. Just like that. You’re heartbroken. Flabbergasted. Why?! You try to talk to them. You try to convince them to continue. You tell them they’ve come too far to quit now – give it another shot, kiddo! But nothing works. When a child makes her mind up, there’s not much you can do really.