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Virtual Punching : Socially Distanced Training
So 2020…what a strange year. With a few exceptions like the Hollywood film such as Contagion or Outbreak; or Bill Gates ted talk in 2015, most people did not see 2020 going this way. Not only has the covid pandemic affected peoples work and social lives, it also affects hobbies and sport. One of my personal hobbies/sport, being Kempo.
Shorinji Kempo is not Kendo (the one with the big long sticks). Keeping a 2m distance between training partners is not effective. But times are such that we all have to adapt and change. So that we did.
When training got cancelled early March, one Kenshi made a passing comment we might have to do training via zoom. A few weeks later having done no exercise I figured why not, lets give it a try. So I invited 4 Kenshi to a zoom meeting in place of our regular class and we trialled a virtual training session. We discussed what worked and didn’t and how a virtual class might work. One of the key drivers was comradery, I myself and too lazy to do 1 hours exercise on my own at home on a regular basis. But as part of a group, then happy to get involved and more motivated to join in.
In terms of timings 1 hour gives enough time to warm up, and intensive workout, and a warm down and stretch. Furthermore given no one is travelling we could start the class 1 hour earlier than our regular start time.
So we setup our virtual classes, twice a week for 1 hour and have been running these successfully now since we started every week. We extended the invite beyond our dojo and have had participants from all over the world including, USA, New Zealand, Papa New Guinea, Portgual, Spain, Holland, Germany and various dojo’s within the UK.
To keep our regular trainings sessions interesting and varied we change instructors each lesson. So most of the teaching is done by the 4 black belts from Acton Dojo, but with occasional guest instructors to. Training focuses on basic’s, single forms, kata etc, but we try and come up with new and interesting ways to make the session more interactive and varied. If you want to know how, you’ll have to join one of our session ☺.
Some people have plenty of space at home or join from their gardens. Other live in small flats and only have a small space. But even a small space is enough. Everyone is encouraged to do what they can and adapt to their space, e.g. to avoid hitting furniture, expensive furnishings, pets, family members etc. So far zero tv’s, laptops, tablets etc have been harmed in the process.
The success of the regular training’s session led Johnny Sensei from Acton dojo to organise a UK virtual training seminar in lieu of our regular UK Summer Camp. The 1 day UK Seminar was well received and attended by approximately 200 attendees for all over the world. The virtual nature allowed us to have senior instructors from Japan and Sweden and UK contribute to the event making it a truly global effort and a lot of fun. This format also means everyone can get access to senior instructors and ask questions without the cost, complexity etc of international travel. This has opened up, new avenues for everyone to collaborate an ensure consistency and understanding with techniques and learnings.
So although the global pandemic has meant socially distancing, it’s also lead to bring us closer together across the global, albeit virtually.
Written By: Minesh Patel
3rd Dan – Acton & Luton Dojo
THANKS HOWE! When I started this website, I was not sure where we are going with it. Of course, I had some basic visions what I wanted on it; what information I wanted to convey to others, but I was full with self-doubts as how to do it. The first website, as you can see it today, is the first one I’ve ever done. It is trial by errors, I would say. Whilst I was at the design stage there was one element I wanted to be here, a blog. Short or long, does not matter but related to us, kempo and/or the club. I asked everyone on our chat room to contribute, and within days we had the first two ready. Since I published them, I was constantly battling with other issues (membership; training; work; family, etc) and I was putting off writing a new post, but by now we (the Shibu) reached a turning point, I wanted to share it with you. A few weeks ago, I put out a short ad - REALLY A CRY FOR HELP - (on WhatsApp and Twitter) for the design of our logo. I wanted to have something which will put the club on the map; will be easily distinguishable and one that artistically pleasing. Now, those of you who knows me well, it is clear that I was not intended to be one of the contenders, based on the last requirement. However, I tried. Downloaded countless programs (don’t ever believe in free dinner or free programs anymore) and spent hours pestering my wife to write Chinese characters on every piece of papers I was able to lay my hands on it. Well, it did not work. This is the best I managed to get out. Some part of it just all right. According to Minesh, I am underselling myself, but I beg to differ.
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