Darren Kendall • May 20, 2020
The Return of the Dojo
Lots of Preparation & Big Plans
What On Earth Have We Been Doing?
It's now almost exactly 2 months since the UK went into lockdown. This has been, and remains to be an uncertain time for everyone. We have, as individuals and as a nation learnt a lot about ourselves during this time though. We've learnt who and what we rely on to keep us and the country going on a day to day basis, and I think that we definately have learnt to appreciate them a whole lot more. We've also learnt about what we enjoy doing, and what we don't enjoy doing with our precious time, and it's highlighted the things that we miss doing when we are no longer allowed to do it.
Something we've certainly missed over the last 2 months is our students and their families. We've also missed some great Martial Arts events such as the Gathering of the World Masters and the NAK National Championships.
There have been times when we have been worried about whether Kendojo can return in some form after the pandemic. However, those worries soon passed. Due to the support and determination of the Alford and Manby Kendojo family, and all of the wider network of our Martial Arts friends from around the world, we have resolved to come back from this stronger and better than ever before. After all, that's what us martial artists do - we fight in the face of adversity (we also laugh in the face of adversity).
We've Been Studying!
We are now affiliated with the British Martial Arts & Boxing Association (BMABA) which gives us access to a large array of Instructor training resources, and will give Kendojo industry leading accreditation in providing an excellent martial arts facility for our students. The Kendojo instructors have all been working towards challenging instructor qualifications, and we've also been rewriting all of our policies and risk assessments, so that when our students come back to train, they will be as safe as they possibly can be, whilst enjoying the best martial arts training in the area.
Alford Dojo Refurb
We are determined to use the lockdown to our advantage, and spend the time wisely. We have been doing a lot of work to the dojo over the past few weeks. We don't want to reveal too much at this stage, but...
Moving Forward
We are working closely with the BMABA and our fellow martial arts colleagues to get the best advice about when and how to re-introduce classes. It will start with private lessons, where we can easily observe social distancing, particularly if we are able to train outside. It will certainly make the transition back to training easier if you have all of your own training kit, so you don't have to share with anyone else. We are currently putting together some prices for sparring kits in their own kit bags, so we will put these on the Kendojo Facebook pages when they are ready.
Watch out for updates on the Facebook pages, and please keep interacting with us. Let us know what you are up to and how you are getting on.
Competition
I have to say I'm a little dissapointed in the turnout from the Art homework I gave you all at the start of the lockdown, although the few I did get were excellent! There will be detentions for those non participants when you get back to the dojo.
In order to focus your minds a bit, I will be running a competition called 'Kendojo Martial Art'. I want you to create the most fabulous martial arts themed artwork you can. The prize for the best artwork will be to have your design put on a tshirt or a mug, and also published on our website. This is open to all students and their parents. So get creating!
Much love and respect,
Mr Kendall
So, we've been locked down for about 3 weeks now, and for me personally, I've made sure this has been a positive experience. For one thing I've been able to spend more time with my family, which is great. I've also made sure that I've started to introduce some good habits, which I've put off in the past due to "lack of time". Now I have no excuse! DIY There are a huge number of jobs that I've been walking past for the last few months, and even years that I've said to myself, "I must get around to doing that". Well, over the last 3 weeks I've been tackling all of those repairs and maintenance jobs, and this has given me great satisfaction. Fitness I have to admit that even though I regularly teach martial arts classes, I've not been as fit as I'd have liked to be. This is gradually changing during the lockdown! I am currently alternating running and weight training every day and am gradually building up the time I am taking to do both activities. I really look forward to doing weight training with my daughter, Maisie, and then the following day I go for a run around the fields near our house and see some amazing wildlife such as dear, and birds of prey. We've also been having a family walk most days, and Mrs. Kendall has been swimming and working hard filming daily training videos for the students. Mr Marshall, Mr Barmby and the Manby crew have also been hard at work filming content for the Facebook page, and coming up with some fantastic ways to keep our students active. Social Media Social media has been a blessing and a curse during the lockdown. It's been great to keep in contact with family and friends, but it's also easy to get caught up with all of the scaremongering and judgemental attitudes that are particulrly rife on Facebook. My advice is, try not to judge others on their actions, everyone is scared and out of their comfort zone at the moment, try to be more understanding of people. We've really enjoyed doing the videos for the Kendojo Facebook group and have had some great feedback from our students. We really love to see your videos and pictures to let us know how you are getting on, keep sending them in. In conclusion, try to form some really positive habits over this lockdown period. These will hopefully keep going when we are all released back into the wild. We are hoping to see you all come back fitter and stronger than ever! So keep doing Sensei Mark's 50 challenge, and make sure you create some challenges of your own. Don't forget to send us pictures and vidoes of you progress! Much love to you all Mr Kendall
Intro Master Vince posted the above picture yesterday, and I really like it. We are all under stressful conditions at the moment, financially, emotionally, physically - the whole lot. We can't control what the Government is imposing on us, so try not to stress about that stuff (I know it's hard), but we can all 'up our game' regarding the things we can control. Routine As Martial Artists, we are used to routine. On set days and times in the week we turn up at the dojo and we train hard . This improves our fitness, self esteem, discipline, strength, coordination, stamina, and many other positive attributes. We can no longer follow that routine, so must create new ones. If we don't, we risk losing all of these things, plus the bi-products of exercise like the release of endorphins which are known to reduce stress. Let's start some new routines from today onwards. We'll start simple. Every morning when you get out of bed, get down and do 20 pushups before breakfast. Every morning, without fail! We'll be checking up on you, so don't miss a day. Please post us pictures and videos of you keeping active, this will keep us motivated, and the other Kendojo members. The Future Throughout the coming weeks, we will be supporting our students by providing you with fitness and technical activities for you to do, and we'll be setting you challenges to keep you motivated . I know that some people aren't on Facebook for whatever reason, but if you wish to keep in contact with the Kendojo community, we ask that you join Facebook, send a friend request to Mr or Mrs Kendall, or Mr or Mrs Marshall , and we will add you to the Kendojo community group. This way you will have access to the resources that we will be posting there. We will also keep this blog updated, to keep you up to date with news. Look after each other, and stay safe. Mr Kendall