# Dealing with Covid 19?



## APL76 (Mar 17, 2020)

Just wondering what those of you who run your own wing chun classes are planning to do now that this virus is spreading. For those of you who attend classes are you thinking of staying home? Or are some just deciding to keep on training?


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## ShortBridge (Mar 17, 2020)

I went through phases and was slightly ahead of the state on cancelling group classes. As of Monday gyms and entertainment activities are ordered closed in the state.

I'm in touch with my students about both their health and income ( some are losing shifts and/or jobs)

Also in touch with my SiFu and some of his seniors. We may meet for an alley beverage at some point, since bars are closed.

I've given each ofy students some things to work on solo during our break.


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## geezer (Mar 17, 2020)

ShortBridge said:


> I went through phases and was slightly ahead of the state on cancelling group classes. As of Monday gyms and entertainment activities are ordered closed in the state.
> I'm in touch with my students about both their health and income ( some are losing shifts and/or jobs)
> Also in touch with my SiFu and some of his seniors. We may meet for an alley beverage at some point, since bars are closed.
> I've given each ofy students some things to work on solo during our break.



I'm a teacher, so I'm off for Spring Break which has been extended through the end of the month. Will we really go back then? ¿Quién sabe? My wife is unsure if her job will continue or not. My daughter is a waitress and our mayor just closed all restaurants in the city by emergency executive decree. As for my daughter, I don't think she will make her rent this month by herself. I'll help as long as I'm still getting paid. If this goes on for long, she could come back in with us, I guess.  It's a tiny place, but the mortgage is paid off, and our cars are old, but paid for. And my son...he's out by you in Redmond (gasp!) taking school online and -last I heard- still working at Tesla in Bellevue. For now. So everything is uncertain, but not desperate.

For the moment, I do have time on my hands, at least until they (hopefully) call me back to work. So for now, I'll train semi-privately at a park with three or four senior students. Just forms and weapons, maintaining safe "social distancing". No Chi-sau, no paired drills, no bridge contact.  Being out in the open, exercising with plenty of space between us? Sounds safe enough.


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## APL76 (Mar 17, 2020)

We are in a similar boat to you. I'm a lecturer at uni, and we are moving all teaching on line as of Monday, and my wing chun class runs out of the uni gym, which just announced they have shut down as of 5pm this afternoon. So we are probably going to do solo foundation drill training in my tiny back yard until winter puts us out of action.


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## JR 137 (Mar 18, 2020)

NYS has **** just about everything down until the end of May.  Gyms/health clubs, which include MA schools included. It’ll most likely be extended IMO. 

A few schools in my area I was associated with - my former teacher and the organization he left while I was training under him - have started posting videos for students to train with if they’d like. My current organization is doing something similar. My current organization has also given some sample workouts, so to speak, through their Facebook page; yesterday was something like stretch 10 minutes, 15 minutes of kata, certain basic techniques for however many reps, X push-ups, etc. Nothing is required, obviously. 

Before the government ordered shutdown, all the places I mentioned went to non-contact training. One place decided to cancel formal classes and have open floor time every day instead. Basically a come in and work on whatever you want without contact thing.

Edit: the non-contact also included bags, pads, weapons, etc. Basically anything that others would touch, except for the floor


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## cismab (Mar 18, 2020)

We are in the same situation. I teach out of city owned properties and all classes have been cancelled and student tuition refunded. Unplanned and unpaid time off for me - possibly through end of May (or longer?). Trying to decide if I can find a platform to do online training that is secure for just my students to do pay per view lessons? Any suggestions? Also not sure if they will be able to afford pay per view or even classes again once they resume.


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## Buka (Mar 18, 2020)

Welcome to Martial Talk, Cismab.


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## geezer (Mar 18, 2020)

cismab said:


> We are in the same situation. I teach out of city owned properties and all classes have been cancelled and student tuition refunded. Unplanned and unpaid time off for me - possibly through end of May (or longer?). Trying to decide if I can find a platform to do online training that is secure for just my students to do pay per view lessons? Any suggestions? Also not sure if they will be able to afford pay per view or even classes again once they resume.



Under the circumstances, you might forget about the "pay" part in the pay-per-view, and just throw it out there for free or on a donation basis. It might keep people sufficiently involved and pay off in the number of students who return to class when this whole thing is finally over.

BTW cismab, I see this was your first post! Could you share a little about yourself and what you train?


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## geezer (May 8, 2020)

OK, my last post (above) was from March 18th. Now it's May 8th, more than 6 weeks later and nobody  is posting. The rest of the forum is really slow too. I can't believe it's because we are all so busy when so much of the country has been shut down. So what's up? Has everybody given up, stopped training, and just gotten fat and depressed sitting in front of a computer trying to work from home and doing dumb chores around the house?

...or is that just me?


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## APL76 (May 9, 2020)

geezer said:


> OK, my last post (above) was from March 18th. Now it's May 8th, more than 6 weeks later and nobody  is posting. The rest of the forum is really slow too. I can't believe it's because we are all so busy when so much of the country has been shut down. So what's up? Has everybody given up, stopped training, and just gotten fat and depressed sitting in front of a computer trying to work from home and doing dumb chores around the house?
> 
> ...or is that just me?


We moved all our training online through zoom. We had it open and free for anyone who might want to join but only my usual students joined in. And for the first time in years I actually got to do regular training and actually lost weight during the lock down.  

The online training worked better than I would have ever given it credit for before all this. I only had fairly advanced students joining in though. Might be a different story with people who didn't already have a good idea about what they were doing.


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## yak sao (May 9, 2020)

I've been doing zoom classes as well but like you only a few advanced guys are taking advantage of it.

I have also used this as an opportunity to advance my own learning by
doing live sessions with a WT instructor who I've wanted to learn from for years but have been unable to for the usual reasons, you know time distance and money.

Plus I'm fortunate to have a decent gym in my basement and my building that I built for wing tsun training.

The only thing I'm missing is someone to punch and kick...*sigh*


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## cismab (Sep 20, 2020)

I finally got Zoom classes started in September. Have 2 classes that meet twice a week. Its going well, but hasn't been without some stressful moments - like my computer crashing 3 hours before a class.

One of my school locations has opened up to f2f, but with restrictions in place (6' distance, masks, 9 in class). I have a "full" class there, but I find from an instructor's viewpoint very much similar to virtual classes since they are hands off. The only thing I find that is different is the visual of seeing each student easily and that can be done on Zoom if the student has a proper training areas as well.

Second location opening up with the same restrictions and so far it doesn't appear there will be enough students enrolled to justify having classes, but I will know for sure in 2 weeks.

What's the update on everyone else?


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## geezer (Sep 20, 2020)

cismab said:


> What's the update on everyone else?



Well, Gyms have re-opened in my state, so I've started meeting with a small group again, wearing a mask and making liberal use of hand sanitizer.

The real risk for me is that I'm a high school art teacher. I've been teaching online since school started in early August. Now the school board has decided to reconvene classes in-person starting a Monday, one week from tomorrow. And since I live in a state that seriously underfunds education (we rank somewhere around 48th - 49th in the nation) our classes will be packed with no room for social distancing.

So, _compared to my day job_, working WC with a small group of adults while taking sensible precautions doesn't seem all that risky.

On the other hand, I'm giving it 3-4 weeks after we start our public school classes again on 9/28 before we see another huge surge in Covid cases and have to shut down again, having lost all the progress we've made. For once, _I really hope I'm wrong. _


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## JowGaWolf (Sep 20, 2020)

geezer said:


> Well, Gyms have re-opened in my state, so I've started meeting with a small group again, wearing a mask and making liberal use of hand sanitizer.
> 
> The real risk for me is that I'm a high school art teacher. I've been teaching online since school started in early August. Now the school board has decided to reconvene classes in-person starting a Monday, one week from tomorrow. And since I live in a state that seriously underfunds education (we rank somewhere around 48th - 49th in the nation) our classes will be packed with no room for social distancing.
> 
> ...


1st.  Thanks for being a teacher not an easy job. Teachers don't get the respect that they deserve.  Hopefully Covid-19 has made it clear to some that what you don't is not easy.  

Be safe on your day job.  I feel the same as you do about the surge.  We still have to get through Fall and Winter. I'm basically just waiting for the weather to turn colds. My outlook of Covid in the next few months pretty much Covid waiting for the cold weather to get started.


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## Flying Crane (Sep 21, 2020)

We haven’t even finished our first wave yet.  And there was another superspreader bike rally in Lake of the Ozarks.  

Americans don’t learn.


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## JowGaWolf (Sep 21, 2020)

Flying Crane said:


> We haven’t even finished our first wave yet.  And there was another superspreader bike rally in Lake of the Ozarks.
> 
> Americans don’t learn.


We learn stuff the hard way.  Our reality in general is often warped


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## Flying Crane (Sep 21, 2020)

JowGaWolf said:


> We learn stuff the hard way.  Our reality in general is often warped


We keep relearning the hard way, over and over.

We don’t learn.  Some of us, anyways.


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## Buka (Sep 21, 2020)

School teachers....one of the most important resources the world has. They should be paid like rock stars in my opinion.
God bless them all. And thanks to all the ones I had.


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## W.Bridges (Sep 22, 2020)

I agree with you Buka they should be paid more. The charter/home school teachers in my area get paid more then the public school teachers and they (home school teachers) only meet with their kids once a week. I have been a SRO now for 2 1/2 years at a middle school and for an elementary school. I have got to see a lot of what teacher have to deal with.

As for training the gyms in my area have been opened for since around June to med June. In the last part of August the gym i go to started allowing TKD classes to start back up but only to adults and classes are limited to 5 students. In the last part of August they have allowed 14 and under back in the gym. So my son and I are back in class but with restrictions. So as of right now we get instructions on kicks, punching, stances and patterns. I will glad when we can get back to doing self defense with partners, holding targets for one another and sparing.


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