by Wasentha Young

The Panic, The Fear, The Pivot: Zooming into the Future

by Master Terri Giamartino

It was early March. The news was getting bleaker by the day; Covid-19 was all the talk. It was affecting all of us. I was feeling it personally. I was worried about my health, my family and my business. What would happen to my dojo? Everything was called into question, and I had to deal with it head on, immediately, and make some tough decisions.

I closed the doors to my physical school on March 15th, 2020. Not to close would have felt irresponsible. Pressure came from students and parents that perhaps I was overreacting, but in my gut I knew, this was the right decision.

So now what? I still had significant monthly overhead. I had 100 students happily involved and wanting to continue training. I had invested so much sweat equity in keeping the doors open over the years, how was I going to manage? Panic set in. Calm down. Think.

Only weeks before I had participated in AWMAI's annual conference in Florida. I'd just gone to the theater to see Hamilton in San Francisco. Life was moving along nicely. Dojo membership was on the rise. My rosy life was now taking a turn.

The Big Pivot

One of the first things I did was call the local masters and sensei in Cuong Nhu to see how they were doing, and discuss how they thought things would unfold. A colleague from Arkansas hosted a Zoom call so we could all discuss what we were learning and share strategies. At this point I learned about google classroom, Zoom and webex. The consensus was that Zoom was the way to go, and I quickly scheduled some classes using the medium.

I emailed and then called every student, to explain what was happening, check on how they were doing, and talk about moving forward. I solicited the help of one of my adult students to make phone calls, gave him a phone script, and hoped we could assure everyone we would continue to hold classes online. We would work with everyone to make them proficient and comfortable with the medium. All the while, I was trying to understand the medium myself! I came up with a working schedule that could include everyone and keep things moving forward. It was a stressful time, a night and day workload that was tiring, but worth it.

Since I teach a lot of kids, it was important to assure their parents that online training could work. I kept our schedule as close to normal as possible, but divided beginner levels into homogeneous groups with shorter class times, to ward off focus issues and fatigue. This also made the little boxes on my screen easier to look at when I needed to give individual encouragement and corrections. I implemented free 15-minute private lessons with kids, to connect individually and give more focused feedback. I think this went a long way toward earning the students' and parents' commitment, and made everyone feel more comfortable with our new way of training.

I chose not to reduce my fees, mainly because I was still providing the service I had always provided (and more!). I also still had all my bills to pay to keep the school alive. No one knew how long this situation would last, and at first, I thought we would be back in the dojo by summer. How wrong I was!

Maintaining and Developing New Leads

Once the initial shock passed, I started to slowly lose students. There were those who simply couldn’t deal with zoom, those who said their living space was too small to train in, and those who for other unknown reasons just didn’t want to continue. I made it known that if loss of a job or other financial stresses arose, we would still provide access to training.

Attrition is the bane of all schools, so having a constant flow of new students is imperative. I have been in business long enough to have a good standing in the community. I have testimonials from parents and adult students posted on social media, and walk by/drive by traffic that brings in regular leads. But, with this new way of training, unsettling health risks, and uncertainty about the future,  I knew this zoom thing was going to continue and I'd have to think outside the box to get new students.

I changed my groupon to let people buy virtual classes. I redid my website so people could purchase online a variety of membership options. I reached out to online services such as Class Pass, Kidpass, and Activity Hero, and developed a presence on those sites. I taught free trial classes to get newcomers engaged; this brought me new sign- ups that have now lasted for months - with students from all over the U.S.! I participated in business forums, on social media as well as through Zoom, to hear how others in many types of businesses were coping and transforming their programs. And I just kept trying new things!

Now fall has settled in. I have some new adult students and new youth. Rank promotions have continued. I use email and texting to communicate with my students on a regular basis. I have started using the parking lot in front of the dojo for outdoor classes. I'll be interested to see how many students will come to outdoor classes while we continue to Zoom. Doing both at this point is more labor intensive. It requires a minimum of two instructors per class, with three being preferable for classes of 20 or more. I am exploring the idea of offering limited indoor training, socially distanced with masks; and perhaps more classes offered for shorter periods, with more instructors participating. Luckily, here in California we have a temperate climate year round, and a limited amount of rain (great for outdoor training, but not always so good for other reasons!).

"Transition and change" is the mantra for 2020. We have no choice but to embrace it and decide for ourselves where it will take us. For every door that closes, a new one opens. My wife has been on me for years to use video conferencing to add flexibility and creativity to our lives. So, now the time is here. Survival means adjusting to new norms and I don’t think our new way of living is going to change anytime soon. Where there is a will, there is a way -  and I hope we can all help each other find our new way!

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School News:

A Black Belt test during a Pandemic

Community Karate and Fitness, of Colorado Springs, Colorado,  is proud to announce the graduation of Caleb, Morgan and Taylor to Shodan (1^st degree black belt), and the graduation of Jordan, Deven and Logan to Nidan (2^nd degree black belt).

This was by far the most creative endeavor I have ever taken on as a martial arts instructor. These six students have over 39 years of training among them. Two of them are instructors at our dojo; one has been an uke (partner) for three different black belt tests. Three students are female, three are male. Two of the students are on the autistic spectrum. Two students are very outspoken, the rest shy. The one thing they had in common was determination to graduate to a black belt level. Ages ranged from 12 to 22 years old.

They have been in “candidate class” since September 2019. Candidate class is extra training for students who I believe will be ready to test for black belt within 6-9 months. Students are removed from regular classes and train in very intense classes that are hours, rather than minutes, long.

When COVID-19 shut down my karate school in March, our black belt candidates were less than 45 days away from the scheduled test. We were completely closed for in-person training for 60 days; during that time, I taught Zoom classes.

Then in late May we opened up under “personal training guidelines” and students who wanted to come to the dojo could do so, one family at a time, wearing masks. Our candidates began to trickle in, and we started making progress again.

In June and July our restrictions loosened up a bit, from one family at a time, to 25% capacity, to 50% capacity, wearing masks and maintaining a distance of at least 6 feet. You don’t have to be a martial arts expert to conclude there were some big hurdles to overcome to make this test happen.

I got creative and modified the requirements for my students. Instead of scoring an 80% or above on the physical exam, they had to score a 95%. Instead of sparring, they would referee a match where students stood six feet apart and pretended to make contact. There was a lot of creativity involved and everyone had a vote as to how we would make changes. This test was probably one of the most demanding tests my students have experienced in 14 years.

Criteria were different, and students were challenged to make incremental progress in every class. Technically, they were testing during every new candidate class, and when they reached one goal, a new one was put in front of them. Over the course of 16 weeks (in addition to the seven months of candidate classes before the pandemic), each and every student reached their goals and earned a new black belt rank.

On September 19, 2020, our six candidates arrived at the dojo at 9:00am with their families, who were instructed to bring lawn chairs and sit outside the dojo on the sidewalk. I am fortunate enough to have a corner unit in the plaza where my dojo resides. We had over 70 feet of windows for spectators to peer through while the candidates showcased some of what they had to perform for their test.

I invited my good friend Sensei Paul Gehring to sit on the judging panel in person during the test. Sensei Gehring teaches Matayoshi Kobudo and Goju ryu at his school, Iwa Dojo, in Broomfield, CO. I also invited Sensei Deb Lee and Sensei Michelle Elefante, of the Okinawan Karate Club of San Francisco, to attend virtually via Zoom. I met these two instructors at AWMAI’s Teach the Teacher conference in February 2019. I was honored that these three martial artists could support me and my students with the gift of their time.

Usually, our black belt tests are about 4 hours on a Friday evening (for written and sparring exams), and another 5-6 hours on the following day. Instead, we highlighted and showcased individual and group performances so that their families could see just how much growth had happened since the first time they walked in the door.

I awarded belts outside on the sidewalk; the candidates stood with their families. Each family member got to tell their new black belt just how proud they were of them; there were a lot of happy tears! I know that I speak for everyone involved in this test that it was worth the extra hard work, that they will treasure this memory as a bright spot during a dark time.  We all learned an awful lot about camaraderie, determination, patience and creativity.

I joked around that I was going to make t-shirts for the new black belt ranks that said, “COVID-19 hit and all I got was a black belt!” One of my parents offered to pay for them if I made them and I just might do it!

- Sensei Deb Cupples

Do you have a story about socially distanced rank testing? Submit it for our Winter issue! Send to admin@awmai.org.

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