BWCSK Tier 4 Reopening: January 2021

Hello folks,
Firstly, we hope you all had a Merry Christmas and we would like to wish you all a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year. Unfortunately during our Christmas break with an surge in SARS-CoV-2 (covid-19) infections and hospitalisations Birmingham has been moved into Tier 4 restrictions. What this means in practice is that we currently can not run any sessions within our various dojos which have to remain closed for all students (including under18s) whilst we remain in this tier.

Therefore we plan to reopen with online Zoom sessions as we previously ran during the first national lock down and have been running for adults since Birmingham initially went into Tier 3 last November. We will be running classes twice a week starting from the week beginning Monday 11^th January 2021, consisting of a juniors (under 18s class) and an seniors (adults) class. Each class will be scheduled to last an hour. These will be run as before via our members only Facebook  group and we request all students planning to train indicate if they will be attending the training sessions by selecting “going” on the relevant Facebook event for that session. If planned attendance for a given class is considered low (i.e. 1 or 2 planned attendees) then the class may be cancelled at the discretion of the instructor taking the class on the day. Initially juniors classes will be run by Sensei Susan Hession and Jacob McBride with Senior classes being run by Sensei Richard Amuzu. Although we may ask other instructors to step in if required.

These Zoom classes will be run for free at no charge to students who wish to attend and as previously mentioned above details relating to these posted in our private members group on Facebook.  If you are an existing student who wishes to train online and doesn’t have access to the private club members group please contact Sensei Hession or Sensei Amuzu to obtain access. If you do not use Facebook (and cannot create an account in order to access the private members area) but still wish to participate in the Zoom classes please contact Sensei Richard Amuzu and we will see if we can make alternative arrangements to allow you get get the Zoom meeting details.

Thanks for your support and understanding.

The BWCSK Team.

BWCSK Reopening – December 2020

Following on from the government’s announcements on Thursday and guidance issued by NAKMAS, our governing body,  we can now announce are plans to reopen once the second national lock down due to the Covid-19 pandemic finishes on the 2^nd December 2020. Unfortunately Birmingham will be moving into Tier 3 which will affect the classes we can run in the dojo.

Changes in the restrictions that apply to each tier mean that classes in our dojos can only take place for juniors, under 18s or single households. Therefore from the 5^th December 2020 we will be restarting scheduled junior classes on Mondays at Weoley Castle Community Church and Saturdays at Bournville College. Please contact Sensei Hession for bookings on the remaining classes before Christmas and we plan to return to online bookings from January 2021.

In order to allow our adult students to continue their training we will be reintroducing online Zoom based classes run in the same manner as the previous lock down. Any adult club members who wish to take part in these who do not already have access to our Facebook private members only area please contact us ASAP so we can arrange access to the BWCSK private members area on Facebook and so you can gain access to the details for the  classes. If you do not use Facebook (and do not wish to create an account in order to access the private members area) but still wish to participate in the Zoom classes please get in touch and we will see if we can make alternative arrangements

The Zoom classes will run Mondays and Wednesdays starting 7pm and scheduled to run until 8pm. Whilst we did not charge for these during the first lock down whilst running multiple classes a day, several days of the week, we have decided to charge a nominal fee this time around to help cover the ongoing costs. The first Zoom class will be on Monday 30^th November 2020.

Whilst this isn’t what we had all hoped for we will continue to train in the dojo where possible and online where not. We will review these arrangements and adapt as the situation changes over the coming weeks and months. In the meantime we look forward to seeing our younger students back in the dojo from Saturday 5^th December and our slightly older ones online from Monday 30^th December.

Thanks for your support, we really do appreciate it.

Richard Sensei.

BWCSK Dojo closures due to Lockdown from the 5th…

Hello folks,
On Saturday the Prime Minister announced a national lockdown starting on Thursday 5^th November 2020 and planned to run until the 2^nd December 2020. Unfortunately this means we are yet again going to have to close our dojo doors for the duration of the lockdown. The health of our students and instructors is of paramount importance and these circumstances are out of our control.

This now means that the last session in November for Adults will be on Monday 2nd November and for Children on Tuesday 3rd November. All pre-booked classes that were scheduled to run during the lockdown period are regrettably now cancelled.

We are very sorry for any inconvenience this causes, we were all hoping this situation wouldn’t arise again but alas this is where we are.

Thanks for your understanding,

The BWCSK Team

BWCSK Club Notice on the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) Pandemic Update…

It is with deep regret and great sorrow that due to the latest government advice advising all schools and sports clubs to close that we feel the time has come to announce the suspension of all BWCSK classes until further notice. This decison has not been made lightly and we have been continuously speaking to our members and parents of younger members to determine what they wanted us to do up until this point. As a club we have never before had to shut our doors but these are unprecedented times. We believe that we need to take this inevitable decision in the best interests of our students, their families and our instructor’s health. We will look to review this decision as the situation changes over the coming weeks based on the government’s and NHS advice at that time. Please check our Facebook Page and this web site for updates.

We would like to thank our students, parents and family of our younger students and our instructors and assistant instructors for their support  that has allowed us to continue until this point.

Watch this space as we will look to find ways to support all our students continued studies over the coming weeks and if you have any questions please feel free to contact us.

In the meantime we would like everybody to take care of themselves, stay safe and keep practising.

The BWCSK Team.

BWCSK Club Notice on the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) Pandemic

BWCSK are constantly reviewing the situation and latest government guidelines and will keep you informed of the how the club will proceed going forward. We recommend that you check our facebook page (https://en-gb.facebook.com/BirminghamShotokan/) for the most up-to-date information as this will be updated as a priority as the situation evolves, our facebook news feed is also visible on the bottom of all posts on this site.

Karate training is currently on as normal with hygiene protocols in place. There will be no sparring or bag work during this time. Internal doors will be kept open so that contact with surfaces can be minimised and cleaning is in place.  If you or any member of your family are exhibiting symptoms as per government advice please stay away to help ensure the good health of your fellow students, their families and your instructors.

Please make sure your Gi Is washed after each session, may I also point out your white mitts are also washable but they will not be needed as there will be no contact kumite. There will be someone in place to make sure children wash their hands before training.

Whilst we appreciate that some of you may prefer not to participate at this time and fully understand and support that decision we would be grateful if you could inform Sensei Hession so that she can organise classes accordingly.   

Stay safe and be mindful, keep practising even if not attending classes and we look forward to seeing you all again in the future.

The BWCSK team.