South Austin's Home For Family Martial Arts

Face-to-face classes in a park survey

We are looking at resuming some face-to-face instruction. This is absolutely not a requirement. If you are uncomfortable with your child participating, they can continue with the weekly streaming class (which will be smaller). Here are some quick notes:

  • I’d like to hold the classes at Barton Hills Elementary. This is one of the closest “parks” to the Dojang and has not been crowded like other parks.
  • I’d prefer morning classes, the earlier the better. I can do them in the afternoon, but the heat will become a challenge as we move into summer. I spent a lot of years teaching in Austin parks before we opened a school — training in the summer heat can be brutal!
  • I will be enforcing strict social distancing rules. Students (or their parents) not following the rules will be asked to leave. If, at any point, social distancing does not feel manageable, I will send everyone home. If, at any point, I feel like I can’t manage the safety of these kids, we will suspend the classes and everyone will return to using the live-stream.
  • The rules will be as follows:
    • Masks will be worn at all times by everyone.
    • Personal training areas will be marked with cones. Students are expected to stay in their area. Water bottles and swords will be with them to limit back-and-forth traffic.
    • Students and parents are expected to maintain 6-foot distance. This distance will be increased if students are breathing hard or if there is wind.
    • We will be training with wooden swords only. People get twitchy when they see metal blades waiving around in parks.
    • There are some weird cultural divisions happening right now regarding taking safety precautions against the coronavirus. If you feel the measures being taken for these classes are too much, please be respectful of those who support their application. As a school, our position is that the consequences of being overly-cautious are minimal, while the consequences of not being as cautious as we can are potentially devastating — and with exponential effects.