Covid-19

It’s been rocking the world and as of this week, we’re all in limbo. Some of us still work, and the days progress much as before, just with less people. For others of us, our whole jobs have changed or been temporarily suspended. It’s a crazy time right now with closures and changes that affect us all on an intimate level.

What does this mean for NASKA, Sport Karate, and martial arts in general?

With schools closing or closed and gatherings of over 50 people being heavily discouraged, the martial arts industry is feeling some pressure.

But, there have been some incredible moments that have lit up the community and brought us all together in ways that we just weren’t working towards before. Online classes and forums have become the plan and everyone has a variation or twist that they’re sharing with everyone else. It’s not about competition anymore, it’s about surviving through this strange spell. Everyone is stepping up to provide assistance to those that need it on training and implementation. For our piece, we have our Quarantine Zone with tons of videos as well as our Community Group with online trainings and workout with some of the best around.

The promoter side of the equation is completely different. Events, local and national, are being canceled and delayed across the country. Ocean State Grand Nationals was rescheduled to July 17-19 due to covid-19 restrictions put in place by the state. Though the reschedule isn’t ideally placed with other events at least they still have an event.

David Bossinotte released a statement on March 13th canceling the Quebec Open and Richard Plowden followed suit just a few days later, on March 16th, canceling the 2020 WKC Nationals and the Great Lakes Pro-Am Tournaments. The repercussions this has for WKC Worlds isn’t clear, but rankings aside, it’s the right choice. And it’s not just the national events, everywhere I look, there are local events closing. Promoters of every level are taking the competitors’ health and safety as their first consideration. And that’s a community I’m proud to be a part of.

For a time that is historically full of travel, competition and a fair amount of chaos. Now we’re all just…waiting.

For news, for progress, for the next closure. And of course, for the sign that we all get to go back to work and resume a little bit of the normalcy that is so jarringly missing from life right now.

From all of us at SportMartialArts.com, stay healthy, stay calm, and we will all get through this.

Together.

 

 

-Corey Holzman