Improvise, Adapt, & Overcome – Contingency Plans at KMMA

I wrote a blog Monday on the merits of the stress drill, as a tool to test our self defense skills but also as relates to the trials and tribulations of life. If you didn’t read it, you can do so here.

Today I want to talk about the next training evolution in the stress drill of COVID, how it relates to KMMA and what we’ve done, are doing and will do to ensure that no enemy foreign or domestic, nor  COVID will stop us from the execution of our mission- which is empowering lives through martial art!

• A few months ago when we were forced to shut down our physical location, we shifted quickly. We improvised, adapted and overcame, standing up both a virtual dojo completly online and a LIVE virtual classroom where students could continue to train from their quarantined positions. My core team of leaders and I worked every day, as hard as we always do, delivering the highest possible quality of classes given the contingency, and also preparing to reopen better, stronger, faster than we were before!

• Then, as soon as was legal and feasible we did reopen. We reopened with both options available in a simulcast fashion wherein students can train live at the dojo or live in the virtual classroom. We put safety measures in place including taking temperature on the way in, controlling the number of dots on the floor (from 50 to 25) to create social distancing, and also added 15 minutes between classes to allow proper sanitation of all training equipment and common areas between every class.

• Effective tomorrow, the Pasco Executive Order regarding public wear of facemasks will go into effect. This is a contingency and an inconvenience, but will not stop us from our mission. I encourage all students to continue to train and experience all of the benefits of Krav Maga Martial Arts, as well as those that haven’t joined us yet to schedule their 2 week free trial. It’s in times of stress and challenge we need positive activity and a positive tribe more than ever.
  • Here are the points of my plan for moving forward so far, and I will continue to lead and communicate throughout the contingency.
    • There are still two valid and viable options for your training at KMMA, and we are not only committed to continueing both, but also to making both better!
      1. Train with us at the dojo, live and in person.
      2. Join us on the virtual dojo.
    • For the in person option at the dojo:
      1. Everyone should wear a mask into the dojo. Temperature and attendance will be taken and students will enter the classroom. Parents or others not training are welcome to sit in the cafe or wait in their cars. If they do choose the cafe so they can watch, they will be asked to keep their mask on.
      2. Students will be assembled on the strategically marked dots so that they are properly social distanced. Most of the class will be conducted this way and students will have the option of wearing the mask or not during these properly spaced periods of exercise (warm-ups, attribute training, combatives etc).
      3. When students do have to come together to practice self defense or stress drills they will wear their face covering again and/or train only within their family.
      4. We will make sanitation and other safety practices a priority while also maintaining the training and culture of our mission and school.
    • For the virtual dojo:

• • • • We are putting procedures in place to make sure that the virtual option is great too, including a dedicated instructor for the virtual classroom that will ensure that students can hear, see, follow what’s going on and get praise, correction and other feedback just like they would in our facility.

• While we’ve done well, we will do even better. Difficult situations are where we thrive; it’s what we train for.
  • When I was in the Army we used to have to train in our NBC (nuclear, biological, chemical) MOPP (Mission Oriented Protective Posture) gear. It was hot, uncomfortable and very hard to breathe in. But we had to train in it so we would be prepared should we ever have to fight in it.
  • The mask thing will be a little uncomfortable and inconvenient too but, again, nowehere near as difficult as a real world self defense scenario or even some of the myriad other trials and tribulations that can become a part of any life.

I guess what I’m saying is that life is 10% what happens and 90% how we react to what happens.

That which doesn’t kill us only makes us stronger, and

We never lose until we quit.

So join us in practicing what we preach and let’s make the next training evolution the best one!

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