Missing Link Martial Arts UK gradually reopened their face-to-face classes in October but was forced to move training sessions in Salford to a Manchester city centre location.
Martial arts teacher, Heero Miketta, was delighted to begin practical karate lessons again after teaching online throughout lockdown.
But he had no other option than to stop teaching in Salford and move to a brand new location at Methodist Central Buildings on Oldham Street in Manchester.
Mr. Miketta stopped teaching in Salford on a Wednesday evening and instead hosted two lessons on a Saturday afternoon in Manchester.
He said: “The Angel centre where we usually train in Salford is also an NHS centre and has many vulnerable people.
“The centre requested that we did not do any onsite training until it was safe enough to do so.
“People from Salford had to travel to Manchester city centre, but nobody complained.”
Mr. Miketta spent a very long time ensuring his classes were safe in his new training space.
He said: “We made covid-19 rules for our members, so the classes worked in a socially distanced fashion.
“We trained in separate areas on the floor and have squares of three metres to keep us apart.
“We only allowed six people in the room at a time.”
He continued: “The goal was to keep people moving, but still keep their distance.”
Mr. Miketta had hoped to reopen his classes at the Angel centre in Salford this November.
Following prime minister Boris Johnson’s latest announcement ordering a second national lockdown, he will have to wait longer than anticipated.
He has also had to put an immediate stop to classes in Manchester city centre until 2nd December at the earliest.
But he is not giving up; Mr. Miketta will continue karate training online as he did in the previous lockdown until face-to-face training can restart.
He said: “We are keeping online training available where the risk of infection is zero.
“It also means that you can train in your living room.
“The problem with online training, of course, is that it has less of the social component which is different from face-to-face training where you are very close.”
Mr. Miketta said: “Now we are about to go into a second lockdown; it is extra essential to be active.
“It is challenging, I am aware of that, but we are doing our best help.
“We are trying our best to keep people moving, including ourselves.”
Mr. Miketta continued: “The online classes are £3, and the onsite classes would usually be £6, but we have an offer for people who want to join now.
“We have noticed it is so difficult to commit to anything under the circumstances, so we have reduced our prices.
“What we have now is a lockdown offer that is on from now until March [2021], and if lockdown exceeds that, we will prolong the offer.
“You get all the classes for £17.99 per month, including the online classes now taking place on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays.”
Mr. Miketta clarified that this would include any face-to-face classes that take place following the second lockdown.
He said: “I guess that we will prolong the offer until August [2021].”
Mr. Miketta concluded with: “The goal is that we want to make it easy for people to work on their fitness and stay active.
“I noticed in the first lockdown that it is easy to give up in this aspect, and I think you must persevere.
“Especially when it comes to a health crisis, remaining active and working on your health is important, so we want to make this as easy as possible.”
If you would like to find out more information on joining Missing Link Martial Arts UK’s classes, check out their website or Facebook page.
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