LATEST NEWS

Latest updates from across the academy

GET READY FOR THE MOVE TO ONLINE TRAINING!
By Admin
17 March 2020 2:02 am
Dojo training comes to your living room! For the next few weeks, Bristol Karate Academy classes will be run through a video meeting website and app called Zoom.  An account for the service is free to sign up for and the app is free to download. We plan to share class log-in details with members each week in Academy email updates. The details of our first class will be emailed out to our members shortly.

Training by video link is new to us all, so it’s understandable that you may have lots of questions.  Read our Q&As to find out more of the details and how to get yourself set up ready for the first class on Wednesday.

As more questions come up, we’ll post answers to some of the most common ones on this page. 

Q&As

How will it work?

Your living room becomes your dojo! Push the chairs back and get training!

You’ll be joining through your smart phone, laptop or tablet and as well as the instructor being on video, so will you! So make sure you iron your gi… wink

The bigger the screen, the better. If you’ve got the technology in your household it’s possible to ‘cast’ your phone screen to your telly, which we’ve trialled and it works a treat. Mirror your phone to your telly and then join the training session.

Classes will be through a website or app called Zoom.  Once you’ve got a Zoom account, just click ‘Join’, enter the meeting number and password (when required) and you’ll enter the dojo!

Just like a normal class, you’ll follow instructions of what to do in that session. And because you’ll be on camera too you can receive feedback and suggestions, or ask questions if you’re not sure how to do something. 

What will I need to take part?

You’ll need an internet connection, a phone, tablet or laptop with a camera and to clear a bit of space in your living room or any other space you have available.  You won’t need much more than a couple of metres, though obviously the more space you can clear the better!

If there’s more than one of you in the same household that’s training then you can either train next to eachother or – if you have another device – set yourselves up in different rooms. 

How do I sign up? 

Sign up for a Zoom account now, so you won’t run into any delays when training is about to start.

You can do this either at zoom.us or from inside the app. Create an account, click on an authorisation email you’ll be sent by Zoom and then finish the sign up process.  Once you’ve done this you’ll be able to log on to your account or into the app and get ready to join the training session.

How do I get the app?

Go to your app store and type in ‘Zoom’. On the Apple App Store it’s called “ZOOM Cloud Meetings”.

When will classes be?

With the exception of tonight (Tuesday 17th March), the plan is for a class to run every time it would do when we’re in a physical dojo.  So in our first week of online classes we’ll be training Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday.

The only classes that we don’t plan to run in the coming weeks are online versions of our squad sessions.

When should I join the class?

Same as usual. Come a few minutes early and have a chat with your clubmates before training starts.  Who doesn’t have tech issues at the best of times? So make sure you allow time to log in before training is due to start, in case you need to click ‘forgotten password’, reset your Wifi or you hit another hitch.

How many people can join a class?

We can squeeze more people into an online class than we get in a regular training session, so if you’re up for training then log in and get ready to go!

What if no one joins?

Same as what would happen if no one else turned up to a normal class. You get a private lesson. That’s pretty cool. 

How much is it to join in?

Many of you have monthly memberships, so instead of your membership paying for a class in person it will pay for your class online.  If you are on a ‘pay as you go’ basic membership, classes are normally £5 each. While there’s the option to add charging to the Academy’s Zoom account, for now we’ll just operate an honesty box policy. Drop some money directly into the Academy’s bank account for each class you attend (30-62-96, 70401968). 

Will I get credit for attending a session that will go towards my next grading?

Yep. For those on a monthly membership, every class you attend will go against your online training record. For those on pay as you go, every lesson you pay for will be logged too. To see your training record, log on to the Bristol Karate Academy member area

This is new.  Will it work?

With anything new, there might be hitches along the way. To iron out some of the early issues we’re running a small test class this evening with a few invited instructors and students.  After the session we’ll chat through any problems that people had and try to get it fixed in time for Wednesday’s Opening Night on Zoom!