Palm Court Karate Centre opt for live classes

When the Covid-19 outbreak reached the country, Palm Court Karate Centre anticipated that they would have to make some difficult decisions. On the Tuesday after the President’s address, they decided to close the school.

According to Sensei Mario Sequeira, the decision was made when they considered the large number of children they work with, and how many families could be affected if they did stay open.

“We decided that we would send out weekly programmes so that students could train in their own time, and started recording videos of katas, exercises, and work that our students could complete at home,” said Sensei Mario.

After the first week of lessons, sent via WhatsApp, it was time to step things up, and start offering Facebook live classes.

“We set up a dojo at our house, and my daughter Alexa-Zen and I started presenting these live classes for our students.

“We now offer classes twice a day online. Our morning classes are based more on karate fitness, and our evening classes are about syllabus work,” said Sensei Mario.

Palm Court Karate Centre has received so much great feedback from their students and parents, and would like to think that they are helping them to maintain both a healthy mental and physical state.

Since starting the live videos, they have had some of their former students, who now live overseas, join in and practice some karate with them.

“As of this week, students can send us videos of their katas and training, so that we can give them feedback to allow us to correct their work,” said Sensei Mario.

It seems as if the school has managed to bring their students closer, no matter what part of the world they live in, through the practice of karate.

“We hope that our classes have become a highlight in their day, and that we will be able to continue these online classes, along with our normal class schedules, when this global pandemic is over,” said Sensei Mario.