For those within the martial arts industry who did the responsible thing and sat tight following June’s crushing extension to the continued closure of indoor sport and gyms, we finally appear to have our date!

What’s Happened?

ENGLAND

On 9th July at 17:12 Oliver Dowden, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport reported that gyms and leisure centres in England can resume indoor training from Saturday 25th July. All the initial guidance and indications appear to fully support martial arts being included within this category.

This finally lifts the prohibition of indoor sport and recreation, and green-lights martial arts clubs and classes to return to their indoor training at all permitted venues. This will now not only include venues like village halls and social clubs, but also now gyms and leisure centres.

SCOTLAND

Scotland also moves to start relaxing lockdown measures as the risk assessment from Covid lowers further. In Scotland there is still no set date for the opening of indoor gyms, but increased groups being able to meet, socially distanced, gives hope to the resuming of martial arts clubs in Scotland as soon as possible – likely before the new school term.

WALES & NORTHERN IRELAND

Changes in Wales and Northern Ireland continue to evolve but are following separate timelines, and are not necessarily following England’s resumption date. We will continue to monitor closely, and update our members accordingly.

What Next?

We finally have our resume date – 25th July. This is clearly excellent news and whilst it’s cause to celebrate today, there lies alot of work ahead of us tomorrow. Clubs across the UK now need to move to ensure they can teach socially distanced classes safely and professionally. We know from Oliver Dowden’s press release this evening that this will include enhanced cleaning, pre-booking, limited capacity, reduced classes and other stringent control measures. Whether you agree with this or not, we all have a moral and professional obligation to follow the guidance closely to ensure the right to return is not taken from us again.

What About Contact Training & Grappling?

For the time being social distancing would appear to be essential. There is some talk of ‘bubbles’ being used by children of certain ages in after school clubs and holiday camps, but without a nuanced and carefully assessed guidance, it’s safe to assume the standard social distancing rules must be maintained.

What About Equipment Use?

The use of equipment should be strictly limited. Any equipment used must be kept exclusively to the same student throughout the session and carefully cleaned after use. In theory, pads and other kicking shields might be permitted but this will vary hugely from club to club, and the guidance is still (at the time of writing) less than 15 minutes old, so we’ll need to review and reflect the specific guidance as it emerges.

How Can I Resume Classes Safely?

Specific guidance will be provided by the DCMS over the coming weeks. We know this will almost certainly not cover martial arts specifically, but it will cover both gyms and sports classes and we can use this (as an industry) to guide our martial arts classes appropriately.

In the interim, it’s never been more important to ensure your club is Covid-Aware. As an association, we provide completely free Covid-Aware instructor qualifications and a whole suite of completely free Covid-Tools to help our clubs resume safely.

What Help Can BMABA Provide Your Club In Being Covid-Ready?