South Morang’s MACE Academy martial arts runs online classes amid coronavirus
Small businesses have been forced to think quickly to avoid shutting amid the coronavirus health scare. And one South Morang martial arts academy has worked out a brilliant solution, claiming it could be “pioneering”.
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A leading Melbourne sensei is kicking his teaching up a notch and moving his martial arts classes online in the wake of the coronavirus crisis.
While the landscape is looking bleak for small businesses around the country MACE Academy’s Brad Draper said teaching online was a pioneering move that had the potential to benefit the wider industry, and help people forced to isolate at home.
“I have also been thinking about this format for some time now, giving my students the option to train at home due to illness or injury, so nobody misses out,” Mr Draper said.
“This technology will help members continue their training, 24 hours a day, wherever they are.
“Doing this keeps students feeling fit and confident, via working towards their martial arts goals even during quarantine and home isolation.”
Mr Draper likened the move to an online university lecture.
“It’s a quite a big logistics turn around from just organising a lesson plan and teaching it,” he said.
“We have invested in a state of the art robot camera, which via a tracking device, follows me wherever I am in the dojo while I teach the class.
“This is accompanied by a high quality bluetooth microphone so every instruction is picked up with clarity, so nothing will be missed or unheard.”
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Mr Draper said it would also enable people living outside his 10km demographic to join in.
“Doing this helps build a strong relationship within the community,” he said.
“It will engage those living further out, and people with anxiety or other health problems who aren’t yet confident enough or able to do general training classes at our full-time training centre in South Morang.”
Mr Draper said his 200 students could expect all of his weekly 34 classes to be up online within the week.