Sudbury MMA making most of virtual learning
A Sudbury mixed martial arts studio is having real success when it comes to its virtual offerings.
Ontario is days into another lockdown but for the team at Sudbury MMA, it's just another day.
Head instructor John Cole say they wanted to be innovative at the start of the pandemic so they immediately made a shift to online.
When they are able to open their doors they'll still get some connecting through Zoom while the rest come in-person, on days like today, with gyms shut down, it's 100 per cent over the computer.
"I'll be honest, back in March 2020 there was a lot of apprehension and concern not just for us but for everybody," said Cole. "Nobody knew really what to expect but in the last two years, a lot of martial arts academies and academies across the province have had to do a lot of shuffle and pivots and become a little more innovative and that's what we've done."
Cole says they're able to shift now quite easily depending on current restrictions and it's giving his 200 plus members options they never had before.
"Martial arts and fitness, we believe it's essential for mental health and we didn't want to be an academy that would turn their backs on students if they had to isolate or if some reason we got shut down again," he said.
One of those students whose been taking online classes, along with his son, has been Sudbury realtor Adam Haight.
"To have the option in being able to go in and joining the club or still being virtual and still feeling like your part of the team it's great to have those options as a parent or as an individual yourself so," said Haight.
"As far as a learning curve, getting on the Zoom meetings and doing this kind of stuff, it's a little different," he added. "But at the end of the day, it's providing us a really great outlet to get in our training and our martial arts."
Cole and his team have since been able to build on their online martial arts video library, with more than 350 videos and counting. He also does a podcast.
It's been a big success for the team, they've had students logging in from cities across the country, places like Regina, Halifax and Kincardine.
"Some students literally in the last two years have not come into the academy," said Cole. "We've had some students that have solely chosen to do online classes for personal reasons and they're thriving in that environment. They have all the equipment, the bags, dumbbells, they can do everything that someone can do in person here."
And as far as the pandemic is concerned, it will likely end at some point, even still, when it does, this instructor believes online learning will in one shape or another continue to be part of their future.
"Online learning is not going anywhere and of course it's something that we're going to continue to foster in our academy with or without the pandemic," said Cole.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
CRA no longer requiring 'bare trust' reporting in 2023 tax return
The Canada Revenue Agency announced Thursday it will not require 'bare trust' reporting from Canadians that it introduced for the 2024 tax season, just four days before the April 2 deadline.
He didn't trust police but sought their help anyway. Two days later, he was dead
Jameek Lowery was among more than 330 Black people who died after police stopped them with tactics that aren’t supposed to be deadly, like physical restraint and use of stun guns, The Associated Press found.
Fluid in eye cells can 'boil' if you watch the eclipse without protection: expert
Millions of people in parts of Eastern and Atlantic Canada will be able to see the rare solar eclipse happening on April 8. But they should only look up if they have proper eye protection, experts say.
NEW More unauthorized products for skin, sexual enhancement, recalled: Here are the recalls of this week
Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency recalled various items this week, including torches, beef biltong and unauthorized products related to skin care and sexual enhancement.
Where is the worst place for allergy sufferers in Canada?
The spring allergy season has started early in many parts of Canada, with high levels of pollen in some cities already. Experts weigh in on which areas have it worse so far this season.
Do these exercises for core strength if you can't stomach doing planks
Planks are one of the most effective exercises for strengthening your midsection, as they target all of your major core muscles: the transverse abdominis, rectus abdominis, external obliques and internal obliques. Yet despite the popularity of various 10-minute plank challenges, planking is actually one of the most dreaded core exercises, according to many fitness experts.
Grandparent scam: London, Ont., senior beats fraudsters not once, but twice
It was a typical Tuesday for Mabel Beharrell, 84, until she got the call that would turn her world upside down. Her teenaged grandson was in trouble and needed her help.
Angst and calls for resting places as Surrey, B.C., pet cemetery development continues
A single headstone is all that remains of dozens of markers for long-buried pets in a subdivision in Surrey’s Newton neighbourhood, where a half-acre parcel bears a large sign announcing the proposed construction of new homes.
Polar ice is melting and changing Earth's rotation. It's messing with time itself
One day in the next couple of years, everyone in the world will lose a second of their time. Exactly when that will happen is being influenced by humans, according to a new study, as melting polar ice alters the Earth’s rotation and changes time itself.