North Vancouver karate club instructor creates one-minute videos to keep students engaged

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      Practically everyone is aware that education has been disrupted by the coronavirus. With classroom instruction cancelled across B.C., teachers and professors have scrambled to figure out how to test students online.

      But imagine if you were a karate instructor and your classes involved kicks and blocks and hand-to-hand combat? There's not a lot of physical distancing in this martial art.

      So when the World Health Organization declared that COVID-19 was a pandemic in March, North Vancouver karate instructor Michael Doherty had to figure out how to continue educating students without endangering their health.

      Doherty leads nonprofit Shidokan Karate, which is affiliated with the Japan Karate Association. 

      "It's been challenging," Doherty said. "In the 70-plus years since it was founded, the JKA has never faced a situation like this."

      His solution has been to deliver daily one-minute videos, sometimes from his living room, in addition to a mix of videos and online offerings. 

      “It’s made it possible for our member clubs in Kelowna, Abbotsford, and elsewhere in B.C. to all get together more often than we usually can when we’re training in person," Doherty noted. 

      He noted that a Chilliwack club instructor, JKA 1996 world champion Don Sharp, is part of a "Karate@home" network of teachers.

      According to Doherty, this has attracted thousands of participants worldwide.

      Below, you can see some of Doherty's one-minute videos.

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