A LITTLE BIT OF HISTORY
At every point in the history of our school, it seems the universe has stepped in at critical junctures to push us forward and confirm our intentions to help those around us. It has seemed that each week of the pandemic has had “critical junctures” and the universe has been there, acting through all of our students to keep supporting the school that we worked so hard to create. Thank you all for your faith and support throughout this time. Please continue to help by personally inviting people you know to join our school via zoom in kids or adult kung fu, and tai chi and in helping us teach those at beginner levels.
A MIRACLE HAPPENS
Last week the universe stepped in one more time to guide and support us. In 25 years of renting commercial spaces for our schools, I have never seen something like this. The leasing company for our space contacted me and asked if we wanted out of our 5 year lease. Keep in mind that we signed this lease at the height of the commercial space market in Austin and paid a premium. Rent, Utilities, and Insurance at over $9000 a month. We have paid that amount since March for what is essentially a big storage space. We don’t want to try and open the school too early just to justify the rental space. The next few months have the potential to hurt us beyond repair. In order to do our part and what is right to prevent further health and economic catastrophe, we can’t see opening in a full capacity for months. In which case we are again paying a premium for a nearly unused or underused space, and trying to convince people to stand in a classroom before they feel safe to do so.
THE HARD CHOICE – THE PERFECT CHOICE
Therefore, we are temporarily shutting the physical space down until October 1st. We have lost 50 students since March and this will ensure the school endures and in fact, comes out of the pandemic better than when it began. This will prevent our personal financial destruction, and that of Master Ben’s family as well. We will be able to take advantage of the new, more renter-friendly Austin landscape of this coming fall. We already have our commercial broker searching for even better spaces right in the Burnet Road and Metric area for this fall. We are doing this to GROW, not shrink.
PARKING LOT CLASSES
I have gotten permission for us to continue the parking lot classes for a while on Saturdays (adult black belts and adult kung fu lower belts).
Are You Not ZOOM’ing Yet?
If you have not been coming to ZOOM classes please consider adding this to your routine. We understand that they are not the easiest, but then Kung Fu and Tai Chi itself is not the easiest thing to do. Accept the challenge and rise to the occasion as you always have in the past. Get a new web cam or Bluetooth earbuds and upgrade your experience. It makes a world of difference. Let us know if we can help you get a handle on the technology. We will schedule a one on one with you on a phone call to help you get this going.
NEW ZOOM CLASSES
We will be upping our ZOOM game with some new class options including a Sunday version of the morning class (like Sunday conditioning class used to be) at 1PM for 30 minutes. We will be re-structuring the way new students come into the ZOOM program for a better experience for them and for the rest of you. Finally, I am editing new resource videos available to all levels to help you practice stuff when you can’t see all the details.
We will publish this new schedule this week and the new classes will start next week.
We will be working on ZOOM or outdoor testing options and have started working with Grandmaster Sin to get him ZOOM ready to help keep us connected with him.
WE NEED YOU
The landlord amazingly abated the July rent and gave us till the 15th to move out. So, we need your help to move the contents to a storage facility (unless you have a really big garage you want to donate the use of for 3 months). We will need the help of 10-15 or so people to move everything out this coming weekend. We will need some trucks and we will rent a U-Haul for the day as well. We will all be masked and stay at distance from each other. Please do NOT come to help if you suspect you have been exposed.
SUMMARY
1-We need your help this week more than ever to help us move the school to temporary storage, and there are no changes in the class schedules regardless of moving activities.
2-We need you to stay active in the ZOOM classes in the coming 3 months to keep the school strong.
3- We NEED your help to bring friends and family to the classes in greater numbers to build the school up again. Just like these classes have preserved your mental and physical well-being during this crisis, it will likewise help your friends and family…no matter where they live.
4- We need you to get involved helping to teach adults and kids (if you are brown belt/sash or higher)
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