Welcome Back

Hi Everyone,
As we are all aware the lockdown is beginning to come to an end and for students we can reopen for classes on Monday 9th Dec for up to 20 people at a time with Covid rules in place.

NEW DOJO APP links
Android https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sparkmembership.generalapp
Apple https://apps.apple.com/us/app/spark-member/id1453013929

YOU MUST BOOK INTO CLASSES VIA THE APP AS IT IS HOW WE WILL BE MANAGING OUR CONTACT TRACING.

If you have any questions about this please call James at the dojo on 94951929

NEW GMA APP - Our new app has a lot of features such as

Downloadable Recipe Books
       52 High Protein Recipes
       58 Vegan Recipes
      40 Low Carb Recipes
      40 Vegan Recipes

Lessons In Mindfulness - A Martial Arts based personal development programme consisting of 24 monthly workbooks that you can complete in your own time
Dojo Art - Written explanations of some of the art work at the Dojo
Recommended Books - A small but growing collection of books that I highly recommend. All are PDF’s that you can read on your mobile
Blogs and Podcasts - A collection of links to highly recommended Blogs, Articles and Podcasts with many hours of reading , listening etc. All written by long time residents of Japan

Planned App upgrades
Video Curriculum for all programmes
Video Weapons Curriculum
Video 30 Day Fitness Challenges
    Strength training at Home
    and many more hours of other fitness programmes you can do at your convenience

With a lot more planned the APP will be our major communication tool and information resource.

1 Returning To Training

Zoom classes will continue even after we reopen so you can come to class or train at home
To attend the face to face non Zoom classes you MUST BOOK IN via our new App
Ninja Stars, Samurai Warriors, Junior Adults and Adults can attend classes at the Dojo
Classes are limited to 20 students and you book into the class via the Schools New App

2 Here’s the plan for Payment of training Fees

Everyone falls into one of these two categories …

Financially unaffected
We have been very fortunate that some people have been able to continue training and paying via zoom, or even just to support the school because they have been able too. Not everyone has been in that position and have instead offered moral support which is also very much appreciated.

Obviously we are in real need of training fees as all of the staff, like many, are on job keeper with reduced income so getting the staff’s wages back to normal is a number one priority for myself. If you have been on hold please come off hold as soon as you are able.
Financially affected (scholarships)
We are a community, and we would not be here without a lot of help over the last 10 months from existing members and we are very pleased to now be able to return the favour via our GMA Scholarship programme

3 GMA Scholarships programme

As we all know GMA is extremely community minded. We will not be stopping anyone from training that was a member before COVID due to financial reasons. If your income has suffered like so many do not worry, we have your back and you can continue to attend classes until you are back on your feet again at no charge. Even if it’s all of 2021.

All we need is some proof of income loss, jobkeeper/seeker will be fine, speak to James or email us at our new email address admin@GuestsMartialArts.com.au and we will arrange it all for you.

At the point when you are back on your feet let us know and we can start payments then, no back payments required just start fresh.

4 I’ve been ON HOLD, What next

You have been On hold and are now ready to start up
Send us an email letting us when you would like to resume your full membership. We will restart your fess and get you into the next class. We will move you over to the new financial payment system when you come in for your first class.
On hold and unsure about coming back right away
If you are unsure about returning for health reasons, then please let us know. We can run you through our processes in detail and extend your On-Hold period if needed.

5 Gradings… Whats the plan?

For non Adults that have been training via Zoom we will arrange for gradings over the next few weeks. It may take a few weeks to sort through everything but by the end of November we will have caught up with everyone that need to be assessed

Adults we will be scheduling our first grading for April 2021 and there will most likely be some double gradings for those that have been diligent during lockdown. This will put us back into our normal routine or April/August/December for Adults Gradings. Many students will need the extra time to get back their fitness and rebuild muscle. Accordingly while not doing contract training classes will have a longer fitness segment at the beginning … bring on Summer.

6 Dojo Renovation

We have taken the time to do a complete renovation of the school, be prepared to be AMAZED at the changes.

Brand New 40 mm Tatami Mats, these are the best you can buy
A complete repaint inside and out new colour scheme
15 metres of Mirrors to improve your form in class
10 Brand New Kicking Towers for our fitness Kickboxing Classes
10 Brand New Punching Bags
Ninja Warrior Gymnastics Obstacle Course
Antique Samurai Flags and Artworks from Japan

With more on order and planned before Christmas

Bathroom Renovations
Murals inside and outside
New Seating and Tables and much more

7 As you would expect with all that outlay things are quite URGENT

One thing we need to mention for the sake of transparency, things are tight.

All staff are on jobkeeper, working reduced hours and the training fees that keep us viable are of course heavily reduced over this time.
If you cannot afford to pay but want to return, we are completely fine with that, as a community we will look after you.
If you are in a position to pay fees but are unsure about returning, we ask you to consider starting to pay again and help us with sponsoring people who are unable to afford it at this time.

If you are considering cancelling, we ask that you give the classes a go. We have taken on a lot of financial risk, all worked so hard and sacrificed so much just to stay afloat and keep the school open for everyone.

The place looks amazing and we are all ready to start teaching again.
Let’s get back into normal life
Thank you,

Craig Guest
and All the Staff at GMA