Training at home during quarantine

During the quarantine because of COVID-19, Sanshinkai Aikido Utrecht gives its students ome time per week homework. Additionally, three times per week an online training to participate from home is being offered via video conference with Jitsi Meet. These are well received, hence are here some pointers for other dojos that had to close.

  1. Position your camera at a high point, this way the feet of the instructor are clearly visible. Also make sure teh microphone is not covered.
  2. Put your laptop or phone in a non-disturb mode to prevent disturbing notifications.
  3. Everybody – except the instructor – switches his or her microphone and camera off. The quality of video and audio depends mainly on everybody’s internet connection. Sometimes it is also better to switch to a less fast wifi connection which has a stronger signal.
  4. Divide the training in pieces of 15 to 20 minutes and make the entire training not longer than one hour or one hour and 15 minutes. After each part, take a break of one or two minutes so that everybody can switch on his or her microphone and can give short feedback, for example to talk louder. A watch or timer is handy if you are using your smartphone for the video connection.
  5. Prepare your trainings. Opposite to a normal training, it is harder to work with challenges you observe in the group. Share in advance some movies, images or short description of what you would like to practice. Good sources are Darebee and YouTube
  6. Training online individually als has an important social element in these times of social isolation. Take a few minutes before and after the training for this, so that everybody can great one another or can make some jokes. For the rest good to start and stop punctually.
  7. When needed, reiterate to all participants at the beginning of the training that the live images are only for this closed circle of students and must not be recorded or shared.
  8. Experiment with the technical and didactical possibilities and discover which work for your dojo. Do not believe blindly what video services claim to be, but test it yourself and read comparing analyses. Video conferencing is also a possibility to organize some drinks or to catch up with individual students.