Fellow Kendoka

I hope this short note finds you well and in good spirits…

  1. You will have heard about the lockdown to be implemented across the whole of England starting at 00.01 hours on Thursday the 5th November. Clearly events are moving apace and overtaking us before we can fully digest or even implement existing/revised practice e.g. the recent tiered arrangements and progression through these.

The Kendo Bu notes the following: –

  1. The lockdown covers all areas in England.
  2. The lockdown supersedes the tiered restrictions currently in force.

It is not yet clear how we will emerge from this second lockdown – but we suspect we may return to a tiered system in some form to take account of the different levels of risk across the country.

The Bu team having already considered the impact of the three tier levels (And a possible 4th tier) coupled with the likelihood of areas progressing through these levels had set up a meeting to re-examine our guidance and share our revised recommendations. That meeting did take place albeit with a revised agenda, in the light of the latest announcement.

We now make the following recommendations: –

  1. All kendo Technical training and practice currently taking place should stop after Wednesday except that between persons from the same household or support bubble that takes place at a COVID 19 secure/approved venue or outdoors.
  2. Your Kendo Bu will review lockdown exit plans and circulate updated guidance as and when the materials are issued by the government and other interested organisations such as Sport England – we expect this may still be comprise some form of tiered approach and will advise accordingly.
  3. The Bu will also keep options open for national level events such as competitions, seminars or gradings that might be possible in 2021 – the International seminar and grading up to 7th dan is still scheduled and booked for August! And we are very keen to initialise the new Master’s event.
  4. The kendo Bu is looking to invest in equipment and resources to improve the quality of our events and will source new scoreboards and other shiai equipment.
  5. We will also progress preparations for the new Master’s event and invest further in prizes and other relevant materials.

In Scotland the new ‘tiered’ system comes into force on 2nd November.

Scottish members may still be able to undertake some form of practice depending on which ‘protection level’ they are in. They can find out which level applies and guidance on what can be done at each level here-

https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-protection-levels/

The actual Scottish guidance has changed from the draft guidance, following publication of the regulations. An updated table covering how the restrictions on outdoor sport in level 3 have been increased can be found here-

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PQgN9qX8t9zbOgV2upIxliXR6gPZJVWEht8fTri2yuQ/edit

There is separate RTP guidance for Scotland as physical distancing is 2m in Scotland and not 1m with a mask. Find information on this here:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gFJ5xlQc2y0FVtE9ORX9YjqWbvBrUFYUciY_K-UWwZA/edit

Please be aware that there are detailed notes and an FAQ section on COVID 19 related restrictions in the Members’ Document Library, as well as detailed guidelines and advice to explain the specific rules and limitations in all 4 nations of the UK.

The Kendo Bu asks that all groups and members take account of the new Lockdown restriction and continue to comply with national and local government regulations and guidelines so as not to break the law or violate our insurance policy commitments.

John O’Sullivan Kyoshi Nanadan, Gary O’Donnell Kyoshi Nanadan, Young Park Sensei, Ben Emberley

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