On Saturday, September 19th, 2020, Golden Eagle Martial Arts is hosting the 2nd Golden Eagle Challenge. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic this years event will be hosted online via Zoom. The competition starts at 10:00 AM.

What is the Golden Eagle Challenge? The best place to learn more is at the the Challenge website. 

In summary, the challenge is a katas/forms competition. What makes it different from other events is its format. Each competitor will perform a minimum of two different katas/forms. Non black belts and those with less than four years experience will perform up to three different katas/forms. Black belts and those with more than four years of experience will perform as many as five different katas. Competitors will be grouped by age and experience in groups of four. Competitors in each group will be paired, similar to sparring. Each competitor will perform the kata they select, and after both have performed the judges will select the best performance of the two. There will be a medal round and a championship round. The gold medalist from each group will compete in a championship round of similar groups. Black belt champions will compete in a grand championship.

New this year, competitors will choose to compete in one of two divisions. The first division will be the empty hand kata/forms division. The second division will be the mixed empty hand kata/form and weapons kata/forms division. This opens up our event to more martial artists that may not have many empty hand kata/forms, but may have more to choose from by adding their weapons. Since the results are based on the competitor's performance it is possible that one competitor in a pairing will do an empty hand kata/form and the other might perform a weapons kaat/form.

Rather than give a score or a place, like other events, each competitor is judged on their performance within each pairing. One is designated red and the other blue. After each pairing has performed the judges will raise a red flag or a blue flag for the martial artist they feel performed better. The one with the most flags wins that pairing.

The challenge is that the martial artist has to have multiple katas/forms prepared for competition plus they have to select the order in which they perform their katas/forms. They also can't repeat a kata in a round. Are you up to the challenge?

Announcement From Shihan Chris Malley

Good News! We will be resuming in-person classes July 6th in Webster and July 7th in Galway as part of New York States reopening phases.

This session in Webster will run from July 6^th to August 31^st. However, the class times have changed. Classes will be shortened from 6pm to 7pm and rates have been adjusted accordingly. The website calendar has been updated to reflect these changes. It is possible classes will be extended at a later date. Please register for the next session at http://www.ci.webster.ny.us/104/Parks-Recreation

The summer session in Galway will be outdoors, weather permitting, July 7th - September 3rd. Classes will be run from 7pm to 8pm. We do not yet have a determination on resuming classes in the school once the school year begins.

It is possible that classes will be suspended again and will will act accordingly.

Our schedule will continue to list the Virtual Dojo Classes in the event in-person training is once again suspended or weather does not permit outdoor training.

It is important to know that Webster Parks & Recreation personnel, Galway Central School personnel, and all Golden Eagle Martial Arts instructors will be following all necessary guidelines and recommendations as put forth by the CDC to limit exposure and mitigate health risks.

There will be additional instructions given in class. However, upon arrival the following changes will be effective immediately:

1.    All Students, Instructors, parents and caregivers are required to wear a mask before entering the Webster Parks and Recreation facility and Galway Central Schools (when applicable) as well as during class.

2.    Webster Parks & Recreation has provided us with disinfectant spray and hand sanitizer.

3.    The Galway Dojo will provide disinfectant spray and hand sanitizer.

4.    All students will be required to wash or sanitize their hands prior to the beginning of class, once during class break and at the end of class.

5.    We will be practicing Social Distancing; staying at least 6 feet apart from one another.

6.    We are implementing a “no contact – no touch” policy for all students and instructors. Do not touch any other person in the dojo.

7.    If you do not feel well, have a fever, have cold symptoms or think you’re sick do not come to class.

Although it’s unfortunate that we must modify class instruction, these modifications allow us the opportunity to get back together in the dojo.

Thank you in advance for your understanding and cooperation. We look forward to seeing you again!

Announcement by Shihan Chris

Due to the COVID-19 crisis all in person training is cancelled until further notice. As an alternative we have created the Golden Eagle Martial Arts Virtual Dojo where we host live classes and record classes, wamups, drills, and how to's.

Live Classes

We are providing our students live classes via Zoom. These classes are Mondays through Thursdays. General classes are from 7:00 PM to 7:30 PM and advanced classes are from 8:00 PM to 8:30 PM. These classes are recorded and later uploaded to Youtube so they can shared with those unable to join us live. To join us live please download the client application for your device (PC, laptop, tablet, smartphone, or iphone). Then browse our calendar, click the class you want to partcipate in, then click the join class button. All general classes for April share the same link and all advanced classes share the same link. Once you've joined a recurring class in Zoom it will remain in your meeting list so you won't have to come back to the calendar. Using Zoom allows the instructor to observe, help and correct as though we were in the actual dojo.

Recorded Classes

Our pre-recorded plus the live class recordings are uploaded to the GEMA Virtual Dojo channel on YouTube. All the General Classes are unlisted videos for the first week of publication. After one week they will become public videos. To view them during the first week you must login (upper right of the website) to the GEMAkarate.com then navigate to the Virtual Dojo page founder under Dojos on the GEMA menu. If you don't have an account on our website please register.

Advanced class videos will always be unlisted on YouTube and can oly be viewed by loggin in to this website.

Live classes will be recorded. Only the instructor's video is recorded.

Katas

Our katas will remain on our GEMAkatas channel on YouTube, but will be available on this website in the virtual dojo. Keep in mind that there are two sets of kata videos. One set is for the public. The other set are the official unofficial kata videos and are unlisted and only viewable here after logging in. Official unofficial means they are the most up to date, but are not consistently formatted. These videos are for training purposes only.

Warmups & Drills

These are videos of warmups students should do before class begins and drills to improve skills, speed, power, flexibility, and conditioning.

Challenges

These are videos meant to push our students while enhancing their skills. We invite students to share videos of them completing the challenges.

How To

Videos in this category are simply how to... Tie your belt, register for the website, and learning terminology are just some of the topics covered here.

Monroe County has closed schools indefinitely. WSWHE BOCES has closed schools through April 19th. We are anticipationg the Webster Parks & Recreation will be following suit.

We know this is a huge interuption to everyone's training, but health and safety are far more important. In the meantime Shihan Chris and Sensei Matt are looking at options to provide online classes, possibly through live feeds.

We will continue to provide you with updates. We strongly encourage all of our students and staff to continue to train at home, focusing on conditioning, stretching, techniques, and katas.

The Galway Central School District made the decision to close the school facilities to outside groups and most after school activities. This includes Galway Youth Commission programs. At this time the facilities are closed through April 10th and includes Golden Eagle Martial Arts. Assuming the school isn't closed between now and April 10th due to COVID-19 and the April break isn't cancelled our classes are suspended until April 23rd.

In the meantime the black belt staff are working on an improvised training program to be used to address the current and future health risks. The martial arts is a partner centric activity in many ways. Still, much can be accomplished with individual training. We encourage all of our students to train on their own focusing on conditioning, stretching, techniques, and katas.

To learn more about the precautions we are taking in regards to COVID-19 please click here.

As announced by officials over the past several days, we’re sure you’re aware that there are confirmed cases of COVID-19, caused by the novel coronavirus, in New York State including cases in Monroe, Saratoga and surrounding counties. Currently, Webster CSD and Galway CSD and their communities do NOT have any confirmed cases of COVID-19, nor does anyone in our martial arts classes. Furthermore, we are not aware of any student with symptoms. As this situation continues to evolve, we want to share the following information and changes to our current martial arts programs with you.

GEMA dojos are working with the school districts, towns and the Webster Parks and Recreation to discuss best practices, decisions, and ongoing strategies to keep our students, staff, and families healthy during the emerging public health situation. Currently there are no plans to cancel GEMA classes. However, that could change at any given moment.

Our districts, towns, Webster Parks & Recreation personnel, and all GEMA instructors are taking several steps to limit exposure, mitigate health risks, and be as cautious as possible while still supporting the healthy operation of our classes. To that end, the following changes are effective immediately:

1. Webster Parks & Recreation has provided us with disinfectant spray and hand sanitizer.
2. All students will be required to wash or sanitize their hands prior to the beginning of class, once during class break and at the end of class.
3. We are implementing a “no contact – no touch” policy for all students and instructors. Do not touch any other person in the dojo.
4. Keep your distance. Do not go closer than 6 feet to any person in the dojo.
5. If you do not feel good, have cold symptoms or think you’re sick do not come to class.
6. If you are coughing or sneezing during class, you may be asked to not participate.
7. Sparring, self-defense, and other training that requires partners has been suspended till further notice.
8. If you or family members have traveled to the New York City area or outside of the U.S., please inform a black belt instructor.
9. Our curriculum is being modified to provide training for sparring, self-defense, and other partner activities without the need of a partner while those activities are suspended.

Please be aware that it’s possible that the schools, towns, Webster Parks and Recreation center and GEMA classes could be canceled at any given moment based on the severity of this issue. While the constant news cycle surrounding Coronavirus can feel uncertain, it’s important to stay calm and follow good hygiene practices (hand washing for 20 seconds is still the best method of prevention).

Although it’s unfortunate that we must modify class instruction, these modifications allow us the opportunity to introduce to students some new and exciting things that we think you’ll all enjoy.

We will use our social media outlets (website, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Remind) to keep you informed of updates that impact our classes and training.

Thank you in advance for your understanding and cooperation.

Sincerely,
Chris Malley, Master Instructor, Webster and Galway NY.
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Matt McSain, Head Instructor, Webster NY.
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