It has been "10 physically and emotionally draining weeks" for Karen and Geno De Crewis as they have desperately tried to keep their Gracie Barra Hunter Valley Jiu-Jitsu school at Rutherford afloat during lockdown.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
"We voluntarily closed early trying to ensure public safety, so it has been 10 weeks so far and counting," Karen said.
But yesterday there was the first positive news in all that time - from June 13 they will be allowed to open again, but only with groups of 10.
"We have two instructors, so that means eight students," Karen explained. "We'd have preferred 20, but it's better than nothing ... we'll just have to do more classes."
What made it harder for the couple was that they had only moved to the larger Rutherford premises in November after gradually building up the business over the previous seven years.
"We were flying, everything was great, our members had followed us to the new place, membership was growing steadily and then suddenly the pandemic hit," Karen said
Since then, despite halving their fees, members have been walking away. "First it was one here and there, but more lately in twos and threes."
Like most businesses they had changed their business model to adapt.
All we wanted was to allow people to walk on to their designated place on the mat that we would have marked out with tape, do their routine, then walk off.
- Geno De Crewis
"Jiu-Jitsu is a wrestling form of martial art, so we stopped that and went from contact to no contact," Geno said. "We went through practice routines that could be adapted to wrestling, we livestreamed, that sort of thing."
But what grated most of all was that their complex had no standard gym equipment, just a large 140 sq/m mat. Yet they were classified by the government as gym and shut down.
"We could easily meet social distancing requirements," Genpo said. "All we wanted was to allow people to walk on to their designated place on the mat that we would have marked out with tape, do their routine, then walk off. That's it, no touching anything.
"Then we could very easily disinfect the mat after use. It would have to be one of the safest environments you could imagine. And there has been a lot said about mental wellbeing during lockdown and how so many people struggle with it. Well what can be better for mental wellbeing than exercise?
"I can understand concern over public gyms where people share equipment, be we were nothing like that. And then you drive past the pub and see people allowed to drink together, ignoring social distancing, drinking from glasses that have clearly been touched by others ... it just didn't seem fair."
So now it's all systems go for a return on June 13.
"We need to see the detail - there's always detail. For example, churches can open but they can't sing. But yes, we're ready, we've got all the signage ready about social distancing, hand sanitising and so on. We can't wait to go."
