Today the IOC announced that wushu will be included as an official sport in the Dakar 2022 Youth Olympic Games (YOG). This is a tremendous milestone in the development of wushu, and the positive outcome is the result of the hard work, longtime efforts and substantial global promotions of the IWUF and its 155 members over the past 30 years.

After serious consideration by the IOC Executive Board, wushu was included in the Dakar 2022 YOG for several key reasons. Wushu is a sport greatly enjoyed and popularized by youth. The IWUF adheres to the principles, vision and mission of the YOG and the IOC that promote youth athletes learning about Olympic values, exploring other cultures, developing the skills to become true ambassadors of their sport, and improving their training methods and performance.

The IWUF believes the inclusion of wushu in the Dakar 2022 YOG offers enormous encouragement for all athletes, coaches and officials in the sport today. This milestone will greatly encourage more young people to explore wushu and join the sport, training towards both an elite level and for enjoyment and health. The IWUF continues to emphasize that wushu helps youth build a strong body, mind and spirit, while promoting friendship and understanding among various cultures and nations.

Looking to the future, the successful inclusion of wushu in the Dakar 2022 YOG reminds the IWUF that we need to consistently evolve to keep our sport attuned to the needs of its stakeholders, by continuing to refine rules and regulations, and adhering to the IOC motto of “faster, higher, stronger.” The Federation will strive to develop more wushu federations around the world especially in underserved regions, and promote more vigorously the wushu lifestyle that offers athletes the benefits of sport for health and happiness.

The IWUF offers a heartfelt and profound thanks to all its members and partners who have supported the Federation’s work for the past 30 years, helping build the sport of wushu to its current high level.

MAIA President Walt Missingham has today announced that the COVID SAFE MARTIAL ARTS SCHOOLS CERTIFICATION PROGRAM is being rolled out in Canada.

“I congratulate the Canadians in their professional and pro active response”

I can also reveal we are we are working with groups in USA, UK, Oceania, Malaysia and Greece who are also aligning with the initiative, it is gratifying that the good we are doing for our Industry in Australia is now being shared with our international colleagues”

www.covidsafemartialartsschools.com

Many members have been enquiring about Insurance Renewals as Insurance is now, more than ever, important. The following Statement issued by MAIA President, Walt Missingham.

“I have reviewed the insurance situation and it is, for many of our members, an additional cost that they can do without at this very challenging time.

Accordingly I am today announcing that the MAIA will underwrite your insurance for this period and defer any payments to the next quarter at which point your insurance will need to be renewed for the 1 October 2020 ­ 1 July 2021”.

It means all MAIA members who hold insurance under the MAIA policy will be issued with insurance coverage from 1 July to 1 October without any payment at this time.

MAIA President Walt Missingham has today congratulated the Martial Arts industry in collectively rising to the occasion in dealing with the Covid 19 Crisis and its impact on our industry.

“In less than 3 weeks we have had over 20,000 instructors successfully complete the certification process, it is a credit not just to the MAIA team who developed and released the program but to the thousands of instructors who have been able to respond in a non political way to the benefit of our industry – well done to all involved!”

Walt revealed that the Covid Safe Certification Program is only the first part of what the MAIA will be doing over the next 6 months. We have a comprehensive awareness campaign that centres around the single ‘Covid Safe School brand’.”

“Many instructors are focused on the date that they can return to teaching and this is, of course both reasonable and understandable, but this is not the only challenge we face. The far greater challenge is to deal with the very effective fear campaigns waged by both our governments  and our media.

The Covid Safe Martial Arts Schools initiative is designed not just to effectively educate instructors but also to give the general public confidence in returning to training with ‘Covid Safe’ Instructors.”

KWACT has today released the COVID Safe Return to Play Plan.

This Plan is designed to protect as far as possible all participants in Kung Fu/Wushu, their families, and the community at large from infection with Covid 19. This viral disease is highly infectious, and lethal to many in the community. The following provisions will assist in its control, so we in the Kung Fu Community may play our part.

Everyone is encouraged to keep abreast of national information on control measures, but particularly to information from the ACT Government.

Class Hygiene

1. No spectators are allowed in classes.
   1. Parents may drop children off, but are not permitted to stay inside: they may wait outside if desired.
2. Provide a hand cleaning station where all persons entering the class will clean their hands: all persons to clean hands with soap/sanitiser on entry and before leaving
3. Regular hand washing with soap and water or sanitiser (20 second rule)
4. Instructors to ensure that cleaning and sanitising will occur before and after class, and where appropriate during class. Particular attention to be paid to toilets, door handles, light switches and bench surfaces.
5. Abide by social distancing requirements
   1. No physical contact between any people not living in the one household
   2. Minimum 1.5 m distance between all people
   3. Maximum 20 people per room, at the rate of 1 person per 4 square metres
   4. When allowed, all equipment such as focus pads to be used by only one person in a class, and cleaned/disinfected after every use.
6. Where possible, classes will have clearly signposted separated entry and exit areas.
   1. When conducting back to back classes, when one class is finished, there will be no entry by those attending the next class until all those from the first class have left.
7. Instructors will ensure that the following equipment forms part of their safety supplies:
   1. Hand sanitiser, disinfectant mops, microfibre cloths, gloves (rate safe) and paper towels
8. Instructors will ensure that any chairs in the training area are at least 1.5 m from any adjacent chair.

Personal Hygiene

1. Students and instructors encouraged to shower at home.
2. Personal equipment not to be shared.
3. Any coughing or sneezing to be into the elbow, with hands cleaned afterwards. Obviously no spitting, and nasal secretions to be treated as infective.

Health

1. All students and instructors are required to stay at home if feeling at all unwell (apart from known chronic conditions)
2. All students and instructors to notify Club if not attending due to medical condition
3. Forehead temperatures taken of all students and Instructors on entry; if higher than 38⁰C, entry refused.

Tracing

1. All students and prospective students to have contact details recorded.
2. Records kept of all students who attend any class for any period of time. These records to be made available to health authorities if anyone in the club is found to be Covid 19 positive.

Awareness

1. ALL Instructors to complete the on-line MAIA Covid-Safe certification.

https://www.openlearning.com/courses/covid-safe-martial-arts-school/

1. All Instructors to abide by the Covid Safe Martial Arts School Policy (attached).
2. Appropriate ‘Covid Safe Martial Arts School’ signage will be displayed (attached).