As much as we’ve been hoping not to have to make any changes, with the recent upsurge in COVID cases, the CDC is now recommending that all individuals wear a mask while indoors, regardless of vaccination status. To protect the safety of our students, staff, and families, as well as our ability to continue offering our current classes and programs, we’ll be following these recommendations and will require all students, staff, and visitors to wear a mask while in the MPK building, beginning Monday, August 9, regardless of vaccination status.

We’re hopeful that this is for the short term, and we plan to reassess the situation within a couple of weeks. This isn’t the announcement we’d hoped to make, but we’re experienced with karate in masks, and we’ve proven we can make it work. There are no other changes at this point — it’s our plan to continue offering the same great classes on our current schedule.

As always, if students or families are experiencing symptoms of any sort, please stay home until you’re symptom-free and, if you’ve had any exposure to COVID at all, please remain home until you’re certain you’re negative for the virus. We’ll continue to keep you updated as any changes come up.

Thanks for your patience and for taking the necessary steps to protect everyone in the MPK family.

As you’ve probably heard, we’re finally bringing back sparring classes!

• Sparring for ages 9 and under will be on Wednesdays from 5:00 to 5:30.
• Sparring for ages 10 and up will be on Wednesdays from 6:15 to 6:55.

Students are eligible to participate in sparring once they reach gold belt. There’s no additional tuition fee for sparring classes, though students will need their own gear.

Sparring is an optional part of our curriculum until students reach blue belt and prepare to test for red belt. It’s a lot of fun and it’s a great workout, so it never hurts to start earlier!

If you weren’t able to make it to our Intro to Sparring session last week, please feel free to drop in and observe sparring class and ask questions — we’re happy to help.

Please let us know if you have any questions, and we look forward to seeing you!

We have a few announcements as we approach the end of June. First, early registration for the After School program is open for just one more week. If you think you want a spot in the program, now is the time to register to take advantage of the discounted early bird rates! If you have any questions about After School, please let us know.

Second, June will be our last month of holding online classes. We’re super excited to see everyone in person next month!

Thank you all so much, and have a great weekend!

— Jordan Taylor, Front Desk Staff

Now that the masking policy has relaxed and things are slowly returning to normal, we do want to mention something avoid any confusion:

• We ask that students who are not feeling well please stay home and get better instead of coming to class. If you have a fever, chills, a cough, a sore throat, nasal congestion, or other symptoms, please wait for it to clear up before coming to class.

We know this has been a given for the past year, but as we have done in the past, we continue to ask this of our students even during more normal times.

We love to see you all, and karate is a ton of fun, but it’s not fun for students who have those symptoms, and it’s not fun for our instructors and other students who want to stay healthy.

Thank you all so much, and we look forward to seeing you in class!

Just a quick reminder that MPK will be closed for classes during Memorial weekend. There will be no Kickboxing this Saturday, May 29. We will not be open for evening martial arts on Monday the 31.

Have a great Memorial Day celebration and we hope to see you in class next Tuesday, June 1!

Happy Spring! The DeForest Area School District is opening up to 4 days per week next quarter, so we’re also covering those days with our After School program. It’s a great place for kids to go after school and get in some martial arts training!

The 4-day-per-week program will start on Monday, April 5, and will run through Friday, June 4. The program will be open on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, at a rate of $20 per day.

Our Virtual Learning Camp will also be open on Wednesdays when the kids aren’t at school in person. The rate for Virtual Learning Camp is $47 per day.

Registration for both After School and Virtual Learning Camp can be found in the MPK app. You can browse through our programs on the home page, or use the menu button in the bottom right corner and select Memberships.

If you have questions about either program, please contact our program director, Heather, at afterschool@karatedeforest.com.