Rule Changes

I live in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Things have been under Covid-19 restrictions for a very long time, but that is starting to change. The government recently announced the plan going forward regarding restrictions. Of course, it is quite possible that changes will happen, depending on how infection numbers run.

In my own case, the most important changes are those that pertain to Jiu-Jitsu training.

As of May 25th, indoor low-intensity training was permitted with limited attendance. For Jiu-Jitsu this meant no rolling, or anything like it. It isn’t clear what was meant by “limited” numbers involved, but it seems to be a recommendation to keep things small.

On June 15th, low-intensity workouts will ramp up to high-intensity, and limited numbers of participants will change to reduced capacity. July 1st will see attendance going up to full capacity. On September it all goes to fully normal, including allowing spectators.

This doesn’t mean that it will actually happen that way. Covid is unpredictable, as is human behavior surrounding it. If the number of infections spikes again the timetable will go all cattywumpus again.

What does loosening of restrictions mean for my own training?

Perhaps the local school will open up again. That would be a positive development, and I might even start attending.

I might even start going into the city again to train once in a while. That has complications of its own. It would require a partner. Would I want somebody from Vancouver, with an increase in the possibility of infection, or take a partner with me from around here? There is no perfect answer. I’d be shy to use my old public transportation method. Likely I’d go by car, although the price would increase greatly due to ferry costs.

It might only mean that my personal bubble doesn’t grow as big as either the local-school, or Vancouver-school options would necessitate. Perhaps I’ll end up in a group of 3 or 4 advanced students from around here. That is also an expanding of bubbles, but far less than attendance at even a small class would cause.

Perhaps I won’t participate in any of these options, at least for the immediate future. Perhaps increased activity in a solo fashion would be the way to go for now. I’d love to be running, especially with Summer-type weather starting up, but one of my ankles hasn’t been cooperating. It has had a good long, uninterrupted period of recovery. Maybe it’s time to try it out with a short run.

If that works out, followed by a gradual increase in distance, I might just stop feeling like a slug. That might make me less interested in getting back on the mat to roll around.

A delay could be a good thing. My first Covid vaccination shot was about a month ago, and maybe a bit of a delay would see me receiving my second dose before my training increases. That would significantly reduce the danger in any option I choose.