05/11/2020
Attn: Woodshed patrons/students
If I didn't say I was proud it would be an understatement. This little gym has provided my family with not just a sport and lifestyle, but with numerous friendships since starting. We as a family have been very proud to provide Claresholm with a space where people could not only learn a new sport but be part of a family, get away from their stressful lives and feel like they fit in somewhere.
Its been pretty cool to see this club grow in two short years into a competitive BJJ team that has held its own at high level competitions…How Awesome is that for a small town club!!!
Unfortunately as COVID-19 reared its nasty face it really took a toll on gyms, martial arts and close-contact gyms in particular. As we wait to be “allowed” to re open we are faced with many obstacles. As nice as it is to have a few subsidies from the government to help us temporarily, allot do not apply to us or only for a short term.
As we cross our fingers to when we may re open we also cross our fingers that our students and families will decided to one day feel comfortable enough to come back and train. As a family we know the current stresses from COVID but also how COVID has financially impacted us all…it hasn't even began to show its ugly face on our economy and unfortunately we feel when families are comfortable enough to come back and participate with us, they may have a strain on their financial house and not have the capabilities to pay for their monthly fees.
As these fears play on our minds we were also faced with another obstacle. Our current location is being taken back by our landlords. They are in the process of selling their property beside us and are now needing our space to run their business out of in the event their space sells. We have been aware from the beginning that this might happen.
With all of these road bumps we have made the decision to “temporarily” close our doors. We will be moving out of our location and not re opening for the time being. We will be monitoring COVID and the economy closely and will see in the next half a year if we have a fighting change to re open. If our students and community are wanting at that time a place to train then we will once again search for a location.
At this time we really want to say thank you for all our amazingly loyal students and parents, you have meant SO much to us you have not idea!!! To say “friendship” is an understatement…more like family. Bob Sharma thank you for your support, you are such a compassionate, patient teacher, we enjoyed having you around! James Smith, not sure how we could have done any of this without you. From the very beginning you were there renovating, bringing in new faces and helping with classes. The Gongs for your help during special events and always there to hold a baby! Josh Smiley for closing up at nights when we couldn’t and always being a great motivator. Derek Binnendyk & Ian MacKay for your help assisting our classes. Riley Miller and Chris Chattaway for your wicked coaching…and last but not least to our wonderful Professor Paul Joseph - We made it so far Paul, crazy how a little dream and lots of effort brought us this far. I hope down the road we can try this again 😉
So in closing we hope to see you all again real soon. This for sure isn’t it for our family, martial arts are a huge passion for us so one way or another we will find a way to keep training….even if its out of our garage LOL.
Layne Derochie & Matt Muldoon
