HKA online training session smashes its fundraising target
Adapting to survive has become the watchword of many businesses during the Covid-19 lockdowns that we have experienced in the last year.
One of the business sectors hardest hit have been the independent gyms that have been forced to close choking off much needed revenues.
While Chief Instructor at Hastings Kickboxing Academy (HKA) Carl Denne is an undoubted expert in his sport he’s also shown himself to be an expert in adapting his business to get it through the tough times and to keep his members on track with their fitness and skills training.
On Sunday Carl teamed up with three other gyms to hold a ‘multi-Zoom’ training session to raise money for the NHS and in HKA tradition they smashed the original target of raising £1,000, at the end of the day almost doubling what had been the initial goal.
Carl told Hastings In Focus: “I’d like to thank everyone who joined us to train on a cold snowy Sunday morning, it was an absolutely amazing turn out.
“It was a real pleasure to team up with the other instructors. In addition to Jenny Fry and myself from HKA there was Colin Payne from TKO Elite, Mark White from Falcons Gym and Paul Hayworth of Star Kickboxing. We each took two rounds, twice, completing 16 rounds of boxing and kickboxing drills in total. We had people training from down here in the south all the way up to the north of England and across to Wales.”
In the last 12 months Carl and his team have harnessed the power of Zoom with training sessions able to be beamed into his members own homes on an almost daily basis: “There are those who say Zoom training doesn’t work but no matter what your environment, the hard work you need to put in to achieve your potential is always down to you and no amount of flashy equipment or kit will make any difference without that. So, if you sit at home thinking ‘I’ll start training when I can do it properly’ then you’ll never make it anyway.
“Everyone who joined us on Sunday worked really hard. We had 100 screens logging in. More than 250 families trained, with three or four members of some families actually training – and all training hard,” says Carl.
“It was a fun, tough and challenging Zoom workout, with the average participants burning between 450 and 700 calories, a few members even broke the 900 calorie mark.
“I can only say a huge thank you to everyone who donated to the event. The NHS is under massive under strain right now and we all have friends who work there, so we know how all these efforts really help out.
“We set a target of £1,000 but collectively raised £1804.46 which we will be split between the four gyms with each one donating to their own local NHS,” says Carl.
“On a personal note, from me, Jenny, Colin, Mark, Paul and Katie we would like to thank everyone who joined us, we were blown away by the support we received and the money raised will really help our local NHS.”
For more details with training at HKA’s brand new facility on Zoom, or find out how you can join the team when re open once lockdown restrictions lift. Please visit hastingskickboxing.co.uk or call HKA on 07496 299925.