The start-up of great school....

Starting a new club is very involving. It is also exciting and feels wonderful to be at this stage again. I so dearly miss being on the mats and coaching new skill sets to my students.

For all my students, training partners, and coaches of the past, thank you for being there on my previous journeys. Your support was relished more than I let you know. Those relationships forged on the mats and through experiencing the love of the arts that we do, have carried me through all kinds of ups and downs, great times and trying moments. Thank you from the heart.

Over the last two school years (Sept-June), we have experienced a great turn out for our kids classes at a local recreation centre. We will be continuing this program as the fall session starts up again. The sessions are run in 9 week blocks through the City of Toronto, Parks & Recreation. We are in the FUN Guide. Sign up for these courses are through Frankland Community Centre. I will be posting the information on signing up for the next session here come Sept.

The Rec Centre is the Withrow Park Clubhouse, just south of Danforth and Logan, in the park. For those of you who remember, it is just down the street from our old storefront location. We offer classes to both Kids and Adults. Hope to see all who are interested.

So now, we have the opportunity to build over the summer and have classes move indoors onto our mats again in the fall. This gives us the room we need to build a solid membership, before moving into our own storefront gym again. Creating a club the second time round, no more paying to teach from starting with zero students - hoping that they will come in as I go (lol, rookie). This time, I would like a solid base of people who are interested - before I pay rent in a retail location.

However building a club, even a small one, is an encompassing endeavour. If you are interested in supporting us, but training isn't your cup of tea, so to speak. We have lots of other areas in which we need volunteers and support. Things like web design, graphic design and printing, getting our message out there, starting up our community/club newsletter, involvement in community events, securing memberships, and more. If you have any ideas where you could help out, or if you would like to extend any professional services to us, I will respond to all emails and ideas put forward.

Please send your inquiries and ideas to:
Andrew Carr-Locke, Leslieville MMA Karate & Ju-Jitsu. mamagym@gmail.com
Thank you for any support.

A recreational and community club is only as strong as the community that supports it. Leslieville is a great community.
For the love of our neighbourhood, let's build something together.