Covid-19 ban hurts taekwondo coaches
Canadian Thomas Hodgson (right) demonstrates taekwondo skills with Aggrey Rono at Champion Taekwondo Dojo Club in Kerio Valley on July 10, 2016. The ceremony saw 120 youngsters graduate with black belt.
What you need to know:
- He said that with the government having halted the Covid-19 tax relief, some taekwondo coaches in the country have been pushed to the limit in fending for themselves, as the sport is their only source of income.
- “Taekwondo coaches have suffered for 10 months and they now need to go back to work. We are suffering despite proving that we can follow all the Ministry of Health's protocols,” he said.
- Apart from club coaching, most of the taekwondo tacticians have contracts with various learning institutions, where they train students on the combat sport.
Taekwondo coaches have appealed to the Ministry of Sports to allow them resume their activities because they are struggling to make ends meet.
More than 60 coaches met at Nyayo National Stadium at the weekend and discussed various matters concerning taekwondo, key among them the continued suspension of the sport since March last year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Taekwondo is among the disciplines that the government classified as high risk contact sports.
Speaking on behalf of the coaches, international referee and instructor Peter Kamau said that the government should reconsider the ban since only 25 percent of the sport is contact.
“Coaches will talk to the ministry and advice accordingly because over 75 percent of taekwondo have nothing to do with contact. They are the technical people in the sport but they were not consulted to give advice before the taekwondo was categorised as contact sports,” said the fifth, five degree black belt holder.
He said that with the government having halted the Covid-19 tax relief, some taekwondo coaches in the country have been pushed to the limit in fending for themselves, as the sport is their only source of income.
“Taekwondo coaches have suffered for 10 months and they now need to go back to work. We are suffering despite proving that we can follow all the Ministry of Health's protocols,” he said.
Apart from club coaching, most of the taekwondo tacticians have contracts with various learning institutions, where they train students on the combat sport.
