Hello Toronto!
Bad news if you wanted to book archery lessons in Toronto for August, September or October of 2021. I am already fully booked and am no longer accepting new students for this year.
Have a great day!
Hello Toronto!
Bad news if you wanted to book archery lessons in Toronto for August, September or October of 2021. I am already fully booked and am no longer accepting new students for this year.
Have a great day!
February 10th 2021
I am not sure when I will be able to resume teaching archery lessons in 2021, but my best guess at this time is that I may be able to start teaching again on May 1st 2021. This is a conservative estimate on my part based upon on the current decline in COVID rates and the increasing vaccinations of the general public.
If large scale mass vaccinations for COVID begin in April wherein everyone in Toronto can go get vaccinated then you can bet I will be one of the first people getting vaccinated. I may even get vaccinated sooner than that, as there is already at least 3 clinics so far in Toronto that are open to vaccinations to the general public. I also expect more mass vaccinations clinics to open as the country ramps up the release of the vaccines, making it even easier for people to get vaccinated and go back to normal life.
Thus depending upon how soon I can get vaccinated (both shots 1 and 2), and how soon Ontario reopens the economy from the current lockdowns, then I expect to be up and running with archery lessons by May 1st - or possibly sooner.
Note - I may update this post later if it turns out I can resume teaching sooner. For now May 1st is the best estimate I have.
MARCH 10TH UPDATE - Yes, May 1st will be the official start of the archery season for me. People wishing to book archery lessons for May, June, July, etc may do so.
Rates
I am keeping my archery lesson rates the same as they were during the bulk of 2020.
Availability
The good news however is that my availability this year is going to be improving dramatically: I will be able to teach 5 days per week, similar to my old schedule from 2017 and earlier. I am currently looking at teaching on the following days:
Returning / New Students
Returning students are advised to email me regarding finishing any remaining lessons that are leftover from last year or for scheduling new lessons.
New students wishing to secure time slots in May, June or July should email me at cardiotrek@gmail.com to discuss scheduling and availability.
We all know that 2020 was a strange year. COVID and the resulting lockdowns threw many industries into a state of disarray and chaos. Now that it is 2021 we can look back on the chaos that unfolded and see how it affected personal trainers and gyms.
Toronto Gyms during 2020
Many Toronto gyms that shut down during COVID I suspect are no more. People cancelled their gym memberships, the gyms were unable to pay the rent, and many of those that had expensive rent / not enough people paying for gym memberships are long since gone.
Good riddance to some of them honestly, because many of the gyms out there are in the habit of ripping off their clients and trying to sell them on $100 per hour personal trainers (meanwhile the personal trainer working for such gyms are getting paid less than $20 per hour).
Ultimately that is bad for the client because they're paying way more for a personal trainer than they should be.
It is bad for the personal trainer because they're being paid barely more than minimum wage.
And it is bad for the reputations of personal trainers in general, thus hurting the industry.
Thus I for one applaud various gyms being forced out of business. Maybe then they will finally rethink their business model and make a business model that is based on charging a fair price and not gouging their clients with ridiculous rates.
Personal Trainers during 2020
For myself it was a huge damper on the number of archery lessons I was able to teach during 2020, but it ultimately led to me finally making a change I had been wanting to make for years.
In 2020 I switched to only teaching one-on-one archery lessons.
This change was important to me because I find teaching is far less stressful when only teaching one student at a time, but I also find that students learn more when they have one-on-one instruction.
Thus it is good for me and good for students.
One-on-one lessons also meant it was safer with respect to physical distancing.
Previously I was also teaching two or three people at a time (often couples, siblings, friends), and while I did enjoy teaching many of those students it was still more stressful for me to be teaching people in small groups like that. Many years ago I even tried teaching 4 people at once and quickly determined that people got distracted too easily when they were in a group of 4 or more, and that teaching such a large group is both very stressful and potentially dangerous.
Honestly, teaching large groups is a bit like herding cats. If I was to ever teach a large group like that I would rather hire extra instructors to help me teach the lesson. (Some of my former students I think would be good at teaching, given the opportunity.)
Anywho, back to the issue of COVID and 2020...
Some personal trainers switched to teaching online during COVID, using Zoom or similar websites/apps to teach. Eg. A colleague of mine switched to teaching her dance classes online via Zoom.
However while teaching dance classes might work well for some types of personal trainers or instructors, for other instructors it doesn't translate well to be teaching swimming or boxing or archery via Zoom. Yoga isn't so bad, perhaps because people are used to watching yoga videos, but it is still better in person.
Thus I suspect that many personal trainers during 2020 switched careers. Speaking for myself I know I did a lot more writing and focused on being an author during 2020. As of January 1st 2021 I have published 7 new books in the past 12 months, and I have 5 more books coming out later this year.
I suspect that many other personal trainers have switched careers during 2020, switched to teaching online, or possibly even retired from the business.
Going forward I suspect that this may be an opportunity for archery instructors like myself and people who teach sports / outdoor physical activities. People during 2021 are going to want more outdoor activities. They're going to be in high demand.
Thus personal trainers / sports instructors like myself may find themselves swamped with requests for lessons / activities. Especially as we near herd immunity when more people are vaccinated.
I expect a lot of people will be signing up for archery lessons in Toronto this year. Especially for the summer months of June, July and August. I am still offering lessons from May to November this year, but I expect June, July and August to be the busiest time of year for outdoor activities.
September and October are technically my favourite time of year to teach outdoors, weather wise. Not too hot, not too cold. Not too windy or wet. Just perfect.
Anyone wanting to sign up for archery lessons for Spring, Summer or Autumn should email me and ask about availability. Right now is the best time to ask. If you wait until June to ask I might be fully booked on certain days.
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The Toronto Archery Range on a Cloudy Day |
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Richard likes visiting the archery range. With both parents doing archery, how can he not? |
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Two of my happy archery students from November 2018. |
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The archery instructor on February 23rd 2017. A warm day in February. |
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Owl perched on a cluster of Arrows |
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Peach Faced or Rosy Faced Lovebird Parakeet perched on an Arrow |
"Nothing is more precious than life. Yet, at the moment when we must throw away this valued life and stand on rightmindedness, there is nothing more highly esteemed than rightmindedness."
"Dying because someone is vexed at being insulted resembles rightmindedness, but it is not that at all. This is forgetting oneself in the anger of the moment. It is not rightmindedness in the least. Its proper name is anger and nothing else. Before a person has even been insulted, he has already departed from rightmindedness. And for this reason, he suffers insult. If one's rightmindedness is correct when he is associating with others, he will not be insulted by them. Being insulted by others, he should realize he had lost his own rightmindedness prior to the offense."
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Classic Fisticuffs |
Rolling Over - 4 to 6 MonthsNow with Richard being 10 months old, he has long since mastered rolling over, sitting up, crawling, standing up, cruising (walking by holding on to things), and is walking independently short distances. He has also learned how to walk up and down stairs, with assistance.
Sitting Up - 4 to 8 Months
Crawling - 7 to 10 Months
Standing Up - 9 to 12 Months
Walking - 9 to 15 Months