A Pause for the World

sometimes in life

we need a past body to stop everything

for a second or just for a moment

sometimes having that option is enough

for us

because we need it and having that

option makes us relax

on march 11 last year when the who

announced the pandemic for the world it

was related that possible

for everyone but in a different way

the pandemic had many effects both

positive and negative

lives were lost to the disease families

were affected

and at the same time many of us got

obsessed with a

wide range of statistics and data

and news by checking the numbers related

to the covet

in every single minute on the other hand

it was like a break

we had a chance to think to reflect

and to focus on improving ourselves and

our lives

we had encountered with a new situation

and we had two options being passive

or we could be active about it

the situation was very new and it was

complicated

all the events sport events competitions

tournaments

were cancelled the situation was very

complicated

and we didn’t have enough experience

about it

and we had to do something we had to

adapt

ourselves to that new situation let me

introduce myself

my name is ashford novin i’m a phd

candidate in the biomedical engineering

department at uconn

i’ve traded in karate for

21 years and i was a part of

national priority for almost nine years

i have competed in national

international competition

and in 2009 i won the world championship

in south africa

and right now i’m one of the coaches and

referees

in the united states crowded federation

i wanted to tell you this story

when we were going to participate in a

competition

national or international couple of days

before the starting day and before the

opening ceremony

all the coaches and adult athletes

took the younger athletes and kids to

the

competition’s stadium to show them

around

it is like a traditional national team

but why

we have three main reasons

first to reduce their anxiety and

to reduce their pressure and their

stress

sometimes in life we get nervous because

we do care about ourselves we care about

each other

second to make them become more familiar

with the new situation that new

environment

to provide this opportunity for them to

adapt themselves

to a new situation and you know what the

last thing was

that we wanted to show them the

champion stage we

asked them to see themselves standing on

the

platform for first place and winning the

gold medal

did they imagine it did they dream it

because it all starts from here

the way that we think because we should

judge ourselves before

anyone else before any judges or

referees

in the competitions and that can play

important role

in our function and in our performance

but what about the new situation we

didn’t have enough experience

we didn’t have enough experience about

dependent damage

all events competitions tournaments

even the olympic games in 2020 were

cancelled

all clubs genes training centers

were closed

so we had to do something and again we

had

two options we could

stay at home or we could continue our

work and our training and adopt

ourselves

with some new platforms but what

platforms

people started using the video calls

more than before it means the distances

between everyone around the world

we’re the same and it seems we are

getting used to use those

platforms and for our work

those virtual and online platforms for

works

for classes for meetings

like another like other athletes and

coaches

we started working at this idea

after consulting with my coaches and my

previous teammates

we started weekly visual career classes

until now after one year

we had this opportunity to have more

than 41

week of those classes so no matter where

they are they can participate in those

classes

i had missed training with with my

previous teammates

but now i have this opportunity to train

with them

i also started international seminars

for the first time i was able to

train with the world champion with other

world champions

i was in connecticut actually i was in

my bedroom

and i was training with a nigerian

athlete in another continent

so we didn’t have this chance

before nowadays we have it

here at uconn we are designing a new

program

for all staff students and faculties

and this new program is designed to

to encourage people to be more active to

prevent them

being inactive especially in our new

lifestyle

especially when we work remotely

these changes can be very short they can

be just some breathing techniques

which might take only a couple of

minutes but the main idea

and the purpose behind it is that

if we have an opportunity to take a tiny

chance

we must take it we must own it and use

it in a proper way

we might have learned how to learn

how to teach how to act or react

in an unusual time it wasn’t the first

pandemic for the world and it might not

be the last one

but next time in a similar situation

or even in our personal life

if we encounter with a rare situation

we’ll be able to remember that we have

at least this option

adapting ourselves to new changes

thank you