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