Friends, Family, Community,

It is with deep emotion that we write today to inform you that, given Gov. Cuomo’s most recent ordinance for gyms, we will be closing our doors today, indefinitely.

This crisis will likely be one of the most challenging situations we will all overcome over the following days, weeks, and months, as businesses close, work diminishes, and expenses continue.

It is important to remember in moments like this that we are defined by how we respond in the face of adversity and struggle. We hope to remain as a positive outlet that inspires you all to stand up and face these challenges head on.

In light of this, we’d also like to remind everyone that the small businesses that surround our local communities are run by people – they are not faceless. You’ve run into them downtown, at the public market, at the festivals, or shows that we all attend. While our businesses are being forced to close, business expenses do not. Rent, insurance, utilities, and debts must still be paid in order to stay a business.

In turn, the staff we employ are also people within our community. As such, they will still need to pay their rent, utility, and grocery bills, just like we all will, but without the ability to work inside the gym they’ve come to call home.

We are pleading to any and all members who can afford to maintain their membership, to please do so. Any amount, no matter how small, goes a long way to ensure that when we emerge from this crisis, the gym will be there ready and willing to host the services that enrich the lives of our community. Any and all assistance is appreciated.

Additionally, as a personal note, I want to take this opportunity to remind everyone that your personal health and well being are the most valuable possessions you will ever have. The easy path right now is to confine you and your family members into your home and do nothing. I want to remind everyone that despite our “socially acceptable” movement outlets being closed, there are still things you can do to maintain (or start!) your healthy lifestyle habits.

Movement spaces are closed. Movement is not. Movement is forever.

Now is the time to figure out how to use the environment around you to stay active and to keep the playful spirit alive. If you or anyone else needs help figuring out how to remain active or how to safely and appropriately use the environment around you for these means, please reach out to us through email.

As I said in the closing of Saturday’s update, “social distancing” means “physical” distancing. If there’s anything we’ve learned from the explosion of the internet, it’s that physical distance is no longer a requirement to be a part of a community. We are already laying the groundwork to create opportunities for us as a community to come together and continue our love of movement.

Today we published a new page on the website. You can find it in the menu navigation titled “Live”.

With that in mind, let’s take a moment to focus back on one of the core values of Parkour:

“Etre et durer.” To be, and to last.

Parkour is a tool that we’ve found to train our bodies to be the best possible versions of ourselves, physically and mentally. We train to become adaptable people.

Today, let’s make a move to deflect the negativity of the uncertainty that surrounds us and choose to adapt. Let’s find ways to do what we’ve always done inside the gym – to look around us and see opportunity, rather than obstruction.

Today, our gym (temporarily) ceases to be a gym, and instead, has become the largest and most interesting production studio we’ve ever known! I hope that you’ll join our community as we work to empower each other to continue being the best possible versions of ourselves that we can be.

Today, many of our adult members were prepared to gather inside the gym for Movement Circuits class at 6pm. Let’s still meet at 6pm, but digitally, and discuss the thoughts and ideas you all have as to how to continue our lives as movers through this trying time.

I hope you’ll join us as we embrace this challenge head on.

Sincerely,

Charles, Nicole, and the RocPK Family

Community members,

Things are moving fast.

• Wednesday morning, March 11th, the University of Rochester announced that they would be moving the entire campus to online classes for the rest of the semester.
• That same day, RIT extended their Spring Break by an extra week and also announced a shift to online classes.
• On the 12th, Gov. Cuomo banned gatherings of over 500 people in NYS.
• Yesterday, President Trump announced a National State of Emergency.
• Just a few hours ago, Monroe County made the decision to close schools, effective Monday, indefinitely, in response to the second confirmed case of COVID-19 in our county.

This move is going to put a huge strain on all of us Rochesterians as we figure out how to navigate the rest of our work, home, and hobby/activity lives.

Officially, Rochester Parkour is in agreement with these decisions and these moves.  Limiting physical exposure in high-traffic environments is a responsible choice to help limit the strain on our local healthcare system.

With that said, at this time, we feel like we’re in an interesting middle ground within the service industry.  Despite all of our recent growth over this last year, given our class schedule, the gym still only sees 40 visits on average per day.  At any point in time, there are fewer than 30 people in the gym.

Yesterday, we updated everyone on our cleaning procedures.   At this time, we are choosing to remain open and to continue being the positive outlet that we are for our families.  In addition to the guidelines and requests that we outlined in yesterday’s update, we are also choosing to take a more aggressive stance on ‘in-class’ hygiene.  Objects and bars are getting disinfected before and after classes.  Coughing, sneezing, (let’s be honest, with kids) nose picking, thumb sucking, or any other form of personal interaction that is known to escalate the risk of viral transmissions will result in our instructors asking the student to take a quick hand washing break.  We are asking that parents of kids stay during class to ensure that proper hygiene protocols are being met.

Additionally, given the challenges outlined in this post, RocPK is hereby temporarily suspending our 24 hour cancellation policy.  Should you decide for any reason that you or your family should not attend gym services, please let us know through text, phone, or email and one of our staff members will work with you to reschedule your visit for a later time.

Given how quickly and rapidly the situation is evolving and changing, this decision is not final and we will continue to monitor the situation on a daily basis.  Should the situation in our county escalate or we decide to temporarily suspend or cancel services, we will let everyone know with as much lead time as possible through our blog here, newsletter, and our various social media outlets.

In conclusion, it’s important during stressful times like this to remember that we are all in this together.  The term being used right now is “social distancing”, but what they mean by that is “physical” distancing.  More than ever, it’s important for us to remember to use our thoughts, voices, and actions in ways that help alleviate the stress of those around us, rather than add to the seemingly endless pile of negativity.

Thank you for being the awesome people that you are.  We’ll get through this together.

Sincerely,

Charlie, Nicole, and all RocPK Staff

As a business operating within the service industry, we take the health and safety of our environment seriously. We’ve always operated in a manner that strives to maintain a clean gym space for all participants.

With that in mind, in conjunction with the current pre-cautionary measures being advised by our CDC, we’ve even further stepped up our cleaning procedures. Our gym floor continues to get mopped twice a day during opening and closing. Our surface cleaning schedule of twice per day (with the virucidal cleaner we’ve used for years) is being bumped to several times throughout the day. We’ve initiated a more aggressive schedule for cleaning our bars using the same virucidal cleaner. Our door handle cleaning is being bumped as well to several times per day.

The gym is our sanctuary. It’s our amazing communal space where many diverse groups of people come together with a shared love of movement and their quest for a more holistic sense of well being. Being a communal space, we’re calling on our community to help do their part to ensure that the gym remains the sanctuary we strive for it to be. Below is a list of simple recommendations that everyone within the gym can follow to help maintain the atmosphere:

• Please be mindful of the surfaces you touch while in the lounge and in the movement space. Do your best to follow the CDC’s guidelines of minimizing personal contact with others and the touching of your face, eyes, nose, ears or mouth and then touching other surfaces.
• Hand sanitizer is located in the gym, but please note, the best and most effective form of cleaning your hands will always be washing your hands with soap and water for a minimum of 20 seconds.
• Parents, please follow your children into the bathrooms to ensure that they are correctly washing their hands.
• All persons in the gym should attempt to wash their hands before and after class (during?) and in between services for those staying for Open Gym or multiple classes.
• If one family member is sick with the cold or flu, you are likely to be a carrier even if you’re not yet showing symptoms.

Thank you for standing together to help keep our community healthy as we all work to survive this financially and emotionally stressful time.