GOING VIRTUAL
Two years ago, competing in a martial arts tournament meant getting in your car or on a plane, traveling to a venue, standing in line to register and waiting until your division was called so you could showcase your skills. Then COVID-19 struck. The pandemic and the lockdowns that followed forced humanity to rethink its ways. Tournaments were hit hard because large gatherings were prohibited and travel was restricted. Many events simply shut down.
None of that fazed Emily Cooper. That’s because way back in 2000, whenever her students competed at tournaments, she would post their performances on the internet so parents could watch. The idea quickly gained traction, and before she knew it, thousands were viewing her online videos. Thus was born SportMartialArts.com. She didn’t know it at the time, but the company she founded would become the salvation of martial arts competition in the age of COVID.
HOW DID IT HAPPEN?
SMA has always been about tournaments: the venue, the competitors, the performances and the excitement. But in 2020, Cooper and the team she had assembled suddenly found themselves in a world where people were no longer allowed to gather. Traditional karate competition was out — for an indeterminate amount of time. They didn’t want the community and relationships they’d spent so much time building to wither away, so they devised a plan.
Their response was the Virtual Tour, a world-spanning network that creates competition opportunities for
