THEY might not be fully back on the mat but two West Fife martial arts clubs are back kicking towards normality.

Carnegie Judo Club and Fu Dog Martial Arts, which are based at a refurbished Dojo within Lyneburn Industrial Estate, Halbeath Place, Dunfermline, have been able to resume some classes as COVID-19 restrictions begin to ease.

Like so many other sports organisations, they saw their operations severely impacted last year from the pandemic’s outset, with their training predominantly taking place both indoors and with contact.

They have had to improvise and adapt, which led to them developing videos on technique for members to practice at home while, from last month, outdoor, non-contact activities for groups of up to 15 adults and 12-17 year-olds were able to resume.

With outdoor contact sport for the latter age group being given the go-ahead to resume this week, both Carnegie Judo and Fu Dog Martial Arts, run by Jim and Iain Feenan respectively, have restarted some outdoor classes and have been delighted with the response they have received so far.

“We’ve had a really good response from the kids coming back,” Jim told Press Sport.

“We’re doing outdoor stuff, so I think that bit’s good. We opened four weeks ago and we had 15 that turned up; I thought I was going to get one.

I think Iain and I have both grown as coaches because we’re now starting to realise there’s a different way to get people engaged, there’s a different way to get people fit.

“It’s still under the banner of a martial art but you don’t have to knock six bells out of each other to have the benefit.”

Iain commented: “It is encouraging. When we initially closed we probably had 40-50 kids a weekend coming through the door over the course of the three classes, and when we opened back up again, we probably had 30-40.

“We didn’t get that much of a drop off across the classes. Because it’s outdoors and it’s not technically judo stuff, some people have chosen not to come back, but have let us know they’ll come back when it’s indoors.

“We’re slowly getting back into the swing of things with running classes and a bit of normality.

“From September to December, we were running 2-3 classes a night, and they were stowed out with 15 people each.

“That was the maximum we could get into the building safely so, if we can get back to that, we’ll be flying.”

Kids’ judo classes, ladies’ boot camps and MMA solo drills, outdoor, are on offer at the Dojo and new members are welcome.

They are also offering the first three sessions free and, for more information, find Carnegie Judo or Fu Dog Martial Arts on Facebook.