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Another weekend camp enjoyed by one and all. The sun was shining all weekend and the caravans were excellent too. This year's weekend camp was slightly different from other years at Shuhari-Kai, as another club was invited to come along and join in with us for training, we were also using a different campsite than in other years, which offered a larger training area. There were approx 82 students training over the two days. Both day's started with the students arriving nice and early (8:30 a.m.) ready to start at 9:00, they quickly changed in to their gi's ready for the start of the lesson. The lesson started with an intense warm up session taken by different black belts from the two clubs. The students were then lined up and bowed in. As there were so many students to teach as one group, Sensei Richard and Sensei Andy, decided to split the students into three groups, rotating the groups throughout the day so that all the students had a variety of techniques taught to them. Group one, were shown some different types of weapon attacks and how to defend one's self from these attacks. Group two, were shown some kumite techniques which they all had a go at on one another, this was enjoyed by a lot of the students who commented on how they could use some of the techniques shown to them in kumite competition. This group then went on to ground wrestling, which was the fun factor of the session. It would have been a lot easier for the students if they hadn't laughed so much while trying to do the techniques. Group three, were doing pad work, and were shown different techniques for using the pads and building up stamina, this group then went on and were shown how to do take downs in competition and how to break fall. After a long day's training the students were dismissed and left to do as they wished for the rest of the afternoon, some enjoyed a leisurely swim on the campsite, and some others ventured out a little further and into the town and beach area. As the night drew nearer some of the Sensei's and students met in the clubhouse for a more friendly chit chat about how the day had gone and what to expect tomorrow. The students arrived the same as the day before, nice and early, and rearing to go. After another intense warm up the group were split into the same groups as the day before. Group one, was being taught how to use the Jo, after a few Jo's falling onto the floor and narrowly missing toes, the students picked up the idea and were soon leaning a Jo kata, this kata had seven moves in it and most of the students had mastered the kata by the time it was to move onto the next area. Group two, were taught a nunchakus kata by one of the black belt students from the other club. All I can say is that it was a good job most of the students were using the foam (practise) models or we might have had a few more injuries by the end of the session. The kata included using the nunchaku while also doing karate moves, the students seemed to pick this up really quickly and enjoyed this session immensely. Group three, were shown how to use and handle swords, on this occasion Sensei Richard thought it might be a good idea to use the foam swords in case of any accidents, (we only had one plaster). This group was then split into two groups adults and children, the adults all took it in turn to score against the other competitor with the sword, although this is a serious weapon, there was a lot of laughter and fun had by all during this session, the children's group took it more seriously than the adults and showed great sportsmanship whilst doing this activity. It was near the end of the weekend so to finish the session off, Sensei Richard split the class into two, adults up one end and children up the other, the idea was for the student in the middle of the circle was to be attacked by two other students at the same time, the student had to defend themselves as best as possible using karate kumite techniques only. After a few minutes of being in the circle the students were changed this continued until all students had taken a turn, it was fun to watch as not many students knew who to attack and there were arms and legs coming from all directions. Towards the end of the weekend Sensei Andy awarded some of his students with their next grade, well done! It was now all over, all the students received a certificate of attendance to frame and keep with their other certificates. The Sensei's thanked all the students for attending and for all the effort that they had put in over the weekend, making it a weekend enjoyed by one and all.
Shuhari-Kai would like to thank all students, Sensei's, Sempai's and
parents who attended the weekend camp and made this such a special one,
we hope to see you all again next year. |