7.28.2007

Summer Camp 2007

Ok, its been a week and I finally have time to post about this. First of all, it was my first Association summer camp and I am hooked.

Friday, classes started at 2pm for the local students-class was out on the quad at the university. We started with basics, moving basics, blocking drills etc while waiting for the students from out of town to arrive. The usual dojo stuff. Next it was a bo class. We learned Kubo no kun- lots of 'temple-groin-collarbone' series as well as some twirling. Very cool, and very challanging. After that was White Crane class. What a cool style. We learned a kata called Paipuren from one of the NJ upper dan students. He was fantastic. It was a really fun kata to learn, really vicious moves too..heehee.
The last class of the day was held on the beach. No getting wet or sandy, though. We did all the naihanchi kata in the sand, then moved up onto the grass for the others. The sand was very lumpy and loose and not good for people with knee problems. We did a kata, then saw demonstrations by the kyoshis for the application, then did the kata again. I love learning this stuff. It helps it all to make sense and flow better, and mostly it makes me happy in a sort of twisted way to know the deadliness of some of these moves. heehee. After that, we had a bbq catered by a local place. We had BBQ chicken, ribs, corn on the cob, salad, potatoes..deelish and very messy.

Saturday started very early for some. The black belt candidates had to attend a 7:15am thai kickboxing workout, then go to the track to run 4 miles and do their pushups and crunches. Then at nine am we all bowed in (still on the quad) and started the day of training. We learned 2 person Pinan Shodan bunkai-and worked on that for the first class. After that, I attended a ground defense class. This class was held inside so that our gi's wouldn't get all grass stained. It was excellent~ Everyone should learn this stuff. It was amazing to learn how easy it is to throw off someone who has you on your back and sitting on top of you.
After lunch and some more kata training we went to Newport and watched the Taiko Drums presentation. These people were amazing, usually performing at Epcot and Disney. After that was dinner. We got home around 10:45pm.
Sunday was the last day, starting at 9am with Iri Kumi- (dojo sparring) I really liked this. It was kind of cool (and a bit painful) to spar with no gear on. As long as your partner and you have self control it can be a great way to try out techniques that you wouldn't normally be able to try in a full gear sparring class.
All in all, it was the best camp ever. (ok so maybe it was my first)
And when it was all over, I was floored when Kyoshi L from NJ came up to me and said...
"I just want to tell you I really enjoy reading your blog"
my jaw dropped to the floor. Busted. He and his wife both have been reading it for a few months. aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!
Big thank you's to my newly discovered readers. And thanks to all of you who travelled from NJ to teach us.

7.24.2007

more pictures

Basics





Kata





Sand angels
what do you do if you catch on fire?
stop..drop..roll




commando crawls


saiza-before bow out- we covered Z with sand..heehee


Beach class


It was a bad weather day-thunder/lightening, pouring rain. Apparently, 102 people called the dojo to see if class was still on for later that day. Foolish!! (and I was one of them, too)

Punishment? 102 pushups~

7.20.2007

Summing up

Not much time to type so I'll just sum up. Beach class was LOTS of fun as usual, luckily the rain stopped just long enough for the beach class picture and the class itself, then as soon as it was done, it downpoured. I have a lot of pictures and I'll post some or link to them maybe on sunday. Today starts Association summer camp so I will be all karate from 2pm-8pm tonite, 8:30am-10:30pm tomorrow and 8:30-noon on sunday. busy busy busy.

I have a question.. do any of you have any helpful hints for callous control? I just can't seem to get control over the ones on my feet. Any suggestions?

7.10.2007

Fun Week

So next week is fun week. I love fun week! Monday is picture day. We have class pictures taken as well as individual photos. Its chaos in the dojo on picture day although each age group has their own time slot to show up for. They are always behind schedule. There is also competition camp for the kids all week. Tuesday they have a special guest instructor. Any one heard of Daniel Sterling? Yes! I'm not kidding! Un FREAKIN believable! lucky kids! On wednesday is my favorite class~ beach class~ where we all go in our white gi's, (with swimsuits underneath) have a group picture taken, then have class. We end up doing basics and kata into the ocean as well as commando crawls, forward rolls, maybe some bunkai...anything to make sure you're all sandy and soaked by the end of class. I'm sure I'll have some pictures to post from that~my sister will be there with her camera. Then on friday, association summer camp starts. SO EXCITED! I've never been to one of these all weekend camps before. This year our Kyoshi is hosting it and it will be local (instead of in NJ where it usually is). So I will only have to drive about 10 minutes up to URI. Among other things there will be a White Crane class, lots of kobudo as well as kobudo kumite, ground self defense, pressure points , a Taiko drum presentation in Newport, a BBQ on the beach..plus a lot of other stuff. Its going to be a lot of fun.

7.01.2007

I wanna go to Vegas too!

So next week, Kyoshi, Sensei T, Sensei D, Sensei B are going to Vegas. To some sort of martial arts thingy and expo. They are going to see Penn and Teller. They are also going to go see Ka. Kyoshi has seen it once already and says its just amazing. I've only been to 1 Cirque Du Soleil show up in Boston and it was unbelievable. I would love to see this one. We were standing around after class yesterday talking about their trip and Kyoshi is a little worried that Sensei B might not come back after he sees it. that he might want to stay out there and join the troop. Sensei B is one of the instructors of the Extreme Tricks class (as well as a lot of the traditional classes-he is a 3rd degree) at our dojo and he absolutely defies gravity. He is gonna love it. Now Sensei D, on the other hand, is absolutely GIDDY because they are seeing Penn and Teller.
They are going to have so much fun. Take me with you!!!! And of course we were laughing because the saying "what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas" will be more like "What happens in Vegas comes back to the Dojo and will spread like wildfire and haunt you for the rest of your life"
I'm so jealous.