Then it was finally time. Time for the I-camp 2004. The camp where I would have the opportunity to step up to the second step of Dan degrees.

In the weeks before the camp, the compulsory syllabus and physical test had been passed. Now all that was missing was the I camp, which was, as always, an individual camp. That is all participants are left alone to show what they can and cannot do.

Now, the reader of this article must not take it to mean that there is no community under an I-camp. It exists, and I would say at this camp there was a very close community.

But an I-camp is a training camp that gives all the participants an opportunity to step forward and show what they are made of. This camp was no exception.

Before the camp, those registered had received emails from Kimu Sensei, who made it clear that a lot of new things from the new supplementary curriculum would be trained. That started the speculation, at least in my head, about what it could be, and especially in light of the fact that I knew that approx. 14 new katas for the new curriculum. However, I kept telling myself that we shouldn't practice kata all the time.

The camp started on Friday 18 June. I had taken time off work to spend the day recharging and relaxing a bit.

There is nothing worse than showing up for a training camp and then being a little bit stressed. Therefore, I had thought that if I now took time off from my work, I would minimize the risk of having a bad start at the camp. Unfortunately, you are not always in control of what happens. On the night of Friday, my one son had the pleasure of throwing up in "thigh-thick" jets. It stayed on most of the night, and sleep suddenly became a city in Russia.

When I woke up Friday morning to the sound of someone vomiting, it was with someone's pity for my son that I tried to open my eyes. The pity quickly disappeared, however, when I felt in my nostrils the smell of something that had certainly not seen the shadow of Colgate for a long time. It turned out that my sick son was no longer sick, but instead got great fun out of blowing his father's head with a breath that cannot be described, and for that matter should not be experienced.

The sound of vomiting came from my wife who had now had the pleasure of being sick. So you could say that my idea of having a relaxed day quickly got a different footing. And when I finally set off on my way to the camp, it was also with a somewhat fearful premonition that I, too, would have a bout of vomiting. Fortunately, I escaped that. Not even the food on Friday night could give trends.

Friday evening at 17.00 we were ready in the dojo. In addition to Kimu Sensei, all the participants each had our own angle on participating in the camp.

Even though I was set for graduation, it was not the one that was thought of, but more that it was now time to show that you were able to focus and maintain concentration throughout the camp. We were explained that when you do something physically hard, your energy consumption is divided by 30 % on the physical and 70 % on the emotional and mental. That explanation obviously laid the foundation for the fact that the common thread for the camp had to be to stay focused and maintain concentration.

It may sound easy, but I must say hello from all participants and say that it is not. When you are bombarded for 9 hours with tools that can make you better, boundaries that are moved, as well as learning new material, then your brain is filled up, and you increase the risk of an energy decline from the 70 % and below to??? Yes, that was what was important to minimize at this camp. And the challenge for all participants; how much and when would it arrive.

In the three times three hour training that was at the camp, the training was organized in the same way in all three lessons. First kihon, then kumite and finally kata. But everything somehow connected. First we got tools that can make us better, then we tried to push our limits and finally the new material had to be learned, here in the form of kata, while at the same time what we learned in the first two parts of the lesson had to be included in the kata.

It is in kata that you show whether you are still at 70 % in mental energy consumption. Although there were three different types of training in each lesson, there was, as always, a connection. It was suddenly discovered that parades can be used for something other than parrying. We also found out that when you can now use parades for something other than parrying, kumite also takes on a different meaning. It becomes more real and much more transgressive.

When we trained kata, it was very clear to feel how it becomes different to perform if one's technique has worked in kihon and kumite, and if one is able to carry it over to the kata. This also applies if it is a new kata that must be learned first. Although it was not new to me, I still saw it in a different light, which allowed me to extract something that will be exciting to work with in the future.

Between Saturday's training lessons, there was, as usual, a group task that had to be solved. This gives the participants the opportunity to exchange views and experiences around the topic of the assignment. This was largely done at this camp as well. The topic of the assignment was briefly about receiving new students in the Jokokan schools and how we, as instructors and head instructors, get the students to maintain interest in Jokokan. Although we all had different experiences with teaching and training, we actually pretty much agreed on most things. Everyone expressed their views and opinions - especially about my way of managing the meeting.

However, I would like to say that I have not previously felt such a loose and relaxed atmosphere between the instructors as there was at this camp. During the group task, the laughter reached heights that I have not seen at previous camps.

In addition to being graduated 2 Dan, the first blue eye of my career and various crushes, I would say that I-camp 2004 was very educational. I gained some experience and some tools that I am very much looking forward to learning from and working with. When the season starts again in August, my students in Jokokan Amager Karate School, both new and old, can look forward to being received by a highly motivated head instructor.

You can read about how it goes in the article about Jokokan Amager and me, which appears on Jokokan's website under "Presentation of the Jokokan school column". Jokokan Denmark - Who are we?

Soren Nielsen

Chief instructor Jokokan Amager