By Martin E. Hansen, Member until 2018
On a terrific spring day with high sun and double-digit temperatures, Jokokan's first full-day camp for a number of years was held in Måløv's new sports hall. The barometer of success was already on its way to the top before the start with the high number of participants, which was well over 100 and well filled with the audience watching their family on the wooden floors. Kimu Sensei opened the ball by welcoming in the usual friendly Jokokan mood, filled with a slightly rusty Jokokan Master Motivator who, however, managed to lift the mood with a joint battle cry "who can…." (You know it by now)
As usual, the day was well planned by both the camp management and the Chief Instructor. The camp had been organized according to a proven and well-functioning concept, albeit with certain modifications. A longer day requires more concentration and focus from both students and teachers, which is why i.a. the principle of separating jokokidz from the adults was deviated from during training, so that the same team was followed throughout the day, and with great success. The teams were divided according to degrees and therefore not age, which is also more appropriate, since there was supposed to be graduation later in the day. The training area itself consisted of a sports hall and a smaller barefoot hall. The barefoot hall was the perfect size to be set up as an area for training falls, and therefore mats were laid out throughout the hall. The large hall was divided into three areas. Next, the plan was for the first lessons until lunch – 4 teams and 4 areas, which worked perfectly according to the rotation principle, so that in each area 4 different concepts were trained; falls, kihon, kumite and kata.
A previous success and a rather celebratory feature was taken up again, when the 5th and last lesson before lunch was self-training in teams on a given theme, this time martial arts vs. Martial arts. The training aimed to arrive at a choreographed show of 10 sec. duration, but which also had to be shown slowly in 30 sec. This show was then to be shown at the end of 2 lesson series before the graduation session. The youngest jokokidz had to use their imagination to draw instead of participating in the show training, which later had a very life-affirming result.
Lunch was digested with group discussions in the same groups that were to perform shows later. Here the subject was also martial arts and martial arts. It was also the result of these conversations that started lesson series 2, when spokespeople from the various groups presented the groups' views on martial arts and martial arts. Before the training started again, it was time to consider the result of Jokokidz's smallest thoughts on paper, both of the trainees, but also the audience was on the floor, where the drawings were lined up.
The next sub-lessons were joint, where the entire hall was utilized for joint kihon and cushion training. Around. At 15.00 the time had come for the groups to show their learned show. There was a lot of variety in these shows and they showed how much imagination can be used and required in martial arts/martial arts. Some audience members as well as Kimu Sensei and Jens Shihan were judges during the show, who were judged based on very tough criteria, e.g. time frame and technique.
The high point of the day for most had now been reached, as the graduation was the next and last item on the agenda. 5-4. The kyu graduates set out, on the mat area laid out for that, to show kumite with throws (nage no kata). The mats were again removed and in turn came the different groups from the 10th kyu, 9-8. kyu, 7-6. kyu up on the floor. Again it was 5-4. kyu called in and went through a rather tough graduation of approx. 1 hour duration. This graduation is a foretaste of what awaits in the higher kyu. degrees, where physics must peak at 1.dan. A truth dawned on all the students on the floor, which was good to see, because they were all fighting some body part out of their pants.
Only one thing remained on the successful but long day, the distribution of the new degrees to the many graduates. It is a part that eventually takes quite a long time, as everyone must have a well-deserved round of applause. Congratulations to all of you who passed.
There is not much more to say than: remember to register for the next Jokokan event, you will come away with a great feeling, but remember, behind the great feeling there are days of preparation, organized by volunteers and instructors.
Good summer
Martin Hansen Chief instructor Jokokan Korsør
