Regardless of whether it is the first time or the 27th time you have to participate in a black belt camp, you always have some kind of expectation for what is going to happen.
I can't remember exactly which number in the series the summer camp 2011 has, but as always I had thought a lot about the content, which is always carefully planned by and executed by Kimu Sensei. I hadn't talked to my colleagues that much about it, but they had definitely thought theirs too. Before the camp, we had produced some documents that set all katas and shiho level 1 in a template that was supposed to create a standard, so it was naturally with these in mind that I showed up to the camp. This must also be seen in the light of the fact that the camp was opened up to everyone from 2 kyu and up and especially for the students who had to graduate during this camp and the following association's summer camp. Of course, it should also be exciting to see how the "new" participants reacted to the teaching we were served.
But as so many times before, thought is one thing and action is another. So my thoughts about standardization didn't quite hold - and yet. What we started with was training of correct movement on a walking basis with zenkutsu-dachi and a kamae. Here there is only one standard method and it is the right one. There is nothing in between.
Now I have trained this kind of walking base many times but I can never get enough, because there are always new aspects that come up that you can work with. This time was no exception.
I also just want to say that up until the camp I had the pleasure of feeling what stress is for a creature. When one's hands shake without being aware of it and without feeling it, one knows that one's limits are approaching. This also creates a lot of noise in the head. By noise I mean thoughts that run around each other without finding space and peace.
I could feel this noise and it also resulted in me making everything more difficult for myself than necessary. Techniques that I had trained for a long time and many times suddenly became difficult to perform when I thought too much about them. Instead, I had to leave the thoughts alone and just perform the technique as usual. But no, I obviously didn't want it that way at this camp. It had to be difficult and I had to absolutely punish myself.
On the one hand, it was a pleasure to work with techniques you knew and on the other hand, it was frustrating to be so influenced by thoughts that it all became an uphill battle instead of a developing experience - which it might be anyway has been, because if the techniques were better on the spine then it might not have been a fight against myself, but instead an action without disturbing thoughts or a reaction to an action.
After trotting through Måløv Hallen on a walking basis, it was time to test the techniques in kumite. Ok, this is where you really find out how much difference there is between thinking and not thinking. Here there is a direct consequence for disturbing thoughts. With disturbing thoughts, you either cannot hit or you cannot parry.
The exercise we had to do was an exercise that the "old" black belts had done many times before and all with the same result - namely hard skin on the chest 🙂
It is an exercise where from zenkutsu-dachi with gedan-barai as kamae, you make a tsuki against your partner's chest. All the partner has to do is parry. It sounds simple enough. But it's just that the distance is half the normal kumite distance. Yes, as you can probably imagine, you get hit a lot of times in the chest. Which is ok if your training partner doesn't hit that hard and if the person involved has a little bit of soreness on their knuckles. But I had the pleasure of training with "Don Iversen" (Jens Kyoshi) and he does NOT have any calluses on his knuckles and he hits hard and very precisely.
It's like being hit by a portion of peeled chicken legs being shot out of a cannon. The positive thing is that when you have been hit enough times in the same place, you are so numbed by pain that it no longer hurts. On the other hand, the chest and muscles are just as swollen and pumped as if you had bench pressed 120 kg many times. It might sound like a terrible experience, but it is not. It is a really good exercise in being able to relax and believe in yourself and your technique. Both as an attacker and as a defender.
After Friday's lessons, it was time for food and subsequent Ryugi training with associated tasks.
When you have a camp with many participants, there comes a time when people get tired. In Shindenkan, we have chosen that people should not be punished for getting tired, but instead have a prize. So after the first task, the camp manager (the undersigned) went through the prizes with accompanying song and bowing. This gave life and spirit to the last of today's tasks. Which was sorely needed.
The Ryugi part was a really good part, as it gave an insight into the syllabus and got the common thread and purpose better in place. When we meet the next day at At 08.00 there were several of the first-time participants who had difficulty sleeping due to the adrenaline kick and all the thoughts that had been set in motion during Friday's lessons.
Saturday passed with once again a "chicken leg" shot in the chest which could again be felt, even if it was with gloves on 🙂 At the same time, the time was approaching for those who were going to graduate and even though the participants had been tested throughout the camp, you could feel it the nervousness. Perhaps especially because they knew that the "stamina" test, which shows their endurance, lay many hours into the day, when they would be really tired. However, I would say that it has been a pleasure to have trained with the "new" and it has been a pleasure to see how focused they have been on their graduation and training. They can be very proud of their results.
When the actual black belt camp was finished, it was time for the federation camp with its associated various tasks. In addition to being responsible for the practicalities throughout the camp, my task was also to keep the energy level high. If you as an instructor have a drop in energy, it quickly rubs off on the students. So even if you feel like a 90-year-old with a need for care and attention, it is important to throw that feeling over your right shoulder and show who you really are and stand for.
This is not always an easy task and especially not if the participants start out with a mood level of -300. When that happens, there is only one thing to do, namely to set the mood and the good atmosphere by challenging the participants in something they are not quite used to. The TG2 group that I taught eventually found out that the world famous "wave" with associated YYUUHHAA is a very good mood spreader. Both standing but also when doing technique - and especially fall technique.
As the end of the camp approached, the tension grew greater and greater. Both for those who were going to graduation, but indeed also for those who had supported Shindenkan through the initiated lottery.
I want to say congratulations to everyone on their new degrees and also a big congratulations and good luck to the Jokokidz who ran away with the lottery prize. As one could conclude, it is not the number of lottery tickets that gives profit, but finding the right one.
My personal benefit from this camp has been the importance of getting the essence of the techniques to lie on the spine so that you don't make it difficult for yourself all the time, greater understanding of the structure and the common thread in the curriculum, and that you yourself bad days can get something positive out of training.
For me, the camp has been a new, very educational encounter with old familiar material, served on a golden platter by Kimu Sensei.
I want to wish everyone a very good summer and I look forward to hearing the grass grow in the Spanish.
