By Jokokan Federation

The doctors have not yet officially confirmed that an influenza epidemic is ravaging Denmark, but we can confirm that this is the case. We had over 10 % dropouts due to flu. But despite this, 46 Jokokan members attended, supported by 5-10 enthusiastic JokoKidz parents, for Jokokan's annual Winter Training Camp. Jokokan Frederiksberg Karate School was once again the host of this event and had put together a beautiful and faultless event. Thank you!.

The camp itself was divided into two lesson parts before and after lunch, concluding with a social and lecture part in the late afternoon. Before lunch there was a sign of community in Jokokan, where intensive Ukemi (falling technique) was traditionally trained followed by joint basic training. Common to this lesson was the message that if you constantly blow over where the fence is lowest, it will ultimately take longer to reach your goals, as the varnish will eventually crack. This also meant that if you were to trust and believe in others, you had to first believe and trust in yourself. Being real - being yourself as you are now can, on the other hand, seem like a red rag for those who don't dare to be themselves. That is the difference between inner and outer strength - in the end.

After a hearty lunch, it was time for group discussions, where the participants from different schools exchange attitudes, opinions and views on previously given topics. Here, the participants get to know each other better, that everyone has something to contribute, thereby strengthening the community and social life in Jokokan.

The last part of the lesson in the dojo was organized on the individual basis through an intensive focus on Kumite (arranged freestyle). For the adult team, the focus was on what and how kumite is through practical partnership exercises. This also applied to the experienced team, but here the emphasis was on the mental games – your own and your opponent's. Here it was about being realistic, looking at your own reactions, learning from them and striving against the opponent's psychological reactions becoming his or her own worst enemy. Again, the overarching theme from the previous lesson is that you cannot have true trust in others if you do not have true trust in yourself – “All change begins with yourself”.

After 2 hours of kumite at a high pace, it was time for JokoKidz and black belt graduation. The JokoKidz team had been well prepared throughout the day, which is clearly reflected in their very good performances on the floor. It was a real pleasure to watch.

Afterwards, it was time for Jokokan Shiai for the advanced, as two of the participants had to go up to black belt in Yakami-ryu Gensei Karate-do and Yakami-ryu Taijutsu, respectively. In Jokokan we don't have Shiai as such. But we use it during brown and black belt graduations to create realistic and tough instructors around their own abilities.

Jokokan freestyle is very tough, as there are no weight classes and almost no rules. If you have to compare with some known rules, it is according to "Ultimate/Street fighting" rules, except that you must not continuously hit the head and continuously inflict serious injuries on each other. Each graduate must show his true character (dare to be himself in an extremely stressful situation) and gets between 3 and 25 matches, depending on purpose and effort. This of course requires a really good mental as well as physical preparation.

Apart from a bloody nose, various bumps and on the verge of knockouts between the participants, everyone did really well, and the two graduates could now celebrate their black belt graduations in the city's nightlife.

Jens Shihan, Country Manager for Jokokan Denmark, and Kimu Sensei, Kaicho (European Manager) had prepared a lecture about the difference and distribution of tasks for the Jokokan Association and the Jokokan Honbu-dojo Organization. However, the lecture was slightly delayed, as the famous Jokokan Frederiksberg food constantly attracted hungry Jokokan participants to the delivery table.

According to Jokokan's open communication policy, the lecture had the task of informing and informing about relevant organizational areas of responsibility, differences and common areas within Jokokan. At the end of the lecture, the new activity overviews from the Home page for the main groups were shown; 10.kyu-5.kyu and 4.kyu-7.dan.

At 19:00 the lights were turned off again in the Honbu-dojo's premises, and Jens Shihan and Kimu Sensei agreed at the subsequent evaluation meeting that the atmosphere and the level of motivation from the participants had been unusually high during the year 2003 Winter Training Camp, - so it was over for many out to be this year's Winter Training WINNER.

We look forward to seeing you again at the next Jokokan activity!”