By Martin E. Hansen, Member until 2018
A little over a month has passed since we all stood there, in the heat, and ready for this year's summer meeting. We have gradually all experienced the large turnout at our common camps, and once again we managed to draw full houses. What was the exception, however, was that just over 90 % had to go up to the subsequent graduation or competence graduation, and that is a great many.
In usual style, we were all welcomed by a smiling Kimu Sensei, who again managed to give a long but concrete welcome speech, here too he has the ability to surpass himself in level from time to time. Subsequently, Shindenkan's new battle cry had to be polished off, so Søren Renshi-dai led himself forward from the set-up podium and incited a collective shout, which was needed, you could hear. Now the training camp could finally start, which happened first with a joint warm-up to get the temperature in the Måløv hall up a bit. The actual training began with joint kihon to get everyone in the mood for the day's other activities, and at the same time be challenged beyond the normal curriculum.
A regular feature of the summer camp is fall technique. As something new, however, the team division was different this year, as both Jokokidz and adults trained together in smaller groups according to grade. As an instructor, I think it worked really well, as everyone can learn something from both training children and adults together. After half an hour of fall technique and a small break, the time had come for a new step for someone on the road to "real" kumite, namely spot glove training. This applied to everyone from 7th kyu and up, the rest were allowed to cheer themselves up with curriculum training in kihon and senkai. I myself had the pleasure of seconding Kimu Sensei as instructor and test cloth during this. You could quickly sense at the meeting that the interest, focus and intensity increased while the smile on the lips grew bigger. It's always nice to get new input and tools. Many of you definitely learned to hit harder and more accurately while using correct technique and position. To those who have wondered whether Kimu Sensei made it through on the cushion, I can say; yes, it could be felt throughout.
The last lesson of the day served as a rehearsal for those who had attended the kotachi course, i.e. again from the 7th kyu (however including some 8th kyu "fast trackers"). Very nice for most to brush up on the techniques before the competence graduation later in the day. Everyone else had the opportunity to practice kata, so they were fresh in their minds before the graduation that moved closer and closer. The Kotachi course that had been held before the camp was at a very high level, thanks to the participants' enthusiasm and willingness to learn. It was also reflected in the competence graduation that followed, nice to see just over 60 students wielding the "knife".
We had now reached the high point of the day for the many present - graduation. It was a long session of just over an hour, where the graduates in the usual groups, by degree, were asked to show selections from the syllabus, ending with kata. Jens Kyoshi was the graduation leader with the black belts as assistants and judges. At the same time, the nominated black belts were taking turns for a conversation with Kimu Sensei about their graduation process. After a long day, it was great to see everyone cut a good figure during the graduation. The 3 nominated brown belts had already been to an hour-long syllabus test the week before, which you can read more about in other articles. So the last stop test was a hard pad training, where they had to go through an unknown number of rounds of unknown duration with punches and kicks on a pad. The cushion was held by their respective instructors as a motivation and provocation factor. All 3 of them did really well to great cheers and applause from all the spectators and students present. As a conclusion and in the sense that everyone should not think that the black belts are doing anything, it turned into a short demonstration of 10 minutes, where we showed a small pot purri of selected curriculum in kumite and kata.
It was getting close to 6pm and everyone had their chosen degree confirmed at the final graduation ceremony, followed by well-deserved applause. All in all, the summer meeting must once again be considered a huge success, and a good foundation for next season and a well-deserved summer holiday. Welcome to the new season.
