2006 Summer Training Camp: Jen's Journal

Day 0: Wednesday, June 28, 2006

We left Kingston around 7:00PM, and arrived at camp at 8:30PM. Fortunately, we were able to set up the tents and tarp the coolers before the rain started.

Day 1: Thursday, June 29, 2006

Breakfast – muffins, cake, and tea, 7:00AM

We signed up for courses, then bowed-in and did morning exercises with all the black belts present.

1st period – Meditation class with Mrs. Marino, 10:00-10:50AM

At the meditation area in the forest, we went through full body relaxing and tensing exercises, a guided mental walk, and "unbreakable" exercises with a partner (e.g. using only your mind to keep your arm stretched out straight while your partner tries to bend it with physical force).

2nd period – Forms with Mrs. Zehr, 11:00-11:50AM

The emphasis was on improving mental focus and intensity. We performed palgays with just arms, just legs, then at full power but half speed. After pairing up with 3 other partners, we went through palgay one with our backs to each other (i.e. facing outwards in four different directions) to see if we could avoid getting disoriented and end up in the same formation at the end of the palgay.

3rd period – Anti-terrorism with Master Shean, 12-12:50PM

The main points of the presentation were to be alert and report any and all unusual activity that you might observe. We watched a couple of videos—how to identify terrorist activity, and what not to do around suspicious objects i.e. a hand-cam video of a person being blown apart after a group of people crowd around and poke a suspicious box—then discussed past terrorist activities in the United States and Canada.

Lunch – sandwiches, baked goods, and apples, 1:00-2:00PM

4th period – Project Triangle with Mrs. Young

Students were grouped into two teams of six to compete for the prize of "great wisdom". The objective was to transport an egg safely to a far-away temple after performing a number of teamwork tasks. First was making a carrier for the egg from 4 straws and a metre of tape. Second was to swap team members to the opposite side of a canyon by jumping onto small platforms, leaving one free platform after every move. Third was to name the titled instructors of AKDW. Fourth was to transport the entire team across a great ocean using four wooden flotation devices. The team Sam and I were on won the challenge and received the gift of great wisdom. It's a secret, but I may tell you if you ask really nicely.

5th period – PRT Course with Mr. Young; 3:00-3:50PM

Students were grouped into two teams to race the PRT course (physical readiness training, a.k.a. pretty rough time). The course was as follows: 3 wooden hurdles, a metre-high log wall, a rope barrier, monkey bars, posts to run around, a crawl-tunnel, a water-filled ditch to swing across, then a hill to run up, and a gong at the finish-line. Pretty fun stuff, except Sam and I both got blisters and cuts on our palms from the monkey bars, which were actually ridged aluminum ladders. I was a wuss and wiped some stingy antiseptic on the ooziness and taped up my hands, while Sam ran the course again. Afterwards, we did some shotput and tried walking on stilts.

6th period – Combat Course with Mr. Sears, 4:00-4:50PM

Ooh, the infamous combat course with ninjas in the swamp! Except no one got pulled into the swamp this time. There's always next year. In short, we ran through the forest, kicked and punched things, and got chased by ninjas along the way. One of my shoes fell off, so the ninja who was chasing me politely waited while I put it back on. Very thoughtful, those ninjas, when they aren't growling or waving knives at you.

That was pretty much it for Thursday. Around 6:00PM, the rain started coming down really hard, so we tied the tarp to a tree and cooked dinner underneath.

Supper – macaroni and (white) cheese with carrot sticks, 5:00-7:00PM

There were some fireworks and night training in the field, but we were pretty tired by that point so we went to sleep early.

Day 2: Friday, June 30, 2006

Breakfast – bread, cake, yogourt, tea, 7:00AM

The Delouches brought over their extra tent in the morning—three times bigger than the blue pup tent Sam and I were sleeping in—so we set it up after breakfast.

After bow-in and morning exercises with Master Beyer, we were split up into six groups and went around to five different activities throughout the day. Most of the challenges required teamwork and communication.

1st and 2nd periods – Ropes course with Mr. Delouche and Mrs. Zehr, 10:00-11:50AM

We had to defeat a number of ninjas/obstacles to earn six wooden puzzle pieces. The obstacles included slaying a swamp dragon with water balloons, climbing across rope bridges in the forest, crossing a ditch using tippy round platforms hung by swinging ropes, hitting a ninja target across the swamp using an air-pressure cannon, arcing darts up onto a small platform, throwing hatchets into a wooden wall, striking a ninja with baseballs thrown through a window, answering a number of mental challenges, and putting the puzzle pieces together to form a mystery object.

Lunch – grilled cheese sandwiches, cucumbers, apple juice, 12:00-1:20PM

3rd period – Project Triangle I with Mrs. Rydgren, 1:30-2:25PM

The objective was to gather together nine puzzle pieces from around the forest then put the puzzle together, with all but one team member blindfolded. I was the eyes for my group, so I called out directions to my team members. No one sprained an ankle or smashed into a tree, so that was good. We got the puzzle about half done but we eventually ran out of time. We were debriefed and given tips on how we could have finished the puzzle a lot faster, but I can't reveal the secrets here.

4th period – High Element with Mr. Sears, Master Jones, and Mr. Norman, 2:30-3:20PM

In pairs, we climbed up a 5-log ladder with about 1.6m in between rungs connected by ropes. Partners needed to make it to the top together, so teamwork was essential. Climbing stuff is fun, especially when you know you won't die if you slip.

5th period – Project Triangle II with Mr. Rupp, 3:30-4:25PM

We used 2 wooden boards and 10m of rope to cross a 4000m deep canyon. The boards were each about 2/3 of the width of the canyon, and we had to figure out how to make a bridge using only the materials provided. Some students died in the process (including me; I stepped over the edge at one point to retrieve our rope), but we eventually all made it over the canyon.

6th period – S.A.F.E. with Master Carpenter and black belt actors, 4:30-5:20PM

We were put into a few real-life scenarios, allowed to react, then given a debriefing as to what we could have done better. There were friends choking, gunmen, people arguing, and shoving matches. Mostly, you were supposed to keep your eyes open and maintain a clear head.

Supper – vegetable chili, tea, 5:30-7:30PM

Mark had night guard duty, so he was back pretty late. (Apparently, something very interesting happened while Mark was on duty—of epic proportions—so keep reading!)

At night, there were cannon-firings and some shenanigans involving a 20-foot high trebuchet and bowling bowls lit on fire. In the morning, we found scorch marks around the washroom facilities—slightly worrying.

Day 3: Saturday, July 1, 2006

Breakfast – oatmeal with raisins, and tea, 8:30AM

Bow-in was at 9:30AM and warm-up was led by Master Carpenter.

1st period – Wing Chun Training with Mr. Norman, 10:00-10:50AM

In one of the small wooden pavilions, we practised a number of block and strike combos using wooden dummies and real-live partners. Some stuff got broken and some limbs got bruised, but all in all it was a very enjoyable class.

2nd period – Strategy in the Martial Arts with Mr. Graham, 11:00-11:50AM

To improve our decision-making in sparring and in life, we played a prisoner dilemma game (Mark sold me out, the fink), talked about game theory, learned about equilibrium points, and discussed telegraphing and how to beat randomness in sparring.

3rd period – Special Project for All Students with Mrs. Delouche, 12:00-12:50PM

The objective of the game was to kick down the 5 targets of the opposing teams before your own were kicked down. We were split into 3 teams and placed at three corners of a field, given a couple balloons each to kill opponents, then set loose. People got wet, stuff got kicked, and good times were had by all. Sometime along the way, I became a member of a four-person Kamikaze A-Team. Kicking stuff is fun.

Lunch – sandwiches, carrot sticks, squares, and tea, 1:00-2:00PM

4th period – Amazing Camp Race with Mr. and Mrs. Delouche, 2:00-2:50PM

Sort of like the TV show, but martial arts-style. Challenges included finding and piecing back together wind-blown words to form the Kang Duk Won creed, embedding darts into targets, reciting the elements of self-defense in order, performing palgays, filling water balloons, and skiing across the grass using wooden boards to the finish line. Red team got assigned a time penalty because we ran down the hill when we were supposed to walk, but we did manage to win the race.

5th period – Judo Throws with Master Beyer and Mr. Norman, 3:00-3:50PM

We practised falling properly, then threw each other around. We learned shoulder, head, and waist throws, and a chokehold and an arm-lock on the ground. As per usual, Sam was impossible to hurt—even Master Beyer had trouble making the techniques work—so I just giggled through most of the groundwork. Mark had fun with Mr. Schwartz, one of the other brown belts.

6th period – Combat Course with Mr. Sears, 4:00-4:50PM

I thought for sure we'd get pulled into the swamp this time, but no such luck. The terrain was a little hillier this time, and there seemed to be more ninjas. I almost got out of the octagon unscathed, but I slipped on the way out and a ninja yanked me back in by my belt. According to Mrs. Delouche, when I finally did get out, I girly-ran across the swamp bridge. The higher belts got to go on a zip-line during the course, but they didn't get dirty either. Maybe the black belts got tired of doing evening laundry runs.

Supper – spaghetti, cucumbers, and cookies, 5:00-7:00PM

Assault on Nopunde Castle – 7:00-8:30PM

The purpose of the game was to climb the four floors of the wooden castle and defend the top floor, using water balloons to kill attacking opponents. We were split up into 3 teams, and Mark, Sam, and I were all on different teams, resulting in water-balloon peltings—successful and not-so-successful—during the game. Yellow (Sam's team) took and defended the castle all 3 times, but Orange (my team) came close to taking the castle from Yellow during the first game. Blue (Mark's team) didn't do so well for some reason.

In honour of Canada Day, Sam put on a "Proud to be Canadian" t-shirt, and then we had some yummy iced chocolate cake with Swedish berries (made by Mark and decorated by Sam). Mr. and Mrs. Delouche had some too, as did the students in the brown-belt camp.

Night Training – 10:00-11:00PM

By this time, it was quite dark outside. The objective of the training was to get through a ninja-infested field in groups of about 6-7 people and touch the talisman (glowstick) on the other side of the field, without getting killed by hidden ninjas wielding foam jousting sticks. Master Lawlor had fun poking people and figuring out how best to befuddle the students. Hopefully the ninjas enjoyed our serenade of the Wizard of Oz "Winkie Chant" as we crashed around the field.

Afterwards, there were lots of pretty fireworks, followed by more trebuchet shenanigans. It was reaallly windy and rainy that night, but none of the tents blew away.

Day 4: Sunday, July 2, 2006

Breakfast – cake, squares, honeydew, s'mores, 8:30AM

There was no bow-in today. We took down the blue tent and Mark took down his tent. It looked like it was going to be rainy and cloudy all day, but the sun came out and a lot of people got sunburned instead.

1st period – Kama Class with Mr. Graham and Mr. Hopping, 10:20-11:00AM

We learned how to hold, invert, and properly hurt people with the kama i.e. slashings, guttings, and beheadings, without hurting ourselves in the process. Then we watched Mr. Graham perform his trophy-winning, difficult-to-spell kama form.

2nd period – Climbing Course with lots of black belts, 11:10-11:50AM

The wall was about 20 feet high and was of varying difficulty on each side. Sam almost got all the way to the top of the hardest side i.e. the overhang. After I stopped climbing, my hands were in a semi-permanent clenched state, but the wall was definitely one of the funnest parts of camp.

Then we took a break to watch a video of what Mark saw during his night guard duty. (Roll tape with Master Lawlor commentating.) On Friday night, the black belts held a secret chariot race on the road leading into camp, in three wooden carts dubbed Yellow Dog, Black Knight, and Striped Tiger. Originally, there were only supposed to be two black belt "horses" per chariot, and the race was supposed to be only a race, but the event devolved into an epic battle with foam jousting sticks, multiple-horsed chariots, and sneaky surprise-attack rammings. Wheels were lost, heads were whacked, and parents drove by the camp wondering who was taking care of their kids. I'll never look at the black belts the same way again.

Afterwards, we lined up beside the bow-in field and watched the black belts fire burning bowling balls at a broken chariot and a big wooden target. Trebuchets are wicked.

Lunch – soup, cucumbers, granola bars, 12:30-1:20PM

3rd period – Spear-throwing with Master Hintopolous and Mr. Sears, 1:30-2:30PM

First we were shown spears from all over the world, including a wicked-sharp naginata. After brief instructions (pull the spear forward, don't push it), we chucked bamboo spears into bales of hay and tried to hit 3 water balloon targets. I think only one person actually hit a balloon, even when we all threw our spears at once. Mr. Sears had fun laughing at us.

4th period – Kicking Applications with Mrs. Rydgren, 2:40-3:30PM

We paired up and took turns judging kicking distances using the front and back legs, and practiced methods of covering distance, including skip-kick, hop-kick, side-step kick, and turning kick.

We took some photos at the bow-in area in front of the flags, then it was time to pack up and leave. The tents and tarp came down, uniforms and dirty socks got stuffed into bags, then the three of us flopped into the Delouches' truck and drove off sleepily into the sunset.

And that's what happened at camp.