The camp itself was extremely well-run. I believe Rick Faye has been holding this camp for over a decade so he and his assistant instructors from the Minnesota Kali Group (www.mnkali.com) have the whole thing down to a science.
You had the option to start the day early by going for a 3-mile run with the Seattle instructor, Andy Wilson from
www.mkgseattle.com) or attending a yoga class with the fiance of one of Rick Faye's assistant instructors.
Then breakfast, followed by the morning workout. The topics varied from kali stick and dagger, kali double stick, muay thai, savate, panantukan, trapping, boxing, grappling, and perhaps a couple others I'm forgetting. Rick Faye, for those of you who don't know, is a full instructor under Guro Dan Inosanto, so his is a JKD school that bases its curriculum on the filipino arts with a wide variety of arts added to the base.
The sessions were three a day for about 2 1/2 to 3 hours each and went something like this:
Morning Session: 9 to 12
Afternoon Session: 2 to 5
Evening Session: 7 to 9:30/10:00
And, each, as I mentioned, covered a different topic or set of topics.
The camp was a good experience and the only downside was that I was very new to Kali and most of the other arts, particularly the kali stick and dagger routines called 'Numerado' and 'Sombrada' (I'm sure I'm misspelling those), and a lot of the weekend was spent working on kali, so I found myself getting frustrated during those sessions. The other sessions on grappling, boxing, and to a lesser degree muay thai and panantukan were more enjoyable because I had been working on those areas pretty diligently for the previous 6 months.
It was a lot like an extended seminar where you're getting a ton of material thrown at you and most of it is pretty advanced due to the high experience level of the people attending. I was one of the least experienced people there, though there were a couple other newbies I trained with. Most people there were senior students or instructors who had their own schools--people came from Germany, the UK, and all over the States.
A great group of people, though, and EVERYONE was extremely patient with me and very helpful.
My experience at the camp led me to this (brilliant!) conclusion: seminars and intensive training sessions like the Wisconsin Camp are great ways to immerse yourself in your martial art but if you're new to the art(s) (say, less than a solid year of hard training) then it's very easy to get overwhelmed by the advanced material and start to feel frustrated. At that point in one's training my personal feeling is that the best thing for you is to focus on training at your local school and working HARD on the basics. After you've been in the art for a year or two you'll benefit more from the seminars and camps.
Although, I realize it's important to attend these types of seminars if only to expose yourself to the unbelieveable talents of martial artists such as Dan Inosanto and Rick Faye. However, it felt a bit like starting college at age 14 - too much, too soon.
Hope this information was helpful.
Cheers.
ToddR
) and she wasn't sure what to think... of the potential idea/job.
?
anybody?
at a summer camp (sic. not designed AS a martial arts summer camp specifically)
