2010 Black Belt Camp in Review!

Contributed by Brad Eleeson

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Another great year!

This year's Black Belt Camp was a great year for attendance and participation!
One hundred and seventy eight of our region's Black Belts attended, more than forty attendees over last year. We also had an impressive turn out from our region's Masters and high ranks to help prepare and evaluate our Black Belts and Instructors.

Region 114 was well represented this year by our most experienced Black Belts:
• Chief Master Jager
• Chief Master Hoover
• Ten 6th Degree Masters
• Three 6th Degree Master-Candidates
• Twenty 5th Degree Black Belts
• Twenty Five 4th Degree Black Belts
• Forty Nine 3rd Degree Black Belts

You can do the math for yourself, that's more than a thousand years of combined Martial Arts experience, not to mention the seventy 1st Degree and 2nd Degree Black Belts, who travelled from around the region to train together... Simply incredible!

Friday Night

Friday night started off with line up, introductions and bow-in with everyone in Traditional uniform. We covered some great drills, practical application of color belt forms, dynamic and proper kicking skills and then of course the PT Test (Physical Fitness) required for all 3rd Degree Black Belts and above to pass annually in order to mid-term or test.

The practical application of color belt forms was demonstrated and practiced in which the student would learn, from the instructor, how to get the most out of segments from their forms by preparng on the wavemaster bags. This provides a target area and shows how proper pivot and joint setup is ever so important while making it fun to hit a bag and also providing some physical exercise along with developing the most efficient way of generating power in the techniques.

Friday evening also included the option for all ranks to work on the Broadsword form (some minor changes that will be filtered through to all students) or the Cane form for 3rd degree’s and above (normally reserved only for 4th degree and higher). Several of the Sioux Falls instructors attended the Cane form and hope to be able to spread that knowledge to the rest of the staff and students.

Everyone did a fantastic job with their PT tests. Our own instructors Jeff Morehead and Deb Birgen had reached well above the 400 point mark, when only 300 points were required to pass. Jordan Mitzel had one of the highest point totals - well over an amazing 500 point mark. Great job to the three of you!

Saturday

Saturday started out early in the morning. Everyone had a chuckle that the camp schedule listed “Shower” at 5:30am. For those that were motivated to get up early, they had the option of learning about the Warrior X-Fit program (www.warriorxfit.com) that everyone can participate in, free of charge, in the privacy of your own home and at your own pace. The other option was the Weapons sparring seminar. We covered how to score it from a Judging perspective and then participated in several practice rounds.

Testing came next and was a spectacular show of skill, strength, and preparation. Several high ranks mid-termed, including region 114’s Master Shane Sanders, who is preparing to test for 7th degree at World Championships this June. Joran Mitzel had an excellent mid-term in preparation for his 4th Degree Testing at World Championships. Some amazing board breaks were done by a few of the region’s 5th degree black belts as well.

Other activities during Saturday included Combative Board Breaks, Self Defense Flow (one of Chief Master Hoover’s favorites), Color Belt Self Defense teaching concepts, and more Dynamic Kicking techniques. All that was followed up by some weekend reviews and of course the hard but gratifying traditional work out led by our region's highest ranking instructor, Chief Master Jager. The day ended with the evening Banquet.

We can’t wait to see all of the returning and new Black Belt students and instructors next year to make it an even bigger event in 2011!

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