@
Silver Lake Camp
Peachland, BC
March 16,17,18, 2007
Winter camp returned to the Silver
Lake Forestry Camp for the second year
after the fire of 2004 destroyed the
lodge and main training facility.
This year all the renovations and
reconstruction to the new lodge were
complete. Three levels of spacious
room for training and meeting were
open to accommodate the 70 members who
attended this camp.
Although mild for this time of year in
Canada, the weather was definitely
gwinterh, lots of snow and plenty of
ice. Outdoor training was interesting
and challenging for all participants
given the snow and ice.
The first training of the camp held,
was a 2-hour session on Friday
evening. Many of the camp
participants literally arrived at camp
to put on their dogis and join
training before they unpacked personal
belongings for the weekend.
Friday, first day of the camp, was for
most a travel day. For those heading
east, the winter conditions of the
roads were very favorable; however,
those traveling west found quite
different conditions, snow and icy
road conditions. Fortunately,
everyone made it to camp safe and
sound with only a few stories to tell
of traffic delays.
Friday evening set the tone and flow
for the entire camp. Basics, Basics,
and more Basics! The organization has
grown considerably over the past few
years and one common elements of the
growth always focuses back upon basics
and the ability of all dojos and
members to maintain the standard set
out by the IKOK-C.
Saturday morning, 6 AM, saw all the
participants outside in the snow and
cool mountain air. With the early
switch to gDaylight Savingsh time,
morning training was done in complete
darkness. As a result of the mild
conditions, the snow ghard packh was
not so hard. Walking through the
snow, many members ended up more than
knee deep in the snow. This made
morning outside training, well,
interesting!
The second class on Saturday focussed
on Bo training and Goshin Jitsu. Bo
training is relatively new for members
in Western Canada. The Kyokushin Bo
katas now current in the organization
were well received as part of the camp
training. With the Silver Lake
facility being brand new, some concern
during training was expressed by the
instructors that a Bo might find itfs
way through a new window or into the
wall in the main training hall. This
turned out to be not the case, as all
the students were very aware of the Bo
they held in their hands and the
potential for damage to the
surrounding training hall and to the
greater application of the Bunkai of
the Bo.
Last class on Saturday included a
spirited group of younger participants
indulge in intense fighting training.
The older members of the group focused
on Goshin Jitsu training.
After dinner on Saturday, the
traditional Black Belt meeting and Dan
Candidate interviews were conducted.
This year 6 members have applied for
Dan testing.
The lodge has a great open area with a
big fireplace, which gave all camp
participantfs a chance to socialize
for the evening and renew old
acquaintances.
Training on the final morning of the
camp began outside (6 AM) in the dark,
then moved inside with more Bo
training and a Kata review.
The last spirited training session of
the camp included a review of all the
different elements of Kyokushin
training covered throughout the
weekend. Everyone worked hard during
the last training then immediately
assisted the camp staff with a cleanup
of the whole facility.
A
great weekend of training, a great
weekend for Kyokushin.
