|
Day one of summer camp, took place on Monday the 12th of July
2010. Everyone was on a high of excitement and it was a truly
wonderful feeling to walk into the sports hall at "Trinity
College" in Washington. The day started with everyone greeting
each other, as schools from all over the world came together
under the A.I.M.A.A banner, everyone hugged old friends and new,
and it was a truly inspiring scene to see!
Our first day at camp kicked off with outstanding classes by
Master John Darcy and Master John Kirkwood. Both Masters
undertook 2 hour classes, and the students where split into
groups of Black Belts and Colour Belts. Both masters took
their group to either end of the hall, whilst all the parents
sat watching and videoing these classes.
 
Master Darcy took a 2 hour class of "Back to Basics" a fantastic
class taking everyone through each stance, block, punch and
kick. The seminar was broken down to ensure everyone had good
sound knowledge of these basic moves, and this in turn, ensured
everyone had very strong techniques. The class was very hard as
we had to repeat each move many times. Master Darcy was so
inspirational in his teaching of these techniques, as he used
many analogues to ensure even the smallest of children on the
floor truly understood why we applied the technique and why we
had to stand, hold our arm, punch in a certain way!
Master Kirkwood's 2 hour seminar was very hard, as he combined a
30 minute squad session and then a one and half hour sparring
seminar. Students bounded from one side of the hall to the
other, dropping in between to do squat thrusts, press-ups,
sit-ups and so on. They then proceeded to undertake
various punching exercises and learnt various sparring
techniques with Master Kirkwood. The students had a very
hard workout and finished the class by undertaking hundreds of
punches with one arm, then changing to the other!
 
All out junior students and panthers undertook classes in a
separate room, under the direction of Mrs Farrell, Mrs Gough and
Mrs Courpe. The children undertook drills, games and many
Taekwondo activities in a fun and informal manner! They had so
much fun being taught by these three outstanding A.I.M.A.A
Instructors and thoroughly enjoyed their experience, and looked
forward to the next day, when they would be training alongside
the adults in Grandmaster Cho's seminar!
As the first day came to an end the whole camp burst into
rapturous applause for the Master Darcy and Master Kirkwood, who
are truly inspirational Masters and Instructors. We also took
this to thank all the other Instructors who had helped out and
had taught that day. Everyone headed
back to their dorms to or hotels to get freshened up, before
heading out for an afternoon of sightseeing
and relaxing by a pool in the beautiful sunshine of Washington
D.C.
CLICK HERE FOR
SUMMER CAMP - DAY 1 PHOTO GALLERY
|