The first A.I.M.A.A European Summer Camp was held in Jersey from 19-22^nd June. There was a good turn out for the events first year which boasted students from Ireland, Poland, Switzerland, France, Germany, Malaysia, South Africa and of course Jersey. Students arrived on Tuesday 18^th and after settling in had a group meal to get to know new members of the A.I.M.A.A family.

Master Darcy kicked things off on Friday with a class focusing on shin attacks, taking your attackers leg and moving onto ground fighting. Master Darcy showed how a perfectly placed shin attack thrown with very little force can disable even the biggest of opponents. The class then went into how to take your opponent down with ease and how to diffuse the situation fast on the ground. Master Darcy showed the difference in ground grappling and ground self defence, reminding us that there are no rules in street self defence. This class ended with pattern work up to Purple belt level.

Saturday was Master Byrne’s turn and he took students through a three hour seminar on Grandmaster Cho’s one steps and self defence. He explained and demonstrated each of the 55 one step’s in detail and then in full time and full power and then let the class practice as the class progressed. When class had reached the end of the one steps Master Byrne then focused on self defence and showed many different ways to get out of any type of situation. Working on two different aspects of self defence, one being seize and control for a doorman situation and the second being strike and stop designed to inflict maximum damage to your attacker in the shortest time. This is Master Byrnes speciality area and as always everyone was amazed with his power, accuracy and knowledge.

Sunday saw Master Darcy back in action, this time with a three hour seminar on fighting techniques up and down the floor which was set at a lighting pace. Almost every fighting technique in the curriculum was covered and Master Darcy explained and demonstrated how to increase speed and create power in the moves. Partner pad work was covered next as students put the fighting moves into practice repeating drill after drill to make them second nature.

Water breaks were few in this seminar which really put campers through their paces especially when it came to pattern work as each pattern from Chon-gi to Choon-Jang was covered. This seminar was extremely physical and gave people a taste of what to expect at the A.I.M.A.A International testing under Grandmaster Cho in September.

Monday’s classes saw A.I.M.A.A Ireland Instructors Mr. Gerry Long and Mr. Paul Healy take students through some tough classes. Mr. Long working on sparring moves and pad work and Mr. Healy undertook an extreme cardio conditioning class. Each class was an hour long and students had to perform them back-to-back which was another very physical day, but as Grandmaster says, we must keep pushing!

Camp finished up with a meal together and everyone in attendance agreed that the European Summer Camp was a roaring success.

A special thank you must go to Master Darcy and Master Byrne for giving us this great event and for taking time out from their busy schedule to undertake this FREE camp!

Also a special thank you to Mr. Robert Fernandes and Miss Monika Warkowska for organising this fantastic event in Jersey. Mr. Fernandes and Miss Warkowska are the driving force behind A.I.M.A.A on the Island of Jersey.

Master Kirkwood sent his best wishes to everyone and was very disappointed he could not attend this time. This camp was unique in that it did not cost anything to train all weekend and the training, information, bonding and above all fun had by everyone was exceptional !

Report by A.I.M.A.A Ireland National Instructor Mr. Paul Healy