2011 Athens Karate School Winter Tuite Training Camp by John Shipes ２０１１年アシンス空手スクール唐手冬期合宿（アメリカ中西部地区支部長 ジョンシャイプス八段より）
December 7th through December 14th of 2011 was a memorable occasion for the Athens Karate School in Athens, Texas. It was the site of the 10th annual Athens Karate School Winter Tuite Camp hosted by my students and I. It was made even more special with a visit by Kaicho Isao Kise on his first trip to the United States by himself.
The weekend began on Wednesday, December 7th when my student, Sensei Nathan Batson, and I met Kaicho at the Dallas/Ft Worth International Airport on his arrival from Okinawa. After a prolonged trip through customs, Kaicho finally walked through the gate and the weekend got underway.
Thursday was spent reviewing techniques with Kaicho that would be the heart of the weekend training camp for his approval and comments and corrections. Several hours were spent reviewing these techniques with Kaicho and some adjustments were made. These techniques represented an expansion of our current tuite requirements, fairly significantly, to further our members training in the tuite techniques of our system.
The techniques were reorganized by myself and presented to Kaicho as a possible new set of requirements. All of the prior requirements were included with a few eliminations due to repetitiveness and a larger number of new techniques including many new joint locking techniques and the supporting techniques to make them work such as change-body an other types of footwork, weight shifting, flow drills, etc. Kaicho was pleased with the new techniques and Thursday was brought to a close with some photo opportunities with the kids class in the Athens Karate School and Kaicho and I heading off to the hotel where the seminar was being held.
Friday morning, bright and early, we got the camp underway. Many of my students and friends from around the country were in attendance which made the camp even better. Friday, Saturday and Sunday were devoted to practicing this "new" set of techniques and lots of very hard work and great camaraderie were evident throughout the weekend. All the techniques were reviewed under the watchful eye of Kaicho and with his help, the weekend was a great success.
Kaicho demonstrated and taught 2 sport kata, Passai Dai International and Seipai, to the delight of everyone. The kata are beautiful and it was a great opportunity for everyone to learn them from Kaicho Isao Kise. Virtually all of the students practiced the kata with Kaicho and several were able to learn them well enough to practice them after the camp. It was a wonderful session.
Additionally, Shihan Greg Lazarus taught a session on sparring drills on Sunday morning while the higher (3rd dan and above) students practiced gun and knife defenses and chokes. I heard many good comments about the session and everyone who attended enjoyed it greatly.
Sunday afternoon was a winding down session since most everyone had left by then. The time was reserved for review of the weekend's activities and techniques with approximately 30 or so students remaining. Sunday evening was rest time and I was ready for it. It was a very active weekend and I was very tired. Kaicho and I took it easy and headed to Dallas on Monday morning for some shopping and relax time.
This camp was a perfect 10th anniversary camp for the Winter Tuite Camp. We had approximately 110 people in attendance from all over the country including Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Illinois, Washington, New Hampshire, Colorado, Kansas, Georgia, Arizona, California, Minnesota, and of course, Okinawa. It was even more special with Kaicho making his first trip to the US by himself and all three US Directors were in attendance and all four 8th dans in the US were in attendance. All but 2 or 3 of the federations 7th dans in the US were in attendance and all of this added up to a very special camp.
I want to very much thank Kaicho for making this trip, and to my friends and fellow directors, Shihan Greg Lazarus and Shihan Jeff Ader for coming. Also, a special thanks to Shihan Dave Fasig, Shihan Loren Engelby, Shihan Taco Aguilar, Shihan Don Foster, Shihan Kenny Broadway, Shihan Bill Ackerman, Shihan Ron Gordines, Shihan Les Reed, and Shihan Craig Werner for all your help and support. Most especially, I want to thank all the instructors and students who gave of their time and money to come to this camp. It was a great success and I hope you all enjoyed it.
