Summer Affiliates Training Camp
By Nella
Affiliate clubs of the Singapore Kendo Club (SKC) had their inaugural Summer Affiliates Training Camp from the 10th to 12th of June! This time, we had the privilege of hosting the camp in our home dojo at NUS! (:
The camp started off with an afternoon training at MPSH6. Now with a slightly different feel as our SMU counterparts are present. After that, everyone got to check in to their rooms at Raffles Hall, which was directly opposite SRC. Our usual evening training awaits with Renata sensei's arrival! Our fellow kendokas from NYP could only join us much later due to their lessons.
Kiri kaeshi practice
Renata sensei teaching us about tenouichi
Day 2 greeted us with a morning training session conducted by Wada sensei and Suresh sensei. This was followed by Peter sensei's kihon training, another led by Daphne sensei from SMU and lastly by Suresh sensei from NYP. Of course, with breakfast and lunch breaks in between. Not to mention that we had a fantastic lunch catered by SUN Asian Bistro! The fried rice and fish fingers were completely cleaned from the trays. XD
Demonstration by sensei
More waza practice!
Saturday trainings ended off with a nice supper with senseis once again! With a good night's sleep and a short breakfast, we are all ready for godou keiko on Sunday! The line up for Sunday was similar to that of in SKC. First to come was the Japanese and Beginners' Class, proceeded by Advanced Class/Godou Keiko and finally with World Kendo Championships (WKC) training.
Godou keiko on the next morning
Preparation for Advanced Class later
WKC Training Team
One last snapshot of the day
At the end of it all, most of us would have went through at least 7 trainings in total. We managed to cover the various aspects of kendo as well, i.e. kihon, waza and keiko, and I'm certain that everybody has gotten the best out of the camp in their own ways. (:
Personally, it was awesome to have participated and survived this camp! As you may have noticed, one of the highlights was to be able to undergo training sessions conducted by different senseis from our affiliate clubs in Singapore; each with its own experience to offer. Moreover, Affiliate Camp allowed us to have block training sessions (most evident on Day 2), which truly pushed both our physical and mental stamina to the limits. Most of all, the opportunity to get to know our affiliate members better in and out of trainings!
A big thank you to everyone who have made this camp possible! :D