My family attended our first Summer Camp in 2014. We were a bit apprehensive at first because it was unknown to us, we were willing but would we be ready and able to keep up? It turned out we survived, learned a lot and had a lot of fun in the process. Driving home from last year’s event we had already put the 2015 Summer Camp into our calendar. With much anticipation our family, and our extended family from the Calgary dojo, arrived at the 2015 camp to set up our tents and trailers and get set for the first training session. The camaraderie of Kyokushin training was evident that night, as we pushed through an intense Kihon and Ido Geiko session, and throughout the weekend with running, fitness testing, katas, fight and weapons sessions. The training sessions with the Shihans, senseis and sempais were inspirational. I was able to update my notes with items that I had missed from the year before. There is much to learn and incorporate in our daily training until next year’s camp! It was very hot again this year, the sun was relentless and the simple pleasures of training hard, cooling off in the river with friends, fueling up again (thank you to my wife, Cara, who prepared food and kept 18 of us going strong) and getting ready for the next session was a great relaxation for the mind and spirit. The Shodan and Nidan kumites were once again inspirational and emotional. Congratulations to all the belt candidates including Sempai Richard Barkman on achieving his Nidan and to Sempai Isabelle Godin and Sempai George DiPaola for their brown belt accomplishments. Thank you to all the training partners this weekend and Kyokushin Calgary for making training something to look forward to every day. Time to get ready for the 2016 Summer Camp! Richard Gibson
