Summer Camp

Richardson Renshi, Taylor Sensei, Monk Sensei and Nicholas Shidosha attended Summer Camp at the United Ryukyu Kempo Alliance headquarters in Missouri during June, 2010. Taylor Sensei still can't find the words to describe it:

7 July, 2010

It's been nearly a month since we returned from summer camp in the States and still I'm speechless when trying to sum up our trip.

There are words I can use: life-changing, incredible, unreal. But none capture the calibre of the martial artists, the kindness, selflessness and friendliness of Alliance members and their families, or the hallowed feeling of Kaicho's dojo.

So when someone asks about my trip I just say it was amazing and give a shake of my head that I hope conveys my inability to relay the experience without bumbling into clichés.

Yet I have countless glossy memories: How a beekeeper put aside the better part of a week to teach bo sakagawa to my fumbling self, Laura and Kaicho's hospitality, and dozens of instances of generosity from everyone in words, time, gifts, care and deeds.

For example, one new member to the Alliance ran people to and from the airport during camp, hosted me for a few days, and then Nicholas Shidosha for about a month after the rest of us had left. They're taking the latter to Jamaica for a holiday as I write.

But the thing that sticks most with me is a visit to the house of some new American friends. My Alliance 'brother' beckoned me down the stairs where, in the midst of a tidy construction area, the frames of a new bedroom were going up. This, he said in pleased tones, would enable them to host guests during the likes of Summer Camp. The guest room was to be the biggest room in the house. He seemed happy about that.

So that's a brief insight into the kind of people who befriended us, but the training opportunities also had us in a state of perpetual bliss.

Each day the New Zealand contingent began heading to the dojo at about 8.30am. Seldom did we eat before 3.30pm, so desperate were we not to miss a minute of instruction or training. I remember being in conversation with a friend at about 1.30am one morning, heedless to anything else, when the door opened and Richardson Renshi walked in, having just finished training (along with Monk Sensei and Nicholas Shidosha).

It was, some of us agreed, as though every day lasted a lifetime, yet the entirety was over in moments.

I still feel homesick. Sick for my new second home. Book me on the plane for next year, because I am not missing out on the chance to do this again.

As for the rest of you, if you get the chance to go to summer camp, grab it with both hands and don't let go.

You will only understand what a visit to Alliance headquarters means, as both a person and a martial artist, if you have experienced it yourself.