Thoughts About This Past Weekend's Blackbelt Camp

This past weekend, Mr. DeSousa and I attended an instructor and black belt camp hosted by the United States Taekwon-Do Association. We were taught by 3 seventh degree Masters in sparring, self defense, pattern techniques, the science of Taekwon-Do, and school management. Just being with this group of black belts was a humbling experience. But they were about the most gifted teachers I've yet met.

The event truly was a camp. We stayed at an almost brand new 1,000+ acre church camp in the forest outside of Little Rock. We did self defense drills, speed excercises, and several basic excerise sessions outside in a pavillion overlooking a lake. The 70 degree weather was almost heavenly!

I love the technical side of Taekwon Do so the first class called "The Science of Striking" was right up my alley. We discussed how energy flows in sparring, self defense, and also in patterns. Newton's third law of motion has more application in our art than you can possibly believe.

The science lessons were put into use when we spent 2 hours practing speed drills, and another 2 hours sparring. Imagine a line of 6th and 7th degree blackbelts, and then all of the lower belts tasked with sparring each of 6th and 7th degrees in order. We started the sparring session about 8pm, and worked hard until 10pm. From there, I went back to the cabin and tried to sleep. Sleep was not possible though. I was enjoying the sore muscles, and recapping each round in my mind. The adrenaline was way too high for my body to rest, and I think Mr. DeSousa had the same experience. We probably slept all of about two hours that night.

The last day, we worked on pattern for hours. I think I put about 4 hours into patterns throughout the day. Watching Taekwon-Do masters who have trained for 30+ years do pattern is simply awesome. Talk about motivating!!

We drove home Saturday night, and didn't stop talking about the weekend for the entire 3 1/2 hours. We have so much to show you all, and are looking forward to passing on what we learned.

We'll see you in class!