Newsletter 3/2007 7th Docklands Summer Camp
Newsletter 3/2007 7th Docklands Summer Camp
Once again Docklands Tae Kwon-Do had the pleasure of hosting its annual Summer Camp conducted by AETF Secretary, Jerzy Jedut VI degree, and 15 times European and 3 times World Champion, Jaroslaw Suska. Accompanying them were six students from the Lubartow area. This camp was slightly different to the previous six as the Polish group arrived on 2nd August and departed on the 14th August, allowing them to travel the country and conduct two subsidiary seminars. Mr Jedut conducted a seminar in Wales for Former World and European sparring Champion, Neil Ernest III degree, in Cardiff and one in Ramsgate for Mr Anthony Pantelli V degree.
Everyday in the Docklands Summer Camp there were two sessions of 2 ½ hrs – 3 hrs. Mr Jedut and Mr Suska covered drills, single techniques and patterns during their fun and creative games and exercises, practising teamwork and quick thinking. We listened to Mr Suska’s explanations of patterns in depth, as he went through the movements and put into words the beauty of Tae Kwon-Do. The morning of the first day of the camp kicked off with Mr Jedut’s warm up and once again no-one knew what to expect, in spite of most of the participants having attended previous camps. Mr Jedut had a seemingly inexhaustible supply of warm up exercises (as well as sparring drills). When the exercises had to be explained, the young members of the Polish contingent were called upon to demonstrate. Some senior and junior members of the England team were present and one of the juniors, Regan Lawrence, had the distinction of having attended all seven camps that have taken place, attending the first camp when he was only seven years old.
Everyone had the opportunity to seek help from both instructors and take the chance to work with other grades, from yellow tag to VI Degree. On the last day (Sunday 12th August) Mr Suska performed a demonstration for all those attending, as well as an audience who arrived especially to watch. He performed a reverse turning kick whilst blindfold, striking a bottle off a man’s head with his foot. The audience held their breath as he performed the same technique kicking a cigarette out of a volunteer’s mouth. Mr Jedut finished the classes off with an inspiring speech about Tae Kwon-Do, encouraging all of us to keep going and improve, striving in the future to reach our personal best.
During the free periods where Tae Kwon-Do was not being taught the party were able to enjoy themselves in a variety of activities, including a trip to Thorpe Park (a famous theme park) and a trip to the theatre to see a new production called ‘Fame’. Evening meals consisted of hot chicken at Nandos, very large sweet and savoury pancakes at My Old Dutch and frequent trips to Chinese restaurants.
Docklands would like to thank Canary Wharf Group PLC for sponsoring the camp for the second year, as well as Julie Fagg for her tireless effort behind the scenes. However, the greatest thanks must be extended to Mr Jedut and Mr Suska, who once again provided an excellent seminar with the aid of their students. Roll on 2008!
Story by Marcela Capaja and Tom Denis
