The 26th NTN Summer camp in Surnadal, Norway was held from sunday 24th of July to Friday 30th of July 2016. 350 people attended the camp, and almost 25 instructors,among them the seniors: Master Per Andresen, 8th degree, Master Per Chr. Garnæs, 8th degree, Master Odd-Arne Larsen 7th degree, Master Hallgeir Betele 7th degree, Master Snorre Edvardsen 7th degree and Master Vegard Iversen, 7th degree. We were so lucky to have guest-instructors from abroad also this year: Master Willy van de Mortel, 8th degree from Netherland (he is also training the national team of Norway, since 2012) and Master Ernesto Santaniello, 7th degree from Italy.
Surnadal is a beautiful valley in the northwest of Norway 120 km from Trondheim, with high mountains, waterfalls, fjords and fresh air. The organiser of the camp is Nordmore folk high school. This school actually has ITF Taekwon-Do as a main topic. The camp is well known by the locals after 26 years with this event situated in Surnadal. An old local lady once told that she loved the week when »The white angels» were in Surnadal.
This years camp was very successful and had two training passes each day. The participants were divided into groups based on their level. On of the days it was optional training, the students could choose between: training for gradings, self defence, breaking/special technic or a mountain hike. The national team (seniors and juniors) had special training sessions led by Master Willy van De Mortel, 8th Degree.
Monday evening it was a senior black belt grading, and the last day of the camp it was a grading for coloured belts. Every evening there was activities, «get-together-party», and Master Andresen held a speech to get the participant aware of the most important reason to train Taekwon-do: to be nice to each other and help to build a more peaceful world.
Tuesday night there was a barbecue, before some of the participant held a very nice demonstration. As always, the night was ended with all the participants doing the NTN-dance, looking forward to meet again next year.
All photos taken by Jostein Værnes. Do you want to see more? Take a look here: josteinfoto.zenfolio.com/f393813198