Indianapolis DKI SummerCamp overview

[draconis]

This was the 10th year for SummerCamp, and was one of the larger Camps we've had, with roughly 125 people of every rank, age, and body type. We had men and women, way-too-thin people and way-too-heavy people, white belts (beginners) and Grandmasters, pre-teen kids and silver-haired (or bald) men and women. (Okay, none of the women were bald, but you know what I mean! ::G::)

The way the Camp is structured, you'll typically have one person leading a session for 30 minutes to an hour, then another instructor will teach something different, so you get a HUGE variety of information presented and don't have to completely exhaust one instructor to do it. Plus, that way each instructor is an expert on the topic they're teaching rather than getting taught five subjects by a person who's really good at two of them, so-so at two of them, and barely competent at one of them.

Friday night, training began at 6:00 and ran until almost 10:00.

Saturday morning, training resumed at 9:30 and ran until just past noon, then picked up again at 1:30 and ran until 6:30. The last 30 minutes or so was the ceremony for those of us being promoted. The banquet began at 7:30, followed by a nice blues band.

Sunday morning, training resumed at 9:00 and ran until 2:00.

As everyone was breaking up after we'd been released at 2:00, I went over to congratulate one of the other people who'd been promoted, and who'd shared a table with me at the banquet the night before. He'd had trouble doing the last thing we'd been training on, which was how to nullify an attack without having to actually touch the other person or dodge the incoming attack -- an energy-based defense. I know a lot of people don't believe in such things, and that's fine -- believe what fits your worldview.

The fellow that I'd gone over to speak to hadn't been able to get it to work, and was clearly having "belief issues" too ;-). He asked if I'd been able to get it to work, and I said that I had, and he asked if I would mind demonstrating it with him. I told him I didn't mind, although I'd prefer if he used a punch instead of a kick like we'd been doing during the session, as those were easier for me. So I told him to give me a moment to prep, then to give me his best shot (and he's a muscular gentleman) right in the stomach. He asked me, "So you're saying I won't be able to touch you?" and I said that he might still make contact, but that there would be no effective power behind his punch.

Well... either his targeting needs a little work, or he was wanting to make sure I wasn't just tightening up my stomach muscles to absorb his punch, because he didn't hit me in the stomach -- he punched me full-force right in the solar plexus. (For those of you not familiar with it, if you've ever had the wind knocked out of you, that's why.) I just pointed out where he'd hit me, and that it hadn't even had enough force to disrupt my breathing, and he just shook his head and muttered.

Well of course the two ladies with him (students of his) wanted to try next, so I said okay. The first one said that she couldn't throw a very effective punch, so I told her that she could do 2 punches -- the first with me not doing anything to interfere, and the second with me "defending," so that she could see the difference. When she threw her second punch, I had to catch her and keep her from falling down! The second one didn't have quite such an extreme response (and did have a very good punch, especially for a lady) but told me afterwards that she got heart palpitations when she tried her second punch. I would love to know what the conversation was like on their trip back to Oklahoma. ::G::

Monday morning as I was coming out of the hotel room with my bags, the door to the room next to me opened up. There was a gentleman standing in the doorway, so I nodded, smiled, and wished him a good morning, but didn't really look at him. Then he said good morning, and my brain went, "Wait... I know that voice..."

What I hadn't known was that Grandmaster Dillman was in the room next to me all weekend. He looked startled for a moment, and said, "Oh, if I'd known you were right next door, I'd have knocked and come over."

::BOGGLE!!!::

And then it was time to start the long drive home -- roughly 500 miles. Thank heavens for a car with good gas mileage, and satellite radio!

Since I was driving within about 20 miles of my hometown, I stopped and had supper and a nice visit with my parents. They Ooh'd and Ah'd over the fancy certificate ::G::, and asked a lot of questions, and were frankly amazed that I was still conscious after doing 18 hours of training in 3 days! LOL

I finally got back to Memphis at around 10:00 Monday night, unloaded the car, and pretty much fell into bed.

Today I'm still pretty drained, but I figure another night of solid sleep should go a long way towards fixing that.

I hope so, because tomorrow I go back to my dojo here, and I know they're going to want to know everything we went over at the Camp this weekend!