Another successful summer camp at Stord, Norway on June 2nd – 4th with visits from Japan and JKA HQ!

 

For the 27th time, Stord Karateklubb organised their annual summer camp for karate-kas on the island of Stord, which is strategically located between Stavanger and Bergen. This summer camp delivered so much on both a professional and social level, in addition to some lovely summer weather!

Many thanks to all of you who helped make the 2023 summer camp a memorable experience. Without each and every one of you, this would not have been possible.

It’s great to see such a dedicated and close group, regardless of age and club affiliation. In total, this summer camp gathered about 170 participants from 11 different clubs; from Lavik Karateklubb in the north to Lura Karateklubb in the south and Stange Karateklubb in the east.

The summer camp in particular and gatherings in general are not only about training, but also about unity and the social aspect among the participants. It’s about creating moments, creating stories and creating friendships – friendships for life.

Stord showed itself from its best side with glorious weather, and Stord Karateklubb was once again a fantastic host for the summer camp. We at the Norwegian Karate Association JKA thank the club and the dedicated people who made this happen for another flawless event.

Taniyama sensei, 7th dan JKA, and Nemoto sensei, 6th dan JKA from Honbu Dojo were the main attractions at this year’s summer camp. Together with skilled instructors from the Technical Committee of the Norwegian Karate Association JKA, headed by Larsen sensei 7th dan JKA, they were responsible for the instruction all three days at Stord.

The instructors delivered inspiring and varied kihon, kata and kumite trainings adapted to everyone from beginners to the more experienced black belt groups.

You delivered – and made the weekend a truly memorable experience for both young and old karate-kas.

Taniyama sensei’s first session focused on hip movements – shomen and hanmi in different stances with a special focus on the kokutsu dachi stance. He especially focused on the importance of keeping the hips “closed” in shomen, and “open” in hanmi while keeping the knee stable and not turning inwards in the position.

In the second session, Taniyama sensei focused on the importance of the main foot in both stances, kicks and turns; the importance of having the main foot in the right position, so that you have full control of the technique.

In his sessions, Nemoto sensei focused on how to gain power in the techniques and provided 3 important key points to achieve this:

1. Relax the body.
2. Straight line for the technique (do not let the elbow out when striking).
3. Use your strength from zero to full power.

Nemoto sensei also had really great and thorough reviews of the katas Gojushiho Dai and Bassai Sho. The katas were reviewed in small sequences at a time. In each sequence he explained the techniques, execution and not least the meaning behind them.

Larsen sensei’s sessions focused on body movement (or tai sabaki) and included sequences on how to move the legs fast enough in kumite to be ready for the next attack.

On Saturday, as usual, after the training we did gradings for shodan (1st dan), nidan (2nd dan), sandan (3rd dan) and yondan (4th dan), while on Sunday there was training and then grading for all kyu grades.

For many, the grading was of course the highlight of the weekend; something that they have trained well and purposefully towards throughout the semester. Congratulations to everyone who passed their gradings on Saturday and Sunday! Milestones were reached and we are now looking towards the next ones.

Thank you again to everyone who helped make the 2023 summer camp such a fantastic experience for all of us. It’s great to see such a dedicated and close-knit group, regardless of age and club affiliation. It was really heart-warming.

We are now looking forward to an autumn semester with exciting activities and not least to the autumn gasshuku in Sandnes on the first weekend of December, where we will once again be visited by JKA HQ.

“Individually we are strong, but together we are stronger”. We believe that.

Ouss!