4th Annual New Zealand Eagle Spirit Jujitsu Summercamp 2013
Saturday 14th December heralded the start of the annual New Zealand Eagle Spirit Jujitsu Summercamp at Scoutlands by Lake Wiritoa. This is the fourth time the organisation has held its Summercamp at the location and once again it proved to be a tremendous success.
The weekend started with a three hour grading for the Junior members of the club at varying intensity depending on their current rank. There were three groups grading : White and Red (Beginners); Yellow and Orange (Intermediate); and Green and above (advanced grades). Each group had at least three Instructors watching their every move and scrutinising their skills and efforts. All students proved themselves to be both capable and disciplined on the day and success was universal.
The grading was followed by a couple of seminars from a visiting organisation Instructor from Palmerston North, Simon Merten, and some team-building games from two of the Wanganui Instructors, Howard Singer and Ben Lockwood. Other Instructors from Wanganui, Dunedin, and Ratana were put through their paces testing against a new "Eskrima Skills" and "Staff Techniques" syllabus, devised by Kancho Robin to test their skills in these areas for their Dan level requirements.
On Saturday evening a presentation was held to award both junior and senior students their new grades.
All 45 of the attending junior students were successful in earning their next grades – a handful proved themselves to be of exceptional ability and double graded. Some received the new “Merit” award to reward them for showing extra discipline and aptitude during the grading.
Special mention to :
As well as the junior students, several seniors received much deserved honours and promotions in Jujitsu. Simon Merten and Ben Lockwood achieved their first black belts; Howard Singer achieved 1st Dan; Christian Merten and Matt Rayner achieved 2nd Dan; Mathew Shepherd, Rochelle Howard. and Bryce Rider achieved their 3rd Dan ranks.
The presentation was followed by a family BBQ and a display of ancient fighting arts by Paul Kirk and his Jomsborg New Zealand team – demonstrating single-handed Viking sword, hand axe, long axe, Dane axe, and sword and shield. The children loved the demonstration and it was great to see an authentic display of weaponry and weapon-skills from an earlier age of human history.
On Sunday Crossfit Wanganui under the instruction of Karli Kaea-Norman and Matt Rayner put the children through their paces, and then later the Dunedin instructor, Christian Merten, taught a seminar on striking techniques. The weekend finished up with a mass water fight that will be the talk of Summercamps to come.
A great weekend for the children and "Camp Mother", Rochelle Howard, would like to extend sincerest thanks to all those parents that lent a hand and kept the behind the scenes going. Special thanks to Whanganui Community Foundation for their continued support of this event, Signs and Engraving for their speedy delivery of camp T shirts, and Scoutlands for once again providing an amazing venue and fantastic weather.
The weekend started with a three hour grading for the Junior members of the club at varying intensity depending on their current rank. There were three groups grading : White and Red (Beginners); Yellow and Orange (Intermediate); and Green and above (advanced grades). Each group had at least three Instructors watching their every move and scrutinising their skills and efforts. All students proved themselves to be both capable and disciplined on the day and success was universal.
The grading was followed by a couple of seminars from a visiting organisation Instructor from Palmerston North, Simon Merten, and some team-building games from two of the Wanganui Instructors, Howard Singer and Ben Lockwood. Other Instructors from Wanganui, Dunedin, and Ratana were put through their paces testing against a new "Eskrima Skills" and "Staff Techniques" syllabus, devised by Kancho Robin to test their skills in these areas for their Dan level requirements.
On Saturday evening a presentation was held to award both junior and senior students their new grades.
All 45 of the attending junior students were successful in earning their next grades – a handful proved themselves to be of exceptional ability and double graded. Some received the new “Merit” award to reward them for showing extra discipline and aptitude during the grading.
Special mention to :
- Tammika Wineera for achieving her Brown Belt (1st Kyu), the first student ever from the Ratana Paa club to attain this level.
- Jacob Chapman who achieved his Brown Belt (1st Kyu) with a commendation of merit, for all his hard work in assisting Kancho Robin and helping his fellow students through their gradings.
- Jayden Bamford-Short for achieving his Shodan Ho Black Belt – only the eighth junior student to achieve this in the history of the New Zealand organisation.
- Courtney Jones for achieving her Shodan Ho Black Belt as a much valued Instructor and mentor to the younger students.
- Steph Lockwood and Jess Howard for achieving their Junior Master level rank.
As well as the junior students, several seniors received much deserved honours and promotions in Jujitsu. Simon Merten and Ben Lockwood achieved their first black belts; Howard Singer achieved 1st Dan; Christian Merten and Matt Rayner achieved 2nd Dan; Mathew Shepherd, Rochelle Howard. and Bryce Rider achieved their 3rd Dan ranks.
The presentation was followed by a family BBQ and a display of ancient fighting arts by Paul Kirk and his Jomsborg New Zealand team – demonstrating single-handed Viking sword, hand axe, long axe, Dane axe, and sword and shield. The children loved the demonstration and it was great to see an authentic display of weaponry and weapon-skills from an earlier age of human history.
On Sunday Crossfit Wanganui under the instruction of Karli Kaea-Norman and Matt Rayner put the children through their paces, and then later the Dunedin instructor, Christian Merten, taught a seminar on striking techniques. The weekend finished up with a mass water fight that will be the talk of Summercamps to come.
A great weekend for the children and "Camp Mother", Rochelle Howard, would like to extend sincerest thanks to all those parents that lent a hand and kept the behind the scenes going. Special thanks to Whanganui Community Foundation for their continued support of this event, Signs and Engraving for their speedy delivery of camp T shirts, and Scoutlands for once again providing an amazing venue and fantastic weather.