Well it was a helluvan experience! Mr Kelly, and Mr Sepulveda
didn't make it for whatever reasons, so teaching classes were
Mr Conatser, Mr Trejo, Mr White, and Sifu Duffy. They were all
extraordinary at teaching! There was a gentleman there, a
Mr Moreno who taught a knife/knife sparring class that although I
couldn't participate in, was damned good. No idea who he is
really, just that he taught well, and was extremely nice!
Our class got there before quite a few of Mr Duffy's students, and
Mr C was there waiting. We got all settled in, and they kept
telling us to go eat, so we went in, got trays and t hey loaded us
up with sandwiches, chips, drinks .. TONS of food, the whole time!
Mr Conatser came to the table my school was sitting at, and sat
with me, and I introduced him to my friends. It was a GREAT time
just there in itself, because Mr C was so personable! After about
20 minutes of *PUN*ishing jokes, we talked a bit about martial
talk, and then started talking kenpo. The 5 of us from my school
pretty much got our own little seminar right there, as Mr C
displayed his genius! We all finished with him with our jaws on
the floor! It was very interesting, and Mr C presents things so
well! He kinda made us feel special, cause he spent time hangin
out with us. He was also nice enough to p oint up to the
Flourescent light bulbs, and show us the couple hundred
scorpions who died up there
. Heheheh .. during this time,
Mr C pointed out a gal from Mr Duffy's school called "Mad Dog".
Kewl little nickname which she was proud of. He also gave a
guy from my school (Reggie) the nickname "Sweet Pea" .. and boy
did it ever stick to him! ROFL! Everyone was calling him Sweet
Pea throughout the rest of the camp! :rofl: He was all "Why can't
I have a cool nickname like Mad Dog??" Mr C said, "cause you're
Sweet Pea!" ROFL! After most showed up and we all met each
other, we sat down to watch The New Gladiators. It was cool,
cause there was a lot of cheering, and comments that were
either funny or interesting by those that were there back then.
Mr Trejo led the cheering whenever Mr C's mug was shown on the
tape.
Well we all woke up at 5 am :shrug: and LOUDLY woke up Sifu
Duffy. He then took us on a half mile jog. Then we jogged from
cabin to cabin (the b.b.'s there got seperate cabins) waking
everyone up. The only time the lower belts got to torture the
higher ranks, because we sang so loudly and poorly!
Then we did a P.F.T. of pushups, and sit ups, and a 1 mile power
walk. According to Sifu Duffy, this was the first time at camp that
it wasn't a mile run, because the test he was using was for a walk
not a run. He assured us that next year it'll go back to being a
run again. It was about 6:30 am and I was WORN OUT!!! Man,
was I tired! I put everything I had into this stuff, and needless
to say, I was the most out of shape person there. NOTHING I'm
proud of, believe me. Then the entire camp stood for 10 minutes
in a DEEP horse stance. Many deny that it was only 10 minutes,
and that it was more like 20, but either way, I died! Note to self:
Gotta work on that. That pretty much killed me. We then split
up into beginner/intermediate/advanced classes. The first was
Mr Conatser, who shared some of his amazing knowledge of
kenpo, his great sense of humor, and his wonderful way of
presenting it. About 10 minutes before class was over, I had to
leave to get a drink, I was parched, EXHAUSTED, hot, sweaty,
dirty, etc, and my back was just killing me (another side effect
of being over weight and standing for long periods of time).
Then we went to Mr White's sparring class, where we first all
went through yellow belt techs (Mr White did every single one
with us) and then he showed us sparring techniques, which
were just ingenious. I don't know anything about sparring, so
maybe others wouldn't think so, but I found them to be. About
the last quarter of Mr White's class, a couple of us were told to
help bring in some groceries into the caffeteria. I grabbed a few
bags, walked them in, put them on the counter and when I let
go, my vision went black, and my balance was all screwy and
I almost passed out. One of Mr Duffy's students, Mary saw it
and had me sit down, and told Mrs Duffy about it. So I was given
water, gatorade, coke, etc from various people "drink this" etc.
I sat there until I felt okay, which was pretty much about the time
lunch started. I was SO tired, and felt like crap! People felt that
if I'd eat something, I'd feel better, but I sooooooo didn't want
to eat! I forced down a sandwich, and then I got naseous. I
pushed myself to go to Mr Trejo's class on sticky hands, which
was super cool! And oh yeah .. "Sweet Pea" was the dummy for
all classes so far
I enjoyed Mr Trejo's class, and it wasn't all
that exerting, but it sure was HOT. I felt like I was gonna puke
and/or pass out, and Mr Trejo picked up on it without me having
to say a word! He nicely kicked me out .. said to go sit down and
get some water and cool off. Well from that point on it just got
worse and worse. I couldn't blink without feeling dizzy, I was
nauseous, couldn't catch my breath, etc. I tried laying down for
a bit, but that didn't help either. The people there were extremely
cool, and tried really hard to help me out in anyway they could. I
got to sit and watch Mr Duffy's class, and Mr Moreno's knife
sparring class. Both were exceptional, and both made me want
so badly to particpate in. I look forward to next year, when I can
take their classes! They teach really well.
When the classes were done for the day, I just felt like I needed
to see a doctor, so I asked a friend if he could take me home, and
I went to clear it with my instructor. I missed the fire talk, and
the jam session at night
and 2 classes the next day. There
was a LOT of comraderie and joking etc. It was a great camp,
and I KNOW the night activities were probably a riot! Anyways,
I came down with a majorly bad case of heat exhaustion, which
I'm still trying to recover from today. I totally enjoyed the camp
and only wish I didn't have to leave early! Anyways, the following
will be the few pictures I was lucky enough to take.