DAV Camp In Osterburg Germany

[Mark Lynn]

An American's point of view of the DAV Osterburg Modern Arnis Summer Camp

This has been a great camp so far. And we're at lunch now, in a couple of hours we will be having our last three lessons with Bram Frank, SM Dan Anderson and SM Rene Tongson. It has been one of the best camp seminar training experiences I have had so far.

Over all the camp has been set up with training with the DAV instructors in the morning for 3 hours (2 sessions 1 1/2 hours in length) a two hour break for lunch. Then 3 hours of training in the afternoon (with the special guest instructors (Dan, Bram, and Rene) and then dinner for 2 hours and then training for another 2 hours till 9:00pm or so with DAV instructors in sppecial classes. It has been ths way since Monday and today is Saturday.

The morning sessions are varied with about 6-7 different classes (for each session), ranging from the rattan ring, countering disarms, double stick patterns or drills, twirling, Sinawali two people vs 1 person, palm stick, locks and controls, counters in the hand cuff position to name a few.

The people here have been great and very enjoyable to work with. I don't speak German and yet the instructors have made sure that they come by and explain to me what is going on. Or my partners have made sure that I'm know what is going on. All of the classes I (we) have been free to choose so I have taken a wide vairety of courses some with my son who is a beginner, and several with DAV students of all ranks.

My advance belt training partners have been great (brown and Lakan ranks), they all have shown a high skill level. We have had good clean fun. And allthough we might do things differently and some times I have to learn some basic techniques, I soon catch up and we are rocking and rolling. But I have not found the students of the DAV stand offish or have any kind of an attitude towards me at all. Actually my roomates and I have all had a great time here. My roomates are my son, and an martial arts instructor and his student from the UK.

I'll be gald to post more about the drills, classes, etc. etc. later when I get back o the states. I have a several hundred pictures so if I could figure out how to post them I'll put some up. Tomorrow the camp is over and we leave to start our return trip to the states.

Mark Lynn

 

[tshadowchaser]

Thanks for that update on the camp.
It sounds like it is a lot of work with good people working along side of one another.
happy to hear your haveing a great time

 

[Dan Anderson]

Hi Folks,

It's 10:30 pm and I am avoiding packing right now. I hate packing so I thought I'd tell you a little about the camp...a little because I really must pack.

It was first rate. Everything from the site (a sports center in Osterberg) to the classes (there were a ton of classes covering a wide range of topics - mine were wonderful, BTW ) to the hosts (DAV handled everything) to the participants.

One interesting thing was that here in the States, we think of DAV as Dieter Knuettel. Well, he is the chief instructor. He had, however, a number of his senior black belts teaching various classes and I can tell you this - they are not Dieter-clones. Each one has his own speciality and does it very well.

GM Rene Tongson covered in his clases, his speciality - Abanico Tres Puntas - a classical style which handles range from long to close in and is very aesthetic motion.

GM Bram Frank taught Modern Arnis usage of the blade, both long blade (bolo) and short blade (his newest design - the Lapu Lapu corto). A highlight of his training sessions came in the third day when he decided to show some actual cutting of meat. This really opened up the eyes of those who didn' have that much reality on what an edge can do. Many came away in WOW mode.

I taught four separate topics: movement, anyo application, power development & Modern Arnis signature throws. The most fun came when I decided that the black belts would be training outside for the power development session. It had rained like a monster that morning and I was praying for rain when my session began. Hey - advanced class taught in crummy conditions - sounds good to me. My prayers were answered and we got our rain...and we stayed outside. It didn' rain as hard or as long as I had hoped but what the heck, we had fun.

All in all, things went really well. I reconnected with some of my CSSD family and got to know a number of the DAV seniors and we all came away smiling. Time to go now. Did I tell you I have to pack?

OH! Just remembered this. The senior instructors received two special awards/gifts at the end of the camp. GM Rene Tongson gave Bram, Dieter and me a special statuette & commendation from the Philippines which was not only heartfelt but very beautiful. Then Bram, Rene and & I received from the DAV as appreciation for our efforts, each a hand made knife. One of Dieter's students is a knife maker. Now as you all might know or don't, I am not a knife connesseur (spelling?) so I wouldn't know the quality from looking at the knife but I looked at Bram when he received his and judging by the way his eyes lit up and the smile he had, we received quality work. Beautiful gifts.

One last thing. Months prior to the camp Dieter requested articles from many, many Modern Arnis players from different eras for a magazine he wanted to produce. Not everyone sent in an article and that is a real pity. The 50th Anniversary of Modern Arnis magazine is a chronological history of Modern Arnis as seen through the eyes of key members in the art. The articles are arranged by the year when the author began and goes all the way through to the burial of GM Remy. It is informative and heartfelt. There are pictures of GM Remy that have never been published - the one of him in a karate uniform is worth the magazine alone. I'll say no more about the pictures. The print quality of the magazine is first rate as well. This I know something about as I was in the printing business for 24 years.

I am bringing home 40 of them and I will have them for sale on my website when I get home. Oh yes, home. Didn't I say something about having to pack?

Yours,
Dan Anderson

PS - German beer is first rate as well. :drinkbeer

 

[Mark Lynn]

Hi Folks,

It was first rate. Everything from the site (a sports center in Osterberg) to the classes (there were a ton of classes covering a wide range of topics - mine were wonderful, BTW ) to the hosts (DAV handled everything) to the participants.

One interesting thing was that here in the States, we think of DAV as Dieter Knuettel. Well, he is the chief instructor. He had, however, a number of his senior black belts teaching various classes and I can tell you this - they are not Dieter-clones. Each one has his own speciality and does it very well.


One last thing. Months prior to the camp Dieter requested articles from many, many Modern Arnis players from different eras for a magazine he wanted to produce. Not everyone sent in an article and that is a real pity. The 50th Anniversary of Modern Arnis magazine is a chronological history of Modern Arnis as seen through the eyes of key members in the art. The articles are arranged by the year when the author began and goes all the way through to the burial of GM Remy. It is informative and heartfelt. There are pictures of GM Remy that have never been published - the one of him in a karate uniform is worth the magazine alone. I'll say no more about the pictures. The print quality of the magazine is first rate as well. This I know something about as I was in the printing business for 24 years.

I am bringing home 40 of them and I will have them for sale on my website when I get home. Oh yes, home. Didn't I say something about having to pack?

Yours,
Dan Anderson

PS - German beer is first rate as well. :drinkbeer

Dan I edited your post

It was one of the best run camps I've been to. The site was excellent with training outdoors and indoors available (if it rained). The food was good (although I would have liked more variety, in all honesty) and located right there. The rooms were good. People were very friendly and very helpful. And everything ran prety much on time from what I could see.

Your second point I couldn't agree more. I always thought the DAV was Dieter as well, but the DAV is the people that make up it. As we saw at the Lakan tests and I found out by working with them and receving instruction from them the black belts from the DAV were very good.

Dan sat on as an exam board member and I was invited as an observer to their DAV Lakan tests. Here we saw people going for Lakan Isa through Tatlo (1st-3rd)ranks, and then a seperate test for Lakan Apat to Lima (4th-5th degrees). They knew their material and were very prepared for the test. What was interesting was that it didn't look like a standard Modern Arnis test certainly not one at any of the camps I went to. This was a real hard 1 1/2 hour test with everyone putting 110-120% totally on the line. I was looking for route memorization of certain techniques, but they had to know the principles behind the techniques and do them so it looked nothing like I was use to. Because knowing the principles behind countering disarms (for example) you are going to have different results with different people because they are going to have techniques and timing of responses that fit them. What we saw was different skill levels between the testees that fit their ranks, and very hard work and a wide varity of technique.

I found this true also with the same testees and other black belts when I got to work with different ones out on the training floor or grass .

I won't say much about the magazone except Dan's right it is very good and worth it. I highly recommned anyone who is interested in the late Professor to pick one up from him. I've read mine now cover to cover and it is very informative and very well produced.

And the German beer is even better drinking with friends and comrades in MA.

Mark

 

[buguhan]

Hallo Dan and Mark!

I'm sure that Datu Dieter will post his thoughts soon!
And Philipp (Mono), too!

Here are mine:
I enjoyed this week as you did. It was my second time in Osterburg and on a DAV Summercamp. Both were terrific good, all Arnisadores were like a family and we ahd a fantastic time together!

And Dan is right: his classes were wonderful!
(I bought his DVD and it is worth the money; by the way I will sell copies of it for 40€/$, 20 for me 20 for Dan :wink1: )

Regards from Germany
Sven

 

[Dieter]

Hello all,

well, slowly the stress of the camp calms down.

Yes, it was a great camp. Thanks Dan and Mark for your kind words about it.
Dan must be home again and GM Rene Tongson is at the moment still staying with me.

Here a few facts to the camp:

We had 210 registrations for the camp and after the (normal) cancellations due to job, private or health reasons, we had 187 participants coming from the following 10 different countries:
Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Czech Republic, England, Russia, Israel, USA and the Philippines.

We had 31 Black belt exams:

11 for Lakan/Dayang Isa, 1st degree
8 for Lakan Dalawa, 2nd degree
5 for Lakan Tatlo, 3rd degree
6 for Lakan Apat, 4th degree
1 for Lakan Lima, 5th degree

We had 32 different training sessions with 138 lessons, for most of DAV sessions had 7 lessons at the same time.
For us in Europe, it was the biggest Modern Arnis event, ever held.

We had a good spirit throughout the camp and there were no personal or political problems or misunderstandings whatshowever. Everybody left their ego at the front door so we all only had a good time.

After the hard and intensive training days, we all came together socializing, talking and drinking water, beer, or juice, usually the last went to bed at around 3 a.m., just to be back up and training on the first training lesson on 9 a.m. again.

We were not sure, id the restaurant could manage the many people, but it worked out just fine. We were also not sure, if the camp atmosphere would still be the same with so many students, but amazingly, it was no problem and it still had a very personal touch.

We all, coming from many different groups, schools and countries felt like a big family. The family of Modern Arnis. And a family includes everybody.

This is one of the reasons, why the 6 attending members of the Worldwide Brotherhood of Modern Arnis, WBMA, (IMAF-Philippines with GM Rene Tongson and Edessa Ramos; MA80, USA, with Dan Anderson; CSSD/SC, USA, with Bram Frank; RAF, Russia with Alexander Pisarkin; Modern Arnis France with Laurent Hittler and DAV, Germany with Sven Barchfeld, Philipp Wolf and myself) decided to change the name into

"Worldwide Family of Modern Arnis", WFMA.

We hope, that in 2 years, when we have the next DAV-summercamp, even more people from more countries will attend, to make it another real family meeting of Modern Arnis.

Thanks to the guest instructors, GM Rene Tongson, SM Dan Anderson and SM Bram Frank as well as the DAV instructors as Master Hans Karrer, Master Jorgen Gydsesen, Carsten Hemmersbach, Peter Rutkowski, Alfred Plath, Sven Barchfeld and Helmut Meisel and to the organizing team and to all the participants, who made this 50 years of Modern Arnis summercamp of the DAV a very special one.


Greetings



Dieter Knüttel
Datu and Senior Master of Modern Arnis

 

[Dan Anderson]

A couple of pictures from the local newspaper for y'all.

Yours,
Dan Anderson

 

[arnisador]

Cool!

 

[Dieter]

Hi everybody,

I am sorry it took so long, but we have a review about the 50th anniversary DAV summercamp now on our website in english!
Together with a lot of pictures in many different galleries.

Please go to:

http://www.modernarnis.de/english/frameset.html

and then klick on the right site on "10th int. DAV summercamp"


I hope you like it.


looking forward for your reply.

Greetings from Germany


Dieter

 

[Brian R. VanCise]

Hey Dieter looks like you had a good group to work with.

 

[arnisador]

Yes, what a great turnout! Thanks for sharing.