2016 Myuna Bay IMT Spring Training Camp Report by Shani Lam
Friday 18th November
7:00 pm Arrive — I arrived at the Myuna Bay Sport and Recreation Centre, terrified and clueless. I didn’t know where to go, who to talk to, what to say or what to do (and arriving at 7:59pm didn’t exactly help ease my anxiety… Note to self: pack everything in advance and not 2 hours before leaving the house).
8:00 pm – 9:30 pm Warm-up / Welcome — As soon as I walked into the recreation hall, I was immediately welcomed and greeted by Boo Sar Bom Nim Sam along with other smiling faces. I was a bit confused as to why we had to ‘warm up’ for an hour and a half and then go to bed, but we did drills up and down the hall (it was tiring but fun), did some combos that were much more advanced than my level (which I thoroughly enjoyed) and finally, worked on our patterns. This involved each person demonstrating their own pattern in front of everyone else and Master Ron (I was so nervous to do my pattern in front of other people, but it turned out fine). After finishing off our ‘warm up’ with 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups and 100 punches, my entire body was aching and unbelievably sore (and so ready for bed).
Saturday 19th November
6:00 am – 7:00 am Yoga — Amazing. Hands down the most relaxing activity I’ve ever done and a great way to start the day (especially after only having a couple hours of sleep).
7:00 am – 8:30 am Breakfast — Absolutely delicious with a range of food choices and a lot better than I expected.
9:00 am – 12:00 pm BJJ with Poon Leung — Brazilian Jiu Jitsu was so much more fun than I had originally assumed and I learnt a lot more than expected. Poon Leung is a very knowledgeable BJJ instructor who explains things in detail well. This made it much easier for the people like myself who had never done BJJ before. We played a few games that were surprisingly fun to play and entertaining to watch (I originally didn’t want anything to do with the games). But 3 hours of BJJ went by too quickly! I really enjoyed how the whole session was very calm and there wasn’t any pressure to be particularly amazing at something we’d just learnt.
10:30 am – 11:00 am Morning Tea — A very tasty, simple and healthy snack that kept me energised.
12:00 pm – 1:30 pm Lunch — A large variety of mouth-watering foods that made me want to eat the entire table.
2:00 pm – 4:00 pm Group 1: All non Dan assessment students — Camp Activities (Archery) — Instead of doing archery, my friend Alicia and I went swimming… in our clothes! So we decided that we would wait for our clothes to dry and then go to archery at around 3:20 (give or take). Unfortunately, the archery activity finished early at around 3:15pm so we missed out. We agreed to watch the last part of the Dan Assessment Session (we were really looking forward to seeing this).
2:00 pm – 4:00 pm Group 2: Black Tips and above — Dan Assessment session — Although I had no idea what this session was, it was still something I looked forward to watching. According to some of my friends (that I had asked earlier), the Dan Assessment is: “Like a grading before the actual grading to see if you can grade.” While watching the end of the Dan Assessment (they had been doing self defence at that time), I found it really cool to see the black tips and black belts perfectly executing every move (props to those that were assessed).
4:00 pm – 4:15 pm Afternoon Tea — A small serving of fruit and/or biscuits that helped keep me going. A large water dispenser and cups were also set out to help us stay hydrated.
4:15 pm – 6.00 pm Sparring — Sparring was the activity that I had been totally dreading (when I first read the itinerary and it said that we’d spar for 1 hour and 45 minutes, I felt like fainting). I was completely wrong. This (approximate) 2-hour session was exactly what I needed to help improve my sparring skills (which are much better now than they were a few months ago). There were a few (by “a few” I mean a lot of) moments where I got punched in the jaw, nose, forehead, head, mouth, etc. but the pain reminded me to keep my guard up. Being kicked in the hips, arms, legs and stomach helped me become more aware of my surroundings (and opponent) — as opposed to just praying that I don’t get hit (this ‘strategy’ btw, doesn’t work).
6:30 pm – 7:30 pm Dinner — Extremely delicious and a great assortment of different foods (vegetables were present and fruits were also included in the dessert).
8:00 pm – 10:30 pm Advanced patterns (black belts) — Patterns are my absolute favourite when it comes to doing Tae Kwon Do (mainly because I don’t have to worry about getting punched in the face at any random stage). This session involved all the black belts practising their (advanced) patterns (in the recreation hall) while colour belts were welcome to come and practice their patterns (and ask the black belts for help if they needed to). I particularly loved this session because it gave me a chance to just practise my patterns continuously whilst in a calm and focused state (also without any major distractions).
Sunday 20th November
6.30 – 7.30 am Yoga — Waking up the next morning was, for once, actually exciting (usually on Sundays I would sleep in until 10:30am). I was really looking forward to doing yoga and was so ready for the upcoming day (but also sad to leave TKD camp). Yoga, once again, was extremely relaxing and had stretched out my body parts to a point where it felt like they’d fall off (but in a good way). The last pose that we did at the very end of the yoga session was my favourite because I felt like a content starfish (and as though I was part of the ground).
8.00 – 9.00 am Breakfast — Tasty, filling and the perfect meal to start the final day of camp.
9.00 – 9.45 am Bo Work — Bo work was very interesting, difficult (especially with twirling) but lots of fun. I loved being able to try out a new weapon and learn a new pattern using the Bo (based on 8th Grade Pattern).
9.00 – 9.45 am Nunchuck Work — Using nunchucks was very challenging for me (I’m so unbelievably uncoordinated) but it was a lot of fun. We twirled, spun, threw, caught, dropped (accidentally) and played around with the nunchucks. I may have whacked myself a few times in the head, face and body while using both of these weapons…
10.30 – 11.00 am Morning Tea — A basic assortment of water, fruit and biscuits that kept me awake and motivated.
11.00 – 12.15 pm Self defence and Pool workout — Self defence was a lot of fun. We had learnt different techniques towards different aspects of self defence whilst also incorporating BJJ into it. I really liked this session because we focused on more advanced and technical things rather than the boring usual, “front choke”, “choke from behind”, etc. I found it really cool to learn and witness more advanced techniques for self defence. The pool workout was, by far, my favourite session of camp. It felt great to just plunge into the cool water after endless sweating and exercising for the past 2 days. It gave everyone a chance to relax and purely enjoy the water. The majority of the IMT people were making towers (of people) by sitting/standing themselves on other people’s shoulders and vice versa. The IMT members successfully managed to ‘build’ a tower consisting of 4 people (eventually) and as soon as they did, they started chanting, “IMT! IMT! IMT!” at the top of their lungs. The whole process was hilarious to watch, satisfying to see the end result and made me feel so proud to be a part of the IMT.
12.30 – 1.30 pm Award Presentation Lunch — Another spectacular meal with a great selection of food options and the perfect way to wrap up the entire camp. “Best effort Male” and “Best effort Female” awards were given out to Callum and myself. Receiving the “Best Effort Female” award (and trophy) felt amazing but I definitely didn’t expect to be presented with an award at my first camp (especially since I had only started doing Tae Kwon Do earlier this year). I now keep it on my bedside table (it’s one of the first things I see when I wake up) as a reminder of my very first Tae Kwon Do camp. A huge thank you to Master Ron for this award (and the whole camp).
1.30 pm Clean-up and Depart — I was so not ready for camp to be over or to leave Myuna Bay (and I also didn’t feel like packing). I departed feeling a whole mix of emotions… I was sad (to be leaving), happy (to see my family and to be at home again), anxious (about school now that camp’s over and the long drive home), excited (for next year’s camp) and exhausted (from the lack of sleep).
Overall Comments: My very first Tae Kwon Do camp at Myuna Bay, was a huge success and I genuinely enjoyed the entire camp. The facility was nice and homey, the rooms were clean, the staff were extremely polite, the beds were simple yet pleasant and the IMT atmosphere was full of love and support. I’ll definitely be coming back next year for camp because this camp was undoubtedly awesome — I’ve made new friends, learnt new skills, tried new things, challenged myself, received my first IMT award and drastically improved my attitude towards Tae Kwon Do. I’ll never forget this camp — Thank you so much to everyone who was there.
