Ryukenkan Dojo - Tauranga New Zealand
"Karate in Paradise" - It's a rough task, but someone has to do it!
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Ryukenkan Dojo - Tauranga New Zealand "Karate in Paradise" - It's a rough task, but someone has to do it!
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Spring Camp Review - September 2006The Year the North came South!September 2006 -- URKA (NZ) was proud to host a group from the Alliance Hombu Dojo in New Zealand during September 2006. We held our first ever Spring Camp at the Bukenkan Dojo in New Plymouth over the weekend of the 16th and 17th of September. We were privileged to host Kaicho Amor and several other senior representatives of Hombu Dojo for the event.
(From Left, Sensei Kruse (Ryubeikan USA), Renshi Lawson (Ryubeikan USA), Sensei Standish (Ryukenkan), Kaicho Amor, Renshi Rickard (Ryukenkan), Shihan Richardson (Bukenkan), Sensei Todd (Ryubeikan USA) Our guests arrived in New Zealand to less than perfect weather. They were collected from Auckland International Airport and after a quick meal, brought back to the less-than-sunny Bay Of Plenty where they stayed at Renshi Rickard's house. Mr. Rickard has commented that fitting an extra 6 people into a house built for 5 was a challenge, but it was always fun and worked out better than he could have imagined. As soon as the sun came out, the training began with members of the Ryukenkan Dojo converging on Renshi Rickard's house (yes, more people in a small space!) to receive instruction from Kaicho and his support team. One of the extras was Shihan Richardson from New Plymouth who, while having been involved with the Alliance for over 18 months, had not met Kaicho Amor face-to-face. Mr. Richardson stayed in Tauranga from Sunday till Thursday before returning to his Dojo (Bukenkan) to prepare for Camp that weekend. Kaicho taught many workshops during the week prior to camp, including empty hand kata, weapons kata and basic exercises and drills.
Kaicho Amor teaching Eiku Bunkai on the beach at Mount Maunganui While the sun was out, we even managed to get in some training on the beach at Mount Maunganui. With the Alliance Hombu Dojo being based in Oak Grove, Missouri, feeling real beach sand between the toes was quite a treat. Some members of the Ryukenkan Tauranga Dojo were fortunate enough to be taught specialist kobudo training. One such person was Mr Gabriel Mike who studied Nunchaku under the tutelage of Sensei Harley Todd.
Gabriel Mike (Left) learning Nunchaku Kihon no Kata from Sensei Harley Todd
Daniel Rickard studying the finer points of Kama with Kaicho Amor - the edges never looked so good! On Friday morning, the Tauranga students gathered and traveled in convoy down to New Plymouth. For our US guests, the New Zealand roads were an eye-opener. Being used to wide straight roads kept in good condition, the twisty winding roads of the Awakino Gorge and Mount Messenger provided quite a contrast. The camp began on Friday the 15th with a formal opening ceremony and some detailed instruction on the Naihanchi kata from Kaicho Amor. Saturday continued the trend with additional kata training and specialist classes. Kobudo (weapons) tuition also formed a large part of the camp with all the students present having the opportunity to learn new skills. An important part of Spring camp was the formal recognition of rank for Shihan Richardson, Sensei Standish and Renshi Rickard. Mr. Richardson's Yondan (4th Degree Black Belt) was formally recognised by the Alliance, while Mr. Standish and Mr. Rickard were presented with their rank certificates following their promotions at Summer Camp in the USA. Mr. Standish was promoted to Nidan (2nd Degree Black Belt) while Mr. Rickard received his Godan (5th Degree Black Belt)
The members of the United Ryukyu Kempo Alliance (New Zealand) and our guests When it was all said and done, the group returned to Tauranga having said fond farewells to our family in New Plymouth. There was still a couple of days left for more teaching and sight-seeing with our guests. On the 19th of September, the sad part came as we returned our friends to the big silver bird in Auckland. Looking forward to Summer Camp in Oak Grove in 2007, and also to NZ Spring Camp 2007, we bid farewell to Kaicho and his entourage before returning to Tauranga. One did stay however, Mr. Courtney Kruse has stayed on in New Zealand until December to ensure that we are teaching the curriculum as it is taught in Oak Grove Headquarters.
Mr. Kruse teaching Kata to a group at camp All test, images and information remain the sole property of the United Ryukyu Kempo Alliance and may not be reproduced or stored in any medium without written permission. For More Information Contact: |
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