Karate Kidz Summer Camp 2009, Day 1

This week at the Taekwondo School we're hosting our week-long Karate Kidz Summer Camp. We have 10 boys and girls in the camp, which runs from 8:30 am until 2:00 pm each day. Each day of camp focuses on one area of Taekwondo training and one area of Leadership training. We just wrapped up day 1. Here's a quick look at our day:

After everyone checked in, we started with our Taekwondo/Leadership training. Today's Taekwondo training was about improving the student's technique for Forms (predetermined sequence of movements). We looked at things like:

1. the parts of a kick, especially the "rechamber"

2. the correct "loading" and "rotation" of double blocks

3. eye contact during techniques

For Leadership training, we discussed and practiced the importance of a positive attitude, or "Black Belt Attitude" while at the Taekwondo school and while at home. We looked at things like:

1. what we say: please, thank you, you're welcome, yes sir, yes ma'am

2. what we do: focus our bodies, help other people, practice what we learn

3. what we feel like: never give up - even if it's hard, encourage others, doing the right thing even if we don't feel like it

During class and throughout the day, the students earned "Leadership Stars" for demonstrating these skills.

After changing out of uniforms, we had a quick snack and then went out to the sidewalk for a session of "Taekwondo Art".

Afterwards, we came back inside for a lot of fun and games: dodgeball, limbo, jumping, ducking, races and challenges. We also watched a little bit of video from the ATA World Championships. After all of that, everyone was ready for lunch. Today's lunch came from Chick-Fil-A.

After lunch we had a special guest speaker from the Bulloch County EMS, Mr. Mike Lindamood. He talked with the campers about his job, calling 911, and general summertime safety tips. Afterwards, he let everyone take a closer look at one of Bulloch County's rescue vehicles. Everyone agreed that the truck was "pretty cool".

After that, everyone got cooled off with a little bit of water fun before going back inside for more fun and games. Before you know it parents were arriving for the 2 o'clock pickup. We recapped the day for the parents and set the stage for tomorrow.

We'll see you then.