Summer Camp 2006

James Shell (Baltimore Aikikai)
jshell@Harford.edu

The New England 2006 summer camp provided one of the warmest receptions I have had at any seminar.

I want you to form a picture in your mind. Think back to the picture "2001 A Space Odyssey" and you will recall the opening part of the movie showed a group of hairy people standing around, walking in no particular direction, or just sitting waiting for something to happen. As it happens that part of the movie ends when one of the hairy people picks up a bone from the ground (little known to most people this was really the earliest form of the "jo" stick) and hits someone.

It is my opinion that was what we would have had with out the hard and seemingly never ending work done by the organizing (let me call them) committee of the New England Aikikai.

Think of organizing a trip to the mall or grocery store much less a family vacation and expand that into hundreds and hundreds of people. I have been to a lot of business meetings and seminars and presentations in my years, some of which were very costly. Never have I had a smoother and more friendly check in/check out and all the time in between as I had at this years summer camp. This is not because problems did not come up it is because the "committee" took care of the problems so we did not have to.

How do I know there were problems? There is a very fine lady that looked like she had a deformed ear that was just really a cell phone in use a lot. I do not believe these were social calls. I think that by the second day I would have felt like shooting my cell phone and by the third day I would have.

During and after classes we bow to our practice partners and to our instructors. We often find the instructors off the mat and tell them what a good class they gave us. I hope you did the same to every one of the "committee". Don't tell them I said this but if you did not tell them what a good job they did send them a written thank you note or fax/ E mail them a thank you message.

If you could not go to camp this year:

We drove right up to the dormitory doors to drop off our "stuff".

The parking lots were close by the gym and had enough parking to take care of everyone and space left over. I personally left my weapons in my car and just picked them up on my way to class so I would not have to carry them back and forth from my room.

The walk from the gym to the dormitories was through wooded paths. As you climbed the stairs through the woods you could see the small woodland animals that abound in this area. The climb was truly breath taking. The view from the top was of some of the most beautiful New York wooded, rolling farmlands you could ever imagine.

The dorms were located between the air-conditioned cafeteria and the air-conditioned "coop" center. The "coop" center was full of over stuffed chairs and couches. It also had a very large screen T. V. Someone had a lap top P.C. and one night used it to play a DVD onto the large screen T.V. Everyone in the room sat in almost total silence and rapped attention. It was a DVD of an Aikido Seminar. Go figure.

There was a party in the "coop" center one night, a Bar B Q in the "big tent"' one night and another party in the "big tent" the night before the end of camp.

We did have use of the pool. I have never used the pool, I hear it is large and very nice. Perhaps next time.

I do not believe you are going to find a better collection of qualified and talented instructors and students anywhere you go. Some participants had forty and more years experience some less than one year. Everyone had respect for everyone else and shard the good times.

It is my understanding that Morihei Uyeshiba wanted to help establish harmony among peoples. It worked at this year's summer camp. All three pieces fit together so very well. I offer my thank you to the students, teachers, and the "committee" that gave me such a good time to remember. We were our own little world for a while.