USANKF of Northern California, Inc.
Grassroots YOKP Camp
US Olympic Training Center Colorado Springs
Sanctioned by USA Karate
Friday November 20th 2009 started with the US Olympic Training Center Bus Driver checking her roster at the airport gate for names of young Karate-ka from all over the country for the bus ride to the US Olympic Training Center. The excitement in the faces of the athletes and parents prompted many photos of the athletes climbing into the bus. This was the start of a 4-day camp that would change many lives. We all checked into the front desk received our room assignments and checked into our rooms.
USOTC Rep Anna Miller who gave me a tour of the Judo gym, Gym 6, and greeted my staff and me. We then walked down to the West Wing Convention Center a state of the art facility, which seated 150 spectators along with a world class AV system, a stage, and huge screen for our Motivational and Technical Speakers. We then had a brief tour of the US Olympic Training Center Café, which is under the guidance of the USOC Nutritionist for each day’s meals for all of the athletes who are training for the summer and Winter Olympic Games.
My goal was to create a world-class developmental training camp for Federation athletes ages 12-17yrs of age, and Grassroots Coaches ages 20 yrs and up to learn and transfer this information to their dojos and their respective Regional Sports Organizations. Then implement these special training drills to their area Grassroots development programs and take the country to a new level of development.
The ripple affect of this camp of world class training information should provide a higher level of athlete at our USA Team Trials, which should also give our Elite Coaches a larger pool to select from. The on going training in these drills will be giving us a chance to be more than competitive at all levels of world international competition. The camp had a profound affect on the whole delegation, which touched them physically, psychologically, technically, and even charged them up emotionally with tears of happiness ;due to our last two motivational speakers Sensei Darrell Goodyear and Sensei Hideharu Igaki.
Starting with the Olympic film in the theater capturing on film the spirit of the Olympians while competing, and giving the message that in some little town in America is a future Olympian. This message opened the idea for all those watching that new hopes and dreams await them. Then followed by our last years DVD of 2008 Grassroots Youth Olympic Development Camp, as featured in Masters Magazine Spring 2009 edition last year. Those films pumped the hearts of the athletes, coaches, and the parents in knowing what the expectation for the next ;4 days of camp would be. We then walked over to the West Wing convention center for a presentation by both USADA Olympian athletes presenters. The presentation covered the advantages of making the right choices of being drug free, and the consequences of falling from grace if you’re caught using enhancement drugs to give you the unfair edge.
The USOC Nutritionist did an outstanding job providing a detailed breakdown of the proper nutritional food for the top performance needed for our athletes. The parents were really taken in by this presentation. Many parents had said the presentation has changed the way they will feed their whole family, and not just the athletes in the household.
The Kumite drills in the Judo room with Sensei Hideharu Igaki, along with the great support of 10 male and female coaches were energized and up beat, and the Kata development with Dr. Clay Morton, who also had a team of 10 male and female coaches from various styles of Japanese Okinawa styles. We had for the first time in history the first Uechi Ryu athletes and coaches Sensei Ric Martin and his three daughters from Florida. We worked a unique partnership with USA Tae Kwondo for the use of 3 full size tatami mats provided by USA Tae Kwondo worked perfect for us in Gym 6. I would like to extend a special thanks to James Lenz and Mark Kaufmann for their support with the mats for our camp. The West Wing Convention Center for our Motivational speakers, and the support of the AV Technicians provided everything we needed for our presentations to be perfect.
The support of the US Olympic Training Center media dept. to give our camp the opportunity to again be filmed for an article by Dr. Stephen Lee featuring the largest Grassroots Karate Camp in history. This article will help educate our country through Masters Magazine in the next 2010 edition about our determination in creating a wave of new champions preparing for their next USA Team Trials.
The Olympic Training Cafe staff was not only talented in their meal preparations, but also very gracious to all of our delegation members that were able to dine in the cafe each day. The staff was so friendly, and very patient with all those they served. With the café filled with about 8 large screen televisions with various sports the athletes and coached bonded each mealtime after intensive training sessions with all of the coaches.
Each coach had the responsibility of running a developmental drill at one of the 10 rotation training stations that each team of athletes rotated to every 10 minutes. The Staff monitored each of the drills for teamwork and support. It was a very interactive session that created the team bonding of the athletes as they raced to finish their line of drills first. Federation CEO Luke St. Onge, who brought in various gifts from the Olympic Training Center Gift Shop, provided special awards. The athletes even tried harder when they found out the gifts were from the OTC Gift Shop.
The US Olympic Training Center media dept. gave us great support in giving our camp the opportunity to again be filmed by Dr. Stephen Lee for an article to be featured for it’s second year as the largest Grassroots Karate Camp in Federation history. This article will help educate our country through Masters Magazine in the next 2010 edition about our determination in creating a wave of new champions preparing for their next USA Team Trials.
All of these intrinsic parts of this camp truly made our delegation feel the Olympic attitude, which is the fuel in giving our athletes the hope of an Olympic dream.
I want to acknowledge my staff Yvonne Tibon, Liz Lawrie, Gary Tsutsui, Chuck Sweigart, Darrell Goodyear, Dr. Clay Morton, Sensei Hideharu Igaki, and Medical support of Tess Karsevar. I also want to thank USA Karate CEO Luke St. Onge and those who helped me with the opportunity for hosting my second successful Grassroots Karate Camp.
Report by,Gene Tibon National Director
Grassroots Karate Development Camp
President
USANKF of Northern California, Inc. a non-profit 501(c) 3 public charitable organization Technical Committee
USA Karate
Member of the US Olympic Committee
Sr. National Coordinator Disney Martial Arts Festivals
