My First Weapons Camp- An Article By Gabriel Lee-Robinson, Brighton WCMA

If someone had told me that in the space of two days, I would have cut bottles in half with a real Katana (a 3 foot razor blade), shot arrows from one end of a field to another, learnt the first sword pattern, and got to spar with everybody on the camp no matter what age they were I would never have believed…

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Turning up at Ardingly College I wasn’t sure what to expect. Last year my dad and I went on the Kung Fu Camp but only stayed for one day. This time we had decided to stay overnight and were looking forward to both days. Within minutes of arriving we were given our first job, carrying hundreds of empty plastic bottles down to one of the fields; little did I know how much fun we were going to have once the bottles were filled with water.

Mr Russell Suthern, our Chief Instructor, started the training session by demonstrating the cuts we were going to practice, slicing effortlessly through first one, then smoothly slashing through the second, before finishing the three bottles with a horizontal slash. 

We then began to learn the cuts using the same rubber swords we usually train with, whilst we were practicing in the field, Kirsty, Josh and Matthew (all who had their own swords) were busy making short work of the hundreds of full water bottles and containers.

Thanks to Shaf (and Josh who let us use his sword) all of the juniors were able to cut three bottles each with a real Katana. So after about an hour of practicing we lined up to take turns with the gleaming steel blade. 

It is not as easy as the seniors make it look, and as soon as I took the blade and tried to cut the water bottles, all the flashy ideas about fancy sequences went out of the window immediately.

Even with just basic diagonal and horizontal slashes, the feeling of using a real sword was amazing (I know what is going on my Christmas list this year!).

After everyone had cut their 3 bottles we went back to the rubber swords as taught us a all the first sword pattern, which was a wonderful mix of thrusts, slices, turns and spinning slices! After a year of practicing my first two kung fu patterns it was wonderful to learn a new pattern.

After 3 hours of sword practice it was time for lunch in the dining hall of Ardingly College; surrounded by a mix of exchange students and the biggest American Football players you have ever seen (again not what I expected) we enjoyed the first of several meals in the college.

It was soon time to start again, and this time it was CLOUT ARCHERY, which for some reason me and my dad always thought was called CLOUD ARCHERY (because you fired the arrows up in the sky).

 

The targets were set up at opposite ends of the field, and Russell gave us 5 arrows each (with the instructors getting 6 each). It was very different to firing arrows in the hall, I had to aim at 45 degrees into the sky with the arrow often disappearing from view before it came down in the other end of the field with a THUD and vibrations that I could almost feel.

Caleb and his dad both had fancy compound bows which meant they had to fire from much further back than everyone else, and even so managed to land their arrows well behind the target.

So there you have it, day 1 of the weapons camp, swords and bows and arrows, what more could a boy want….

Day 2 and the weather had turned so we spent the morning training inside the lounge of the building we stayed in. We were taught some new moves with our training swords and Russell soon added in shields to the session, and had us creating our own sequences to perform in front of everyone. 

Whist we were doing this, Kirsty and Josh were taught a new pattern with their canes by Shaf which they would perform for us in the afternoon.

After lunch things got a little more energetic as we moved outside and the battles began (after practicing our sword pattern individually and in pairs). Starting off in teams with swords only, we each took turns being captain and picking team mates (everybody wanted Steve on their side).

After the team battles is got interesting as it was everyman for themselves as we all fought each other at once, and I soon learnt that Caleb and Catla had a thirst for my blood and that being sneaky was almost as important as being skillfull in staying alive.

Once shields were added in, I found it even more fun as the battles got heated and people got even sneakier…

Before I knew it the day, and the camp was over, and I had sliced 3 bottles, shot hundreds of arrows, learnt 1 new pattern (which I have already forgotten) and killed my camp mates (not really) tens of times over…

I can thoroughly recommend the camps to anyone training with WhiteCrane Martial Arts, because they are exciting and give you many opportunities to learn things just not possible in a normal lesson.

Thank you again to our Chief Instructor for organizing such a wonderful camp.

Gabriel Lee-Robinson (aged 7, with some help from my dad)

Brighton WCMA