Wonder Valley camp

Graham and Jaydean Lelliott and their crew at Central Valley Karate held a great camp over the Memorial Day weekend at Wonder Valley, just outside Fresno, CA.
The instructor staff included Graham, myself, Ingmar Johansson from Sweden, Jason Arnold from Canada, Bryan Hawkins from Los Angeles, Marty Zaninovich from the Central Valley, and Ed Parker Jr. Special guest Steve LaBounty was there,too.
The camp was well-organized, the location was beautiful, and the event was very family-oriented. Participants came from as far away as Florida, Australia, England, Sweden, Germany,Ireland, and New Zealand. Classes were held on Friday evening, Saturday, and Sunday, with one mixed class and the rest broken out between kids, brown/black, and under brown. The days included plenty of time to mix and get to know people as well as participate in the Challenge Games in which teams competed in archery, blindfolded canoe races, and other funny stuff.
For me it was a chance to see some old friends and meet some people I'd had contact with only be Internet. It's good to see them moving up the ranks and to hear about some of the projects they are working on. I'll be writing about some of them in this blog soon.
I had the opportunity to talk with Steve LaBounty for a while, which was a bit of a treat for me since over all these years, we've only met in passing. I enjoyed the time, which was a fill-in on some history and we talked about some research I'm doing on carotid chokes. He's teaching police defensive tactics and that's of interest to him.
One of the events they have there is a bonfire on Sunday night. Graham had each of the instructors come up and say something and presented us with a nicely done IKC flame-shaped memento. In addition, I was given an acknowledgement award that opens like a book; very thoughtful and much-appreciated.




The camp had a very positive atmosphere and it looked like everyone had a good time. It's one of the most relaxing events I've been to, and if you get a chance to go you should take it. It's only every two years but watch for it to take place on Memorial Day weekend in 2009. I brought Jan with me and she enjoyed it too.