2007 AWCA Training Camp
Grayslake, Illinois

The annual AWCA Training Camp was held this year at the AWCA on September 28 and 29 at the gym of Sifu Dennis Sigurnjak in Grayslake, Illinois. With a well-rounded group of various levels, it was definitely a training camp to remember.

Participants - 2007 AWCA Training Camp
September 28 and 29, 2007
Grayslake, Illinois

Front row: Sifu Phil Bradley
Second row (l to r): Sifu Dennis Sigurnjak, Steve Vallie
Third row (l to r): James Layton, Devin Aiuto, Mark Beardsell
Jimmy Shaheen, Demetrio Hanztopolus, Todd Rosenberry

Leaving Phoenix bright and early Friday morning for Chicago O'Hare airport, we met up with participants that literally spanned the U.S. and abroad. From Illinois to New Mexico and the United Kingdom, it was a pleaure to finally meet with some of our DLP members.

After a bit of lunch and checking into our motel, we ventured to Sifu Dennis' gym for a bit of training while other member's flights came in later that evening.

Saturday morning was met with a round of "welcomes" for those that arrived, followed by breakfast. Starting at 8:30am, we trained the entire day up until about 4:30pm. Breaking only once for a quick bite to eat, it was almost non-stop the whole day, with a lot of great training being experienced.

Due to the variety of levels in attendance, some worked the Siu-Nim-Tau while others worked the wooden dummy. The great thing about training camps is that you get "pushed" to learn faster, while simultaneously seeing where your current training "fits in" with the system.

2007 AWCA Training Camp
-1- First day of training	-2- Si-hing Mark Beardsell with James Layton	-3-
-4- Photo ops	-5- How do you work this stupid thing?	-6- Getting down to business
-7- Kick defenses and entering	-8- Changing up	-9- Si-hing Jimmy Shaheen AWCA - El Paso, TX
-10- Footwork	-11- Jeet-gerk Training	-12- Mechanics of kicking
-13- Demetrio and Jimmy working the kicking range	-14- Demetrio Hantzopolus AWCA - El Paso, TX	-15- Devin Aiuto working Kwun-sau
-16- If you're not sweating, you're not working hard enough!	-17- Si-hing Mark Beardsell AWCA - Teesside, UK	-18- Clinch defense
-19- Demetrio learning kick defenses	-20- Blurry, but Si-hing Jimmy learning the value of Sheung-har Gaun-sau	-21- Si-hing Steve Vallie explaining the importance of Wu-sau
-22- Sifu Dennis Sigurnjak teaching Devin the wooden dummy	-23- Shat-geng-sau on the dummy (Throat-Cutting hand)	-24- How Man-sau can make or break a practitioner's defense
-25- Si-hing Jimmy and Demetrio working Bong-sau

Some learned the first half of the wooden dummy, whereas others finished learning the complete form. At the same time, some completed the entire Siu-Nim-Tau form and learned where Chum-Kiu kicking comes into play.

It was a great time for all of us, and hopefully it will let everyone who "didn't" get to attend see what they missed out on and spark the fire to get to the next one!

This year's training camp was a great success, and I'm very proud of what I saw for everyone that attended. We're already looking forward to next year's event in Kissimmee, Florida, so I hope to see everyone there.