Annual Summer Workshop 2004

This year, most of the seniors booked well in advance and the demand from the beginners was amazing. So in the last week of June 2004 we were back in Athens and this time it was easier for the new members of the Reading Academy to adapt as most of the senior members were there to guide them.

My assistant this year was Craig Harry who proved to be an outstanding assistant, helping me to deliver, in a more playful way, the concept of the first form, Chi Sao and stick hands.

But let's not forget a senior student, John Hawthorn, who was a guide to all as a Chi Sao partner and tour guide. Brian Hames, with his unique style, was a good guide to the beginners and guests from abroad. Senior Tony Hopcroft, the friendliest character of all, provided a good hand to learn from.

This year the group was more united and we had the pleasure of guests Phillipo and Allesandro from Franco Rigalzi's Wing Chun school in Genoa, Italy.

In the morning we met on the mountain near the Stefanakis hotel under the cover of wonderful trees and practised a long Siu Lim Tao form and detoxified our bodies with fresh air. In the afternoon, some of us cruised to the nearby sea side at the very cosmopolitan Varkiza beach while others preferred to stay and relax by the swimming pool at the hotel.

We met again in the evening to continue the progression of the morning training, with lots of improvisations and drills. As the sun set, it was wonderful to see that students were progressing unnoticeably and having fun.

In the evening we had dinner at the local tavern, the British students in particular could not believe how cheap Greek meals could be! We were supplied with lots of home made wine and did not rush to go because the places in Athens stay open until the early hours of the morning.

A couple of times we went to Athens by night for drinking and dancing at the excellent bars and discos that were near by. We had lots of good times and stories to remember. Arlene Davis' and my birthdays were on the agenda so we went out to celebrate in style.

That year we noticed that through the weeks training and excursions we had developed into a close group of friends. Every single person that attended the 2nd summer workshop in Athens was a star! I cannot thank enough all those that attended that year for the great times we had, the good fun and their great companionship. It was a must to continue with the 3rd annual summer workshop in Greece.

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This years summer training camp took place between Monday 21st and Friday 25th June at our new summer residence in Varkiza, 18km from central Athens.

The first scouting party left England on Friday the 18th (with others to follow over the course of the weekend). The first weekend was spent re-acquainting and re-acclimatising ourselves to lazing in the sunshine, swimming in the sea, eating vast quantities of seafood, late night whisky drinking and ice cream eating.

This year we were joined by Alessandro and Philipo from Franco's school in Italy, unfortunately Franco himself could not attend but his students represented his school very well.

Lucas based his workshop on two hands, hips and footwork and the training was broken down into four 2½ hour morning sessions and four 2½ hour evening sessions followed by a 4 hour workshop based specifically on footwork to round off the proceedings. The majority of the training took place at our outdoor kwoon, a piece of land that we had reclaimed last year and flattened with some strenuous Chum Kiu steps. Every morning started with a refreshing Siu Lim Tao form under the shade of a tree.

Various exercises were done during the course of the week, a lot of work was done on single hand (dan chi sao) and double hand (luk sao), working in pairs we concentrated a lot on shadow boxing and the lower/upper body connection. Again working in pairs one person continually offered threats to the other who had to deal with the threat and offer a counter, this greatly improved everyone's double hand co-ordination and foot work whilst also being a very good cardio vascular workout. We also practised the 5 elements drill to improve co-ordination and flow.

The weeks work was very specific and focussed a lot on line, detail and energy from which everyone benefited a great deal evidenced in the quality of the double handed chi sao and foot work in the Friday session.

All too soon it was over and whilst various people returned to England and Italy, Lucas, Brian and myself took a ferry to Spetses Island, a beautiful Island south of Athens, for a final couple of days of rest and relaxation.

Whilst on Spetses we were made to feel very welcome by everyone that we met and spent our mornings and afternoons sunbathing on some of the different beaches and swimming in the beautiful clear blue sea or wandering round the streets near the harbour. We took a boat to the far side of the Island where we hired canoes and canoed round part of the coastline to investigate some sea caves.

At night we would go out to eat freshly caught fish and octopus at one of the local taverna's and then walk round to the old harbour to one of the many quality bars where we would sit outside for hours sipping whisky, watching the world go by and listening to the sounds of the Island at night, the perfect way to end an evening.

Our final morning in Greece meant an early start and we were greeted with a glorious sunrise over Spetses harbour before our boat back to the mainland and the start of our journey back to the UK.

All in all a fantastic break with some very valuable training. Looking forward to next year already.

John Hawthorn | Reading Academy Senior Student