News from Associates

DAV holds its 9th Modern Arnis Summer Camp from August 1 - 7, 2005 with special guest instructor Grandmaster Rodel Dagooc.
written by Dieter Knuettel

This camp had 146 participants, the biggest ever held by the DAV (Modern Arnis German Federation).  Aside from the German participants, we had guests traveling all the way from Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Italy and Russia.

Also new was having a Filipino Grandmaster teaching at this camp: Grandmaster Rodel Dagooc, 8. Dan Modern Arnis, who started his Modern Arnis training in 1969 under the Professor and turned out to be one of his best and most loyal students in the Philippines. I already had the pleasure to train with him intensively in 1983 during my first training-trip to Manila. I was very glad to be able to welcome him to this year's summer camp. He won the hearts of all the participants with his charm, humor and explosive techniques.

We had 24 training sessions during which 6 teachers were instructing on differnt topics simultaneously. With 90 minutes in each session, we were able to provide 214 hours of Modern Arnis training in our camp.

The most important feature was the good atmosphere that prevailed throughout the whole camp. Neither from the organisation, nor from the training structure, were there any problems.

One comment from a 45 year old participant: "I have participated in many camps and seminars in many different sports. But such a smooth camp in such a friendly athmosphere without any disturbance, I have never before experienced."

Grandmaster Dagooc was also  very pleased with the summercamp. He said it was a unique experience for him to train Modern Arnis with so many participants. He was also impressed by the level of the blackbelts, which he was able to observe at  the black belt gradings held during the camp.

Everybody is already looking forward for the next one, the 10th Modern Arnis Summer Camp in 2007.

The instructors of the summer camp were:
Grandmaster Rodel Dagooc, 8. Dan, Batangas/Philippinen
Datu Dieter Knüttel, 7. Dan, Dortmund
Hans Karrer, 5. Dan, Ulm
Jorgen Gydesen, 5. Dan, Ulm
Alfred Plath, 4. Dan, Alpen
Peter Rutkowski, 4. Dan, Essen
Sven Barchfeld, 3. Dan, Dresden
Helmut Meisel, 3. Dan, Plön

Summer Camp Instructors

9th Summer Camp 2005