By Katie Minden, 1st dan
Another successful Camp Moo Sul Kwan has passed with more to report than ever before! At Snow Mountain Ranch, students embarked on a six-day-long stretch of fun, food, and lots of Taekwondo!
Camp started off quickly Saturday afternoon! After a warm farewell to parents, campers were off to their first hearty meal, setting the precedent for the entire week! The evening ended with dividing up into teams, starting work on the line-up demos for the end of the week, and hopefully a good night’s rest.
Sunday morning began bright and early, especially for our black belt testers and pre-testers! After a wonderful breakfast, our activity day was off! Many campers took the opportunity to explore zip lining, archery, and the climbing wall. In between activities, students may have participated in group-wide fun games or even a few Taekwondo classes. In the afternoon, campers visited the infamous tubing hill for a few exhilarating runs. Our first full day ended with an exciting night of Minute To Win It, a fast-paced game full of short challenges!
Another early morning for all campers on Monday. Team captains found time to continue working on their demos with their teams before heading up to the falls for our hike filled with climbing the daunting testing hill, singing, photos by the falls, and some video-taping for later! Due to a bit of weather, our travel lunch was enjoyed at the Legett this year where teams worked on their banners or dances for the Wednesday night party. After lots of hard work, campers headed to the Kiva for some time to play a variety of fun activities such as ping pong, basketball, and roller skating. Monday peacefully ended with a relaxing movie night to prepare campers for Tuesday!
Tuesday turned out to be a magnificent tie-dye day for all campers! After breakfast and the morning workouts, campers and their teams took rotations between making their own tie-dye shirts, exploring the gift shop, and working on their team line-up demos and dances. Once all teams were able to tie-dye, campers were in for an unexpected treat as they got to observe our Advanced Belts’ Camp Run ‘23! Our top instructors ran a high-stakes race in teams through 12 stations, including made-up one-steps, top poomse, breaking, and more while being cheered on by their supportive students! Finally, our thrilling Tuesday finished with some jammin’ Kamp Karaoke!
For our final full day at Camp MSK ‘23, many campers finally embarked on the long-anticipated bike rides. Wednesday was the teams’ final day to work on their line-up demos and dances for that night, so all were hard at work smoothing the final rough edges! After a morning of hard work, campers chose between activity time at the Kiva or spending some time at the pool. We took our group photos for the Facebook, and then it was time to get ready for the big party and Musical Breaking Night! This eventful last night was filled with all of the team dances prepared throughout the week to songs performed by our very own black belt band! Once all of the teams had performed their dances, campers broke boards and danced the night away!
Thursday, our final morning of camp, started with a short breakfast to prepare the campers for their stellar performances later on. Once all the parents had arrived, the demos began, starting with the impressive bike demo led by Grandmaster John Sautel and Mr. Eric Evans. Following that was the sharp black belt demo put together by Master Erik Albrechtson. Finally, onlookers observed the final product of every team’s line-up demos made and performed by their very own kids! A bittersweet morning ended with a final tie-dye-filled group photo and some memorable awards before everyone said farewell until the next camp!
Every camp provides a fantastic opportunity for students of all belt ranks to find new friends, learn new things, and create lasting memories that will be treasured forever. Each camp solidifies the bond with our sport and the community behind it. Camp MSK ‘23 was no different and it turned out to be quite possibly our best camp yet!
