Camp MSK

By Cody Jacobson, red belt, CTI LeAD Team Member

Here at CTI, we do lots of activities. One of my favorites is Camp MSK. Some people I’ve met have considered going to camp but decided against it because they were too scared. Some said they would miss their parents, others said it is a long time away from home. I personally was not deterred from going to camp for my first time. I looked at it as a way to grow within Moo Sul Kwan Taekwondo. When you do go, it is a tremendous amount of fun.

Camp MSK is one of the best places. You always have fun, and the food is great. It's really not scary. Even if none of the students in your class or your campus (of which I doubt) are coming you always make friends. One way to do so is to become friends with your demo group. The demos at camp are always amazing. Another place to make friends is at the communal meals. There are always people willing to sit with anyone at dinner, lunch and breakfast. You are never alone. If you are afraid that you will forget to put on sunscreen or get hurt, or anything of that sort, you don't need to worry. On the first day of camp, you will receive an upper belt buddie (most commonly black belts) and they make sure that you get on sunscreen and bug spray if you need it. If not, your group leader will. Group leaders will try and make sure you don't get hurt.

I think the best part of camp, even though it is all amazing, is probably the food. I know other students and black belts will agree with me. The food is so good you would not even imagine. This food gives us the energy to tackle all of the days activities. We do hiking, biking, swimming, rock climbing, archery, and of course, MSK Taekwondo. Sometimes, we do classes inside of classes. For example, we might go biking then stop and do poomse, or basics. We sometimes also have one class all day long. It is not uncommon to learn new moves at least once while at camp. You get to have class with different instructors that you are not used to having. Sometimes, people come out from Missouri. It is good to learn from different instructors, it improves your learning area.

Along with all of the MSK Taekwondo activities we do at camp, we also do non-Taekwondo related stuff. As mentioned in the paragraph above, we do rock climbing, and archery. We don't put all of that stuff you bring to waste. On your packing list, it says to bring a bike. We go on lots of rides, and sometimes set our bikes down and do a class. We have classes almost anywhere possible. We also use what's around us. Once, I did a class on staffs and we used sticks instead of staffs. We always take a hike to a waterfall near the end of camp. We take pictures of us at this spot. We also go to a place called the Kiva. We go there on our free time, and we have a lot of fun. There you can play basketball, roller skate or do other gym type activities. We also go to the tubing hill. It is open all year round, and is a lot of fun. We do lots of non-Taekwondo activities.

MSK Summer Camp is one of the best Moo Sul Kwan Taekwondo events there is. I would hate to miss out, even if that means losing five days of summer vacation.  I hope you think so too.