La Santa 2009

Pictures and full report below, ENJOY!!!

We did ;-)

Thursday 4th June 2009.

Arrived at Arrecife airport, Lanzarote, at 8pm and after getting out luggage and got our transport which was already waiting to take us all to Club La Santa. We arrived about 10pm and got checked in the students that came with us we all sharing an apartment which was like a big brother house perfect for sports teams. We met up with the other people from Essex who were part of the course and had a little drink and chat and then off to bed as we had a very busy week ahead!

Friday

We were up and at breakfast for 8am as we had the welcome meeting where we saw who was on the course and what experience they all had. There was a guy from Germany, 2 from Norway, a lady from Denmark and 15 from England and they had all had at least 1 years kickboxing experience which was good as we could then run an intermediate course. They received their free T-shirt, water bottle and a pair of handwraps along with some safety instructions and the time table. This years course was based on the sport of K1 Kickboxing so it was going to be extra hard but good fun also.

The first lesson was at 10 am and was a basic movement and footwork lesson so we could asses exactly what level they were at, which if they were not careful could lure them into a false sense of relaxation! The second session was a very basic padwork session but it got your heart and lungs working, well especially in the heat and at high altitude. Kerry-Louise and Leif Taggart did a demo just to show how all techniques fit together. Both fighters could feel the pressure on their lungs due to the high altitude and the others members could now see what they were really in for.

Saturday

We met for breakfast at 8am and then got ready for the extra training part of the course which was optional for anyone on the course but compulsory for Luke Farmer who was taking his 3rd Dan throughout this week. Luke will have to complete the extra training, all the course training and 1 hour of technical training everyday for 6 days (a total of 5 hours training per day) The run was 5km around the track it wasn’t a race but you went at your own pace most people finished between 25 and 27 minutes apart from 1 guy who did it in 20 minutes! It was straight on to the course and it was an application lesson working the ropes and movement etc.

Sunday

Today was our swimming day we started at 8am and swam 1km which is 20 lengths of an Olympic swimming pool. We got dried and went for breakfast and then to the ring to start our course.

After the course we all chilled out by the pool and swam in the leisure pool as it was so hot today.

The course today was the first circuit training we worked with partners and had bag work stations, core work, focus mitt work, sprints, running, plyometric stations and power stations. This station was like what they do in rugby with the rhino pads and pushing the pad holder back. Each station was for 2 minutes and it lasted just over 1 hour. We then did some good fitness work and a good cool down.

Monday

We started the day off with a swim and again it was over a 1km distance and the only rule was you had to try to beat your first time and everyone did it.

The course was a blocking and movement lesson we had our pads on and worked shin blocks, evasions etc we also introduced knees to the lesson. A lot of the students were from and boxing or kickboxing background so knees didn’t come naturally to them so here is where we spent a bit of time teaching the various knees.

The evening session Professor Dave Terry and his wife Adele took a Ju-Jitsu lesson showing locks and chokes from attacks and after the lesson Adele took us through some breathing techniques to relax our body and cool us down. This evening there was a good entertainment show on in the square it was called African footsteps show where they balanced on the side of chairs and on each other it was very skilful and very entertaining.

Tuesday

Today we started with a big sprint circuit where we sprinted100m as fast as you could then ran back to the start line then sprinted 90m and ran back to start the 80 etc right down to 10m you did it with partners just so you had some one to guage your pace on. We then got the pads out and spread out around the running track and each pad holder had a different technique eg. Round kick, jab and cross etc. one person started and they had to do 50 of each technique and then run to the next pad. There were 12 stations and it was real hard work!

This mornings session was a re cap of yesterdays class plus onto more advanced techniques and onto clinch and working in the clinch this is physically hard as well as mentally as you have someone elses body weight to move around.

Everyone was told to have a chill out afternoon as this evenings session was going to be a killer circuit.

The circuit was a pure pad work lesson but all of the techniques were for speed and designed to get your heart racing after 2 minutes we were given a fitness exercise to do like squat thrusts, burpees, tuck jumps etc and then It was the other persons go. After 10 different techniques and exercises we were given some partner exercises to do where the partner pushed them to the limit but then it was the other persons go to push them! They all worked really hard so they were made to have a very good cool down .

Wednesday

Today was the last day of training and we were doing 2 sessions in 1 the class was at 2.5 hours session of a little fitness to begin and re capping what they had learnt over the week and then we did a solid hour of padwork for power basic jab, cross, hook, uppercut, round kicks. Then everyone was involved in combination padwork using all the weapons of K1, the Knees, spinning backfist, punches Kicks and clinching thrown in for good measure!! We said our goodbyes to everyone and invited everyone out to the Chinese in the village this evening as a celebration and to find out if Luke had passed his 3rd Dan black belt.

As it was the last day the extra activity was races on the beach it was hard work but a lot of fun too!

We went to get ready for the Chinese meal and pack our cases ready for tomorrows departure.

At the Chinese we had a table for 25 and when we had ordered the food it was announced that Luke had passed his grading with a first class pass. He was over the moon and the celebrations began! It was a good night plenty was eaten and drunk!

Thursday

We had our rooms as long as we wanted until the taxis picked us up so we chilled out by the pool for a couple of hours and then we said our goodbyes to everyone for the last time!

The above is just a snippet of the actual course and what happened on it but if you really want to experience it for yourself and you think you are fit enough then book now for next year.

Next years date is the 3rd until 10th of June 2010 and we already have 14 people booked on it !!! We are planning on doing another week 11th to the 18th inland as a complete resting holiday to finish everything off nicely!

Comments off some course participants can be seen below, with MORE TO COME!!!!

Just wanted to say hello and thank you for letting me join in the course it was a great experience and I enjoyed myself a lot. Great training.

Just wanted to let you know that I thought it was super and if I’m going next year in June I will let you know.

 Hope you are now enjoying you vacation with your sons in the asecond week you are here.

 I meet all the guys at the disco on Wednesday and talk to some, great fun!

Tina Veirum

Denmark

Hi Cris and Kerry,

Just want to let you know that I had an absolutely great time in Lanzo and put all my effort in to it, thoroughly enjoyed every minute. I hope I made you guys proud like I wanted to because it was well worth it will be definitely going next year and will be stopping on for that extra chill out week at the end. Just to let you know it was a pleasure to meet your son Louis, what a great guy, looking forward to seeing him again and maybe meet Mitchell in the future also

Luke Farmer 3rd Dan

Aston England.

Hiya guys!

First time i have been to lazarote and why not combine training and vacation? I got a nice and warm welcome when I got there. Turned out to be a lot of English people there...and a smiling german:) During the week we usually had 2 sessions a day (2-3 hours of daily training) and that was just perfect i think. With great instructors and positive energy among the group it was a wonderful trainingcamp. There was good variation from day to day and it was never boring.

I usually train regular kickboxing so there was a lot of new elements to learn and process while this was more like a K-1-camp. It was really fun and good as alternative training for me and i am sure i will try to get some more K-1-training in the future.

 

The hotel: The facilities at the hotell are just great both for relaxation and traning...there are always things to do:) The food is really good and the staff are friendly!

 

 

Do you want to meet new people, train with the best instructors at a wonderful place....then Club La Santa is a very good choice!

 

Thanks to "the group", and special thanks to the instructors for this great experience!

I have just checked out Leifs and Kerrys homepages now...saw there was a couple of pictures from the camp there as well...nice sites, and so cool that Leif has a Norwegian name!! :) Really looking forward to follow him and Kerry!

 

Again thanks for all the good lessons and a nice (and fun!!) dinner! :)

 

Enjoy your vacation now....I miss the sun already!!

Best Regards

Geir

Bergen Norway

I am 18 years old and very experienced so I was using the course as extra training for my up and coming fights. Cris is my manager so I knew that he would be able to work on the parts of my training that I needed most, whilst Kerry worked on keeping my fitness up. The facilities in the hotel and on the course were great.

The lessons were planned out to suit everybody’s needs and more technique was brought in throughout the week but there was nothing that nobody could not achieve. It was just that us more experienced people could pick things up to suit us.

There was a good variety of lessons so you looked forward to each day knowing it would be different, Cris and Kerry were always there with plenty of help and advice and made sure everybody felt part of a team.

Overall the week was fantastic and I personally cannot wait for the next one.

Leif Taggart

UK.

World Champion

Is it my opininon that the camp has been both very fun and I have learned alot from it.

You and Kerry`s feedback were right to the point and I think the way you run this camp is very good and motivating for the students. All the sessions where different

and interesting, it was fun to try both kickboxing and different self defense styles. I really enjoy working with the elastic bands and will order them so I can train with them in Norway.

I also read on the internet that you have started an anti bully project, and was wondering if you can give me some information on who your run this project, since I am a teacher these sort of programs is very interesting.

Yours Sincerely

Terje

Norway