Kru Veverka Returns from Thai Camp

Juice is back from camp, yes, camp.  But this isn't your typical Summer camp experience, it's the Pacific Northwest Muay Thai immersion camp .  His annual trip to the wilds outside Portland, OR where, he and several hundred other dedicated Muay Thai practitioners, spend 5 days in tents, rising before dawn for 3 miles runs and marathon training sessions.  And this fun isn't for those who just want to show up, it's invitation only.  At the end of last year's camp, Juice was elevated to Associate rank, meaning this year he was invited to teach some of the sessions.  Classes were all taught by the highest professionals, including but not limited to : Grandmaster Surachai Sirisute(Founder), Ajarn Bryan Dobler, Ajarn Bryan Popejoy, Ajarn Rex, Ajarn Kim, Ajarn Greg Nelson, Khun Khru Scott Elliott, Khun Khru Sam Adams, Khun Khru Natalie Roy Brown, Khun Khru Scott Anderson.

 The camp is usually the last week of July and this was Juice's 8th visit.  This year, for the first time, GR helped with Juice's expenses by sponsoring part of the trip.  Improving Juice's skills helps everyone in GR.  While the event is invitation only, he's allowed to bring guests.  Long time GR member Russ Herbert was Juice's guest this year, last year it was George Comer.  The camp will be in Portland again next year, anyone thinking about upping their game in Mauy Thai should think hard about attending.

Juice describes a typical day at the camp: You start with a 1 to 3 mile run in the morning followed by stance drills, then an hour for breakfast. Then it is time for extreme drills and/or station training, then an hour for lunch. We received boxing training that took up between 1 to 2 hours a day immediately followed by station training. Stations are as follows: Heavy bags, Shadow Boxing, Thai Pads, Timing sparring and Plum (clinching). Often some of the stations were doubled or tripled.  Thai Pads were at least doubled daily, other times tripled. Every station was a minimum of four rounds at 3 minutes a piece. Other days it was 8 rounds per station. You can see where this gets a bit tiring after a while. After that we often did 3 on 1 drills followed by 8 count body builders. We did 140 8 count body builders alone at the end of the day after our workouts.

For more on the camp, the site is HERE

Written by: Bob Donaghy