Date: June 22-26, 2017
Place: Pelion, Greece
Organizer: WKO Greece (Country Representative/Branch Chief George Kosmidis)
The Greek Shinkyokushinkai Karate summer camp celebrated 20 years of its continuous presence.
It is known as one of the best Karate seminars in the world not only for its presence through so many years but also for its upper technical level and the participation of the most famous Karate instructors in the world.
The 20th Greek summer camp took place from June 22 to 26, 2017 in the region of Pelion Mountain, Saint John town-Papa Nero where is located one of the most beautiful beaches of Greece. The 75 participants from 6 countries (Bulgaria, Great Britain, Greece, Iran, Moldova, and Spain) trained hard under the supervision of Shihan Cyril Andrews and Shihan Juan Carlos Escalera, one of the greatest Karate instructors in WKO Shinkyokushinkai. Needless to say that Cyril Andrews was one of the personal pupils of Sosai Mas Oyama and Carlos Escalera one of the best technical instructor of our Karate Organization. Of course under the general guidance of Chief Instructor of the Greek Association of Shinkyokushinkai Karate Shihan George Kosmidis and his partner and Branch Chief Shihan Otario Melikiadis.
During the summer camp the training was very hard, reaching the level that Japan great Karate Masters keep. Starting at 6:30 in the morning all karate students of all ages had the chance to learn more technical tips in the kata perfomance, to supplement their Kihon training and boost their fighting kumite level. Although the training was quite demanding, the spirit was very high and the exotic location of the Papa Nero helped them relax and rejuvenate. At the end of the summer camp the students examined scrutinizingly from the instructors for the grading kyus and dans.
The Greek summer camp is one of the oldest camps in the world. It firstly took place in June 1996 and started to spread its reputation all over the world. The one who established the camp is Shihan George Kosmidis, the oldest Kyokushin instructor in Greece, which later was proposed by other instructors as Chief of the Greek Shinkyokushinkai Karate Association, part of World Karate Organization. It also helped in the development of the Greek Organization of Karate and improved the level of many great Karate athletes from other styles. It put a small country (Greece) in the map of Karate world, and during these camps, many great Karatekas participated, including Shihan Kenji Midori, the President of our organization.
