Excellent would be an understated description of this training camp.

The combat sport school Dunedin had planned this for many months and could not be more pleased with the support and outcome.

Admittedly it was a cold winter's night on Friday, July 30 when coaches and participants arrived at the camp sometime after dark.

Unfortunately the road sign Wesleydale camp had been lost to the wind and at the 12th hour was replaced with a new sign pointing into the camp entranceway reading camp Todd complete with the Todd group logo.

This caused some minor confusion with guests arriving and looking for a Wesleydale camp sign.

Thanks to Todd group unarmed combat members and combat sports Otago wrestlers and their families for assisting with the camp preparation the weekend before.

The MMA cage was erected around the walls of the hall and the hall floor was covered in mats ready for a good weekends training.

The fire was lit for the Friday evening arrivals and the chillier and kitchen pantry were well stocked with plenty of fuel to keep the participants going.

After getting settled in and having a good old catch up and some supper it was time to brave the cold and head from the hall for the former Army huts accommodation.

Come morning and Paulette was hard at work cooking up a good breakfast for the slow to awaken young wrestlers and grapplers.

After breakfast it was freestyle wrestling under the control of Kevin McLaughlin Peter Berry Alan Rolton Steve Wylie and Dimitri Kortz.

Employing a rotational coaching system every group of participants had exposure to each coaches techniques and this proved to be an effective and beneficial way of providing such training.

The next two hours were BJJ instructed by the highly skilled coach and competitor from Brazil Johnny Gui.

Johnny delivered the class a very well presented and well-received look at some fine ground combat sports that impressed the participants and other coaches alike.

After lunch I provided an introduction to Cage boxing or as it is also known dirty boxing for MMA.

Holding and hitting clinching with punch combinations and a general look at boxing skills not applicable to the Markus of Queensbury were the rule of thumb.

Greco Roman wrestling delivered by Kevan McLaughlin from the Rangiora club renowned for his expertise and practise of Greco and with a record of producing some of our best Greco competitors along with Dimitri Kortz a coach with an extensive background in Greco from his home country Russia delivered what could only be described as a revealing look at the powerful and highly skilful code of Greco.

The participants well aware of how strong this code of wrestling is were keen to learn the basic principles behind it. I heard participants talking of UFC fighters of Greco backgrounds and how impressed they were with such individuals and the code of Greco-Roman wrestling.

Being introduced to the skills behind power techniques that enabled them to lift a training partner from the ground turn them around and stand them up surprised many a participant.

This introduction to the ancient sport of Greco-Roman wrestling was a highlight for a lot of the attendees.

Submission grappling was next up instructed by Yoshi Takano and Dimitri Korzh and this training provided good grounding in techniques applicable to Fila international grappling competition in New Zealand in both the gi and non-gi submission grappling codes.

The environment being totally beneficial to learning and individual improvement at all levels enabled the participants to not only learn the individual instructors specific techniques but also ask and have the questions answered in relation to a wide range of competitive grappling techniques.

The remainder of the afternoon comprised of continued training in freestyle wrestling as well as mixed martial arts and submission techniques.

After dinner there was an informal meeting in regards to officials and the competition rules aspects of Fila international grappling leading up to the South Island and national championships.

In between training combat sports the participants had MMA DVDs playing constantly.

Sunday morning after breakfast continuation training in freestyle wrestling and Fila international grappling was conducted building on the previous day's training.

Muay Thai instructed by Blake Tomlinson was next up offering not only an introduction to the basic skills but also correction in individual techniques and their delivery.

The Thai boxing was conducted outdoors in a far more pleasant climate than the cold conditions of Friday when the camp commenced.

While the Thai boxing was being conducted outdoors the final wrestling training consisted of non-stop explosive wrestling indoors on the mat.

This drill saw two wrestlers in action and approximately every 10 seconds one wrestler replaced when another would jump in on the action.

The pace was fast and furious and the very competitive wrestlers in attendance including many national champions enjoyed the challenge and opportunity to test themselves their skills and fellow participants.

Then it was a barbecue lunch and time for everyone to depart.

I have received so many positive comments and so much positive feedback in regards to this camp and would like to include some such mention in conclusion.

The coaches were of such a high level and delivered freely their favourite techniques.

There was nothing but positives when it came to the coaches working together and the same was with all of the participants.

To see coaches assisting one another and learning from one another especially in combat sports codes very different to their area of expertise proved how innovative willing and open minded the coaches were.

I heard from some of the least experienced combat sports participants how nice national champions were to them in training and how willing they were to assist anyone regardless of their ability.

The training was conducted with care and respect for training partner’s safety at all times.

There were unanimous thanks to Trish and Paulette for the wonderful meals and assistance given to all in attendance.

There are so many individual positives we heard in relation to coaches and the individual techniques such as how good Peter Berry's 2 point tilts are and Steve Wylie's leg laces, how smooth and supple Johnny Gui and his BJJ is, how knowledgeable Dimitri is and how he provided clear technique reasoning and Kevan not only delivered top technique but gave individual assistance to everyone specific to them as individuals and their needs, Yoshi really gave his all in grappling and also brought some good humour to the camp, Alan assisted all wrestlers and coaches with correcting and assisting their wrestling techniques and was all over the mat,Blakes enthusiasm could be heard high in the hills above the camp and he was flexible and innovative in his use of equipment and facilities and of course his fine use of the English language was just what up and coming fighters needed.

I was told my dirty tricks were well really dirty and I’m not sure it that was a compliment or shock horror.

We received many positive comments in regards to the camp providing the opportunity for all ages and abilities of participants to partake or observe in any training with out question

The next camp will be a summer camp with some boot camp aspects for those that are into and up to it.