March 6th through March 8th, 2009 the Greenville YMCA Shotokan Karate Club, Chief Instructor Bill Staten, hosted the annual Winter Training camp in Greenville, Mississippi. In addition to the usual camp, a special Saturday afternoon training was conducted by the JKAAF team USA candidates, including Dimitri Popadopoulas, Ray Semona, and Lane Nevils. This camp is open to all karateka with over 3 months of training and was very well attended this year. We also had special guests that traveled from Brevard, Florida (Dr. Javier Simons) from Pensacola, Florida (Tom Fruitticher) and from San Antonio, Texas (John Haral). Several candidates tested for their black belts (Shodan) and higher levels of black belt.
