Post-Exam Activities (Sports Chanbara and Archery)

This is the second day of post-activities. 5 classes were taking Archery and Sports Chanbara. 101, 102 and half of 103 was in the first group. The other half, with 104 and 105 formed another group. I was in the second group, and we had Sports Chanbara first.



Sports Chanbara, or swordplay in Japanese, was being conducted by Dave, an instructor from Samurai Sports Singapore. It was a funny briefing. We learnt about some Japanese terms regarding Chanbara. The foam swords we were using were called Kodachi, or short unadjustable sword.



We were led to do Ashi warmups. Ashi refers to the area from the hips to the foot, but we were told to aim for the shins, for reasons guys should know.

After we were let to run wild, we organised to do some kind of drills between groups, sort of like dancing. It taught us how to basically attack, defend, and counter.

After we were finished with the warm-up and drills, we were in a game of mock war. It was really fun, with some people being "commandos". Most people "die" after "killing" another person, but a few kill many or die a few seconds into the game.

Some action!

After a short recess, It was time for us to do archery.



Instructors from Ace Archery told us how to use the bows, common mistakes, and things to avoid. It was pretty slow as it was a few at a time. I got to try my hand at left-hand bows and right-hand bows. Sadly there was only 1 left hand bow.



After all of us got to try out, some going four times, even Mr Lam joined in, we were made to play archery games, where we earned points with our shots. We had to pop balloons, and everybody got at least 1 shot.

Well after that, everyone was having fun, but sadly all good things come to an end. With hesitant hearts, we bade farewell to the instructors and went on our way.