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Jiu-jitsu camp raises $1,500 for Sicamous food bank

Students from throughout B.C. and Alberta attend jiu-jitsu camp, Aug. 11 and 12.
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Ari Knazan of Victoria spars with Alain Beauchamp of Surrey during a jiu-jitsu training camp held Saturday and Sunday at Eagle River Secondary. Attendees of the camp – representing schools throughout B.C. and Alberta – raised $1

Updated Aug. 15, 10 a.m.

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Ari Knazan of Victoria spars with Alain Beauchamp of Surrey during a jiu-jitsu training camp held Saturday and Sunday at Eagle River Secondary. Attendees of the camp – representing schools throughout B.C. and Alberta – raised $1,500 for the Sicamous food bank.

Organizer Steve Hiscoe, vice-president of the Canadian Jiu-Jitsu Union, said the camp drew more than 50 participants who enjoyed their weekend in the community.

 

 

Sicamous' food bank is to benefit from a marriage of the martial art of jiu-jitsu and social activism.

This Saturday and Sunday,  Aug. 11 and 12, a jiu-jitsu training camp will be held at Eagle River Secondary. Organizer Steve Hiscoe, vice-president of the Canadian Jiu-Jitsu Union, says there will be students from schools from B.C. and Alberta – about 55 in total – learning a wide range of styles and skills within the discipline of jiu-jitsu.

"Normally, the organization that I run is one style of Jiu-jitsu, but for our summer camp, it's kind of an invitational," says Hiscoe, noting the public is welcome to stop in and check the out the camp, now in its fifth year. "So I have some very traditional jiu-jitsu people coming, I have some more modern jiu-jitsu people coming, I have a person from Cranbrook that's coming to do some stick fighting on the Saturday… people from all over Western Canada."

Where the social activism part comes in is that the various jiujitsu schools taking part in the camp have already begun a fundraising/food drive effort to benefit Sicamous' food bank. Hiscoe says that for last year's camp, now in its fifth year, funds were raised for tsunami relief in Japan. Hiscoe agreed Sicamous would be this year's benefactor after speaking with one of his black belts, Sicamous' Hiscoe Jiu-Jitsu instructor  Phil Wiebe,

"I know that Sicamous got hit hard with the floods this year…," said Hiscoe. "This year, in talking with Phil, we wanted to do something for the community, so we decided to make a donation to the Sicamous food bank. So all of our schools have been either doing bottle drives or fundraising at the school level, and we'll probably do something at the camp."

As of last week, one school had already raised $500.

Training on Saturday and Sunday is expected to run from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

 



Lachlan Labere

About the Author: Lachlan Labere

Editor of the Salmon Arm Observer, Shuswap Market, and Eagle Valley News. I'm always looking for new and exciting ways to keep our readers informed and engaged.
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