Life In 19x19

Hello everyone, I finally decided to make an account last night. I'm 26 and I've been playing off and on for about three years now. My day job is a Systems Administrator at a small school in northern Wisconsin. My hobbies besides go are art, cooking, martial arts, and a million more. Go is practically unheard of here and its my mission to change that. I run a go club for the school district I work at but have had little success with so many students in other after school activities already. I also run a club for the public in my hometown during the summer but also had little success - I hope to improve attendance next year with a largely advertised introductory seminar for the public in the spring. I prefer to play in person so I haven't had a steady rank in a long time.

Even though I've had little success in my mind I have taught at-least 50 people the basics of go in an area that was completely unaware. A couple of my students have gone on to teach some of their friends after graduating too, so that's a start.

Nice to meet you!

It depends on how you define success.
Success may merely be raising the awareness of the game. It may still take a generation or two to get real go players in the community.

Some teachers in the Portland OR area have had some success by combining their chess and go clubs. You might consider that.

I've gotten two people to play somewhat seriously, and maybe three to play halfheartedly, over a period of 10 years or so.

Then a math nerd told me what it means if everyone who played go achieved that: Exponential growth. I should have realized this on my own.

Your own contribution might seem tiny on a world scale, but it's enormously helpful in the long run, as part of everyone's shared effort.

xed_over wrote:Some teachers in the Portland OR area have had some success by combining their chess and go clubs. You might consider that.

I'd love to do that but there isn't even a Chess club here - we're talking a school with a graduating class size of 30. Most of the people I have got really interested in go are previous Chess players though so its definitely a great idea for those who can do it.

Welcome, and good luck!

Welcome and keep up the good work. I agree that just raising awareness is a success. If you get even a few people to play and be interested so much more so.

Best wishes!