[Aikido] ABOC Aikido Tournament In March

[Sean Flynn]

Dear Everybody,

   OK.  The registration forms are finally out for the 29th Annual Arnold 
Battle of Columbus!  This is the world's largest annual sporting 
event.  (The Olympics are bigger, but they are only every 4 years.)

   On a single weekend each March, literally tens of thousands of 
competitors and referees converge on Columbus Ohio for this stunning 
event.  It all started 30 years ago when Arnold Schwartzeneger (Yes, that 
means "black ploughman" in German!) won his first Mr. Olympia title in 
Columbus.   The next year, he started sponsoring an annual body building 
event, which later added gymnastics and powerlifting to each annual edition 
of the what came to be called the "Arnold Fitness Weekend".  Body builders 
around the world simply refer to it as, "The Arnold."

More recently, martial arts events were added under the moniker of the 
"Arnold Battle of Columbus," or ABOC.  That was maybe 20 years ago.  The 
martial arts events are now enormous.  There will be nearly 10,000 martial 
artists from 30 different styles there.  It's really fun because we're all 
in the same hall, so that as you turn around and take in a 360, you can see 
judo, tai chi, kung fu, aikido, stick fighting, kickboxing, and a bunch of 
other stuff going on *simultaneously*!

   Since the martial arts events got to be so enormous, about 4 years ago, 
they began calling the martial arts part of the Arnold Weekend the "World 
Martial Arts Games," since this was in fact the largest annual martial arts 
tournament in the world.  Here is a link to their poster. 
http://host97.ipowerweb.com/~wumacom/aboc.html

   In any event, the JAA/USA of which I and you are a part is the 
sanctioning body for the aikido events.  Please find attached, therefore, 
the sign up sheet, as a pdf file.  The first event costs $60, each 
additional event only $10 more.

   I think you guys should sign up for as many events as possible.  For the 
yellow belts (soon to be orange belts) that means Kyu-rank tanto randori, 
Open-rank tanto randori, and the kyu-rank-only adult randori-no-kata (the 
basic 17), as well as the thing called the kon go dan tai sen, which is a 
mixed gender, mixed events team competition.

   I know that adds up to around $100, but we'll drive together in a van to 
save money and can sleep on Sensei Moe Steven's dojo floor.  So food aside 
the weekend itself should be very inexpensive.

E-mail me if you have questions.  And let's try to get all the forms in by 
Feb 4th, before the prices go up.  So everybody plan on filling out these 
forms and handing me checks right after we get back from winter break!

Your sensei,

Sean


Yours truly,

Sean Flynn
Assistant Professor of Economics
Vassar College
124 Raymond Ave #424
Poughkeepsie NY 12604-0424
USA

Telephone:      845-437-5209
FAX:            845-437-7576
E-mail: flynn at vassar.edu

My Academic Website is http://irving.vassar.edu/faculty/sf/sf.htm
My Aikido Website is http://vsa.vassar.edu/~aikido/
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