[Aikido] Very Important for the Tournament!

Mon Mar 1 01:27:12 EST 2004

Dear Everybody,

   First, I would like to thank David for the excellent leadership and 
initiative that he's shown the last few weeks in making preparations for 
the tournament.  Similarly for Kate and others who've been putting a lot of 
time into the planning.  Plaudits to each of you.

   But let me just say a few things that I must demand of each of you on 
this trip.

   1) Absolutely NO ALCHOHOL (or drugs!) at Sensei Steven's place.  His 
father died of alcoholism and the stuff is simply not allowed in his 
house.  If you want to get smashed after the tournament, you can get a 
hotel room in Columbus and we'll pick you up on the way home.

   2) This is a friendly event.  The competition will be fierce, and 
occasionally you will see others engaging in poor sportsmanship.  I will 
not tolerate it.  Part of studying the martial arts is to learn self 
control.  The point of rules of etiquette is that they force you to 
constantly think of others instead of yourself.  Thinking of others is easy 
in daily life.  It is much harder when under pressure and stress.  But if 
you can learn to behave well on the mats when feeling extreme pressure, you 
will have gone a long way to improving your own character and ensuring that 
in daily life for the rest of your lives you will be kind, courteous, and 
gentle.  You are unlikely to ever get into a fight.  But if you learn this 
skill, the skill of constant courtesy, you will be very well repaid for 
your training.

   3) Make friends.  Aikido tends to attract very smart, kind people.  Get 
to know as many of them as possible.

   4) Sensei Stevens owns a huge amount of EXTREMELY expensive glass 
sculptures.  No playing grab ass in his house.  You can't afford to replace 
the things.

   5) If Sensei Stevens brings out his 700 year old samurai sword, do not 
touch the metal parts with your hands.  Hold the handle of the sword, and 
use a tissue or a cloth to touch the blade.  (He is very particular about 
his sword, which truly is priceless.)

   OK.  'Nuff said.  We're going to have a wonderful time.

Your sensei who is very proud of each of you and the great club that you are,

Sean

Aikido tends to attract very intelligent, kind people.At 12:35 AM 3/1/2004 
-0500, dachiu at vassar.edu wrote:
>Dear Everyone,
>
>    Okay, a few things of importance. First, we need to get the contact
>information of everyone who is planning to go to the tournament on March 
>5th. I
>have made contact info sheets and will be bringing them to practice 
>throughout
>the week, so if you haven't filled it out please come to one of the practices
>and get it, or get a friend to get it for you. Secondly, there is a bake sale
>going on tomorrow from 10:30-5 in the College Center. If anyone can help out
>that would be wuuunderful, we actually need people from 1-3 to cover for 
>us as
>we don't have anyone currently covering that time shift.
>    Also this is the list of people who are going to the tourny, if your 
> not on
>it please contact me a.s.a.p.
>
>Sean Flynn
>Miranda Martinez
>Tiffany Doan
>Charles Hudson
>Geoffrey Wertime
>David Chiu
>Eric Snyder
>Brad Leposa
>Sarah Lackay
>Jeremy Glick
>Yuliana Petkova
>Janine Parziale
>Richard Yu
>Geoffrey Marschall
>Alex Izaguirre
>Ernesto Savignon
>Marie Dure
>Louise Loeb
>David Aaron Rabinowitz
>Kaity
>
>Third, the time we are to be leaving is 9 a.m. on Friday. We are thinking it
>will take about 9 or 10 hours to get to Columbus, Ohio and taking into 
>account
>bathroom breaks and food, etc, we will probably get there around 8:00pm. We
>will probably leave around 11:00 am on Sunday and get back to Vassar at 
>8:00pm
>to 9:00pm. Everyone will need a change of clothes over the weekend and it is
>recommended to bring backup clothes, as it might rain a bit on Saturday. 
>Flynn
>sensei has two pieces of very good advice: one, earplugs just in case someone
>snores and two, sleeping pills before the tournament in order to get a good
>nights rest.
>
>The place that we will be staying will be at Sensei Moe Steven's dojo:
>Sensei Moe Stevens
>1470 Hiner Rd.
>Orient, OH 43146
>Home # 614-871-3268
>
>It is a very good idea to get all your stuff you will be needing over Spring
>Break out of the dorms before Thursday night as we will be leaving quite 
>early
>on Friday. Also, the dorms will be closed on Sunday night when we get back so
>you will not have a chance to get your stuff if you keep it in your dorms. 
>For
>storage options, please contact Flynn sensei.
>
>Sorry for the long email. Keep fit, fresh, and ready until Friday. It will be
>very very fun!!!!!
>
>Best,
>David
>
>_______________________________________________
>Aikido mailing list
>Aikido at lists.vassar.edu
>http://lists.vassar.edu/mailman/listinfo/aikido

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/