101 Dorgonians
101 Dorgonians is a ‘Go genome’ project meant to map out the structure of a healthy cell then replicate it across Europe in order to form a living organism. Our aim is to create a self sustainable ‘ Go ecosystem’ at a local level by tapping into all essential aspects of a successful Go promotion activity.
The symbolism of the title translates into having a teacher and 100 students, but not just any students. They have to be active players, meaning that they attend at least one official Go tournament per year.
Any connection to the 101 Dalmatians other than us vising the beautiful coast of Dalmatia once per year, to attend the SEYGO summer camp in Zaostrog, is pure fiction.
The Dorgonians are a special race, youth Go players from Dorna Land, brave heroes with sophisticated mind powers who would venture into the vast universe of the Go game, exploring hidden places where no one dared to Go before.
Any connection to the Klingonians, a race of fierce warriors from Star Trek, other than parallel universe exploration, is probably best kept as a secret.
Essential ingredients
Teaching activities, a calendar of events, a high performance program and a teach the teachers program.
Teaching activities
Due to the efforts of Mihaela Taranu there are currently over 30 youth attending the Go club in Vatra Dornei on a regular basis. This is a very good base and starting point for our project. From here the plan is to expand teaching activities to other villages from the Land of Dorna . For now we already started with Saru Dornei and plan to expand the scope of activities to Ciocanesti, Dorna Arini, Dorna Candreni and Poiana Stampei.
Calendar of events
You can find our calendar of events on our home page. Organizing an event every two months is challenging but at the same time is the optimal rhythm of activity for the youth. Since youth and parents motivation is the key to our project’s success the events are a must.
Dorgonian stars league and title match
The Dorgonians stars league is a high performance program under the guidance of Catalin Taranu 5 dan pro. It follows closely the Japanese titles league format and it’s aimed at increasing the motivation and competitivity of youth by providing rewards for being among the best.The program started in March 2023 .
The activity consists of a 8 player league selected from the best active Dorgonians. They have to play their league games online in between two events from our calendar. The first four stay in the next league while the last four need to fight for their place in the upcoming competition. This gives a fair chance to a rising star to enter the league while keeping the league players motivated to hold their place. Additionally there is a training lecture with Catalin Taranu every Monday , online on the KGs server. More rewards consist of financial support for the Zaostrog trip and additional simultaneous games teaching or game commentaries during events for the league members. The current league format can be found here.
The title King /Queen of Dorgonians will be achieved during the last season (October to December) and it will be rewarded to the winner of the league.
Teach the teachers
The teach the teachers program is our ultimate expansion tool. A single new teacher can effectively double the efficiency of teaching activities and provide great organizational support. This goal can only be achieved once we have created enough interest in our area and enough motivation for a school teacher to join such a program. As such this is the Yose (endgame) part of our project.
The program will be held under the guidance of Catalin Taranu who has got extensive teaching experience and knowledge from his beloved teacher Saijo Masataka 9dan pro, one of the best Go teachers that ever visited Europe.
Deliverables
If financing or sponsorship for our project could be found, we believe we have a high competence in delivering two essential tools for a healthy promotion of Go in Europe. They would be a curriculum with basic, intermediate and advanced sections, coupled with videos and practical examples, as well as a comprehensive tutorial on organization of events. Both are much needed and essential tools to work with but their creation require a large investment of time and energy that we could only afford if the project has financial sustenance. The key deliverable is a detailed account of our many years of experience in teaching, organizing, setting up the local environment. Passing our experience, successes and failures,knowledge and wisdom aquired over 20 years of promoting Go to new teachers and promoters would go a long way in setting up properly and efficiently a similar environment in other places from Europe.
During February-March 2023 we have joined efforts with teams from four other countries in order to submit a project through the Erasmus-plus program. The objectives of that project were similar to the objectives pointed above. The results will be known later this year.
SWOT analysis
Strengths
- Strong support from local administrations and parents
- Population goal already at almost half
- Good organization infrastructure and resources
- Sustainable event calendar due to low costs involved
Weaknesses
- Difficult management of large groups of youth
- Logistics problems for youth in rural area
- Lack of popularity of the Go game in the area
Opportunities
- Potential game changer for Go in Europe
- Model of a new type of job for Go players
- Create a snowballing effect at local level
Threats
- Only 2 people at the core of the project
- Any health or financial issue that would force core project members to quit
- Losing local administration support
Ways to mitigate weaknesses and threats
- Motivate parents and school teachers to help with organization
- Get school support with planning of teaching activities
- Make Go more popular with high visibility events
- Train new teachers