Bram Go

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Welcome - Welkom - Bonjour

Hi this is the first time i'm trying to create a page ... so let's see how this works ^^


Who's Bram ?

I'm a 4 - 5 kyu KGS player. I live in Bruges, Belgium (somewhere in "Yurop" / Europe). my real name is BramVandenbon

Always ready for teaching games.

...What have I done today: take a look at BramsDiary since 13 september ...Or look at my latest mistakes ...BramsMistakes

Also I have been working on several software projects. Such as Go-Software for sony Ericsson Monile phones (works fine, but not published yet), A KGS-IRC bridge that allows to vote moves for a gobot (finished, but not really used), A Joseki website that never got finished, ...

Belgian Go - A vision of a newcommer.

First of all, for those who have no clue who I am ... My name is Bram Vandenbon. I live in Belgium (Go club of Bruges). See my " BramVandenbon "-page for more info. I am about 20 years old. I learned go when I was 6 or 7, and restarted playing Go when I was 18,5. So I am almost playing for 2 years now. At the moment I am writing this I am about 3k KGS/DGS. It is not like I know EVERYTHING about Belgian go. In fact, I know hardly anything about it. The things I do know are mentioned here.

About 2 years ago, the go club of Bruges was created. And the least I can say was "it has not always been a succes". In the beginning we had company of other clubs (especially the one of Gent). So we had about 8 active players at that time. We had the feeling everything was going well. But when other clubs decided to let us go things started to luck uggly again. We had about 3-4 active members. Even once I was the only one showing up.

We tried to make other people interested and we looked hard for existing go players that simply didnīt know there was such an organisation. Regulary we had new members ... it was just a matter of keeping them. People came and went. And now we have about 8 active members.

To many European players this story will sound familiar. Every go-club has this problem. According to the website of the Belgian go federation we have about 200 players. These are devided over 12 clubs. If we take a look at big clubs like the one of Leuven: they have about 20 members. So being a new club, with a number of 8 active players we are not doing bad at all.

Why is the number of players that important? Actually the quality is more important. But the only way to get quality is by playing and studying regulary. At the moment our club only plays once/month. I am pretty sure they might have learned something at the end of the evening. But a month later they will hardly remember.

Imho a player that does not reach 10k withing the first 4 years will probably never reach 1d. (Ofcourse there can be exceptions) But those players are the fondation of a good club. Its important to have a wide range of all kind of ranks of players. You can not expect a 4d player to play newcommers constantly.

Ofcourse this does not mean I do not like it when people improve, hehe. But that question is irrelevant, it is up to the players. They decide how serieous they want to be about go.

When I think about the future of Belgian Go I am uncertain. At the moment there are some really strong players like Jan Ramon, Alain Wettach and Jan Bogaerts. But I wonder where they will be in 20 years from now? The chances are small they will still be growing at that time. And some upcomming players like Nelis Vets will probably have passed them by then. I am determined to try my best and to earn a small spot in Belgian Go history :).

To finish of I would like you to visit the website of Hasselt (and the one of [ext] Bruges too ofcourse). Alexander Duytschaever is doing a great job, managing a club in Hasselt. And I wish him good luck.

Comments by fellow deshi

Dieter: Hi, Bram. Sorry for intruding your page. I think that, in order for a club to last for some time, it needs some sort of untouchable identity. People have to feel that

In short, people will come to the club if they feel free to come, that they are welcome but that the club will thrive anyway. But how do you get there, with your club?

First, you obviously need someone of that rare category that comes to the club, no matter what (yourself). Second, you need to organize activities and continue organizing, no matter what (but continue the succesful activities first). Third, you have to communicate an image of success: keep people informed but do not harrass them. Fourth: look around you for succesful clubs and copy their approach.

In case of Belgium, Ličge may be a fine example for you. How did they manage to become so large?


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