Kendo Tee Shirt

[pchen911]

Hi

The San Diego Kendo Bu is having a Kendo Tee Shirt Sale.

Anyone interested in getting some kendo tee shirts for their dojo, you can download the tee shirt information from here:

http://www.imakproducts.com/downloads/SDKB_Gasshuku_Project.pdf

This is part of a fund raising effort to invite a high level kendo sensei from Japan. We are making the event open to public which will happen in March of 2004.

To fund the event (for the practice hall, airfare, hotel, transportation.... for the sensei), we need to sell as many shirts as possible.

If anyone can help, please let me know or please get your dojo to buy the shirts.

Also if you know of a dojo that may be interested, please forward this information to them.

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions about the shirts or about the visiting sensei or about the Open Practice event information.

Thank all.

Paul

[radicamaverick]

Is your event in March open to everyone or just to people in California?

[pchen911]

Is your event in March open to everyone or just to people in California?


Thank you for your email and we are glad to see kendoists from other areas of the country be interested in participating in the event.

Our goal for the Gasshuku project is to reserve at least one Sunday in March and have it be open to everyone... regardless of which dojo, federation, or
state.

This, however, would be dependent on whether or not we would be able to get the facilities large enough to host an event of that scale.

We are currently planning to book the main gym at UCSD which will definitely be sufficient in size but will cost quite a bit to rent. If we can afford it by the end of our fund-raising (Mid December), I will post a notice of where and when the day of open practice will be.

Anyways, to answer your question, YES... We do plan to make the event open to all!! ... We just have to keep our fingers crossed and hope the fund raising comes through.

This is a very rare opportunity for everyone who can make it. As you probably know, Nishikawa sensei is currently just about the best kendoist in the world.
The opportunity came upon us by chance as we (SDKB) had a friend who recently visited us from Japan (Katsura Sensei) who we discussed with regarding the event. Nishikawa sensei and Katsura Sensei are friends with each other so this rare opportunity which only came about by pure luck.

Please let me know if you have any questions or thoughts.

[Orasun]

Couple of questions....

First, are your shirts pre-shrunk and

Second, do you offer them in XXXL?

Thanks

[Neil Gendzwill]

Paul, why don't you guys just charge admission to the seminar? With the kind of draw Nishikawa-sensei will make, I'm sure a nominal fee of $50 or so will cover your expenses. We hold a seminar every year, flying in 2 sensei (OK, from Vancouver or Toronto, not Japan) and nobody objects to the seminar fee.

[pchen911]

Couple of questions....

First, are your shirts pre-shrunk and

Second, do you offer them in XXXL?

Thanks


To answer your question, YES!

The shirts are Hanes Beefy Ts.... Ringspun heavyweight cotton, Pre-shrunk, taped neck, with Double needle hems. They are the best and best known brand of imprintable tees available.

As for the XXXL size, yes, that is offered... Please just make a note of it on the order sheet.

Please let me know if there are any questions at all at any time.

Thanks

Paul

[pchen911]

Paul, why don't you guys just charge admission to the seminar? With the kind of draw Nishikawa-sensei will make, I'm sure a nominal fee of $50 or so will cover your expenses. We hold a seminar every year, flying in 2 sensei (OK, from Vancouver or Toronto, not Japan) and nobody objects to the seminar fee.


Hi Neil,

Thanks for the suggestion... It is a good idea and I have to admit that we have thought about it. Actually, I'd like to find out more about how you guys do it at some point in time. (If you would be so kind)

The reasons why we haven't decided yet to charge admission are:

1. Alot of the costs are up-front. Plane ticket for the sensei, booking the practice hall... etc. These costs amount to about 2 thousand dollars and we'll need it before the end of the year. We simply don't have enough cash on hand to pay for all of this first and wait until the seminar to collect reimbursement.

2. We don't know how much to charge and don't want to price people out.

The value of the seminar will vary from person to person.... especially looking at beginners and yudanshas. We really want to make this event beneficial to beginners.... more so than we want to focus on the advanced people.

What we are thinking of is setting some time aside for Nishikawa sensei to just focus on just teaching the basics to beginners. Then, have the advanced practice. Though I am sure there will be some senseis from various dojos that will want to take priority during the ji-geiko. In the end, I am not certain what value people of different skill levels will place on this format.

There may still be a possibility of a charge for the seminar, though we are trying hard to avoid that. Hopefully the tee shirt sale will go through well and we'll be providing the seminar for free.

(Also, we thought that tee shirts would be cool to have and a way of getting people to contribute without feeling the "pain" in their wallet since they are getting something in return.... Sort of a "thank you" gift.)

[Neil Gendzwill]

Actually, I'd like to find out more about how you guys do it at some point in time.
We decide who to invite well in advance and coordinate a date based on their schedule. Then we buy them their tickets. By doing that we are able to take advantage of seat sales at our risk, not the sensei's risk, and also they don't have to worry about making arrangements. The airfares are the major upfront cost, and they usually end up sitting on somebody's credit card. We've given up on advance registration for the seminar, but we try to get a head count from people a week or two in advance. Aside from airfare, we also have to cover hotels, food, gifts, medals (there's a small tournament), a lunch (included in the seminar fee) and a party.

We get anywhere from 50-80 people showing up. If we get a lot of people, we just plug more money back into the event (buy a few rounds at the party or whatever). Sometimes sensei will come on their own nickel, in that case we usually try to subsidize them if there is extra money.

Our schedule is usually godo-keiko Friday night, 3 hours of instruction from the guest sensei on Saturday morning, a tournament Saturday afternoon, grading Sunday morning and more seminar Sunday afternoon. Plus meals and a party on Saturday night. It's the main event for the Canadian Prairies because of the tournament and the grading - before we held this, people had to fly to Vancouver or Toronto to grade (still do for the higher ranks).

The fee is $60 (Canadian) including lunch on Saturday and I don't think we've ever had a complaint about it. The other costs of attending the seminar (travel, hotel, meals, brownie points with the spouse) outweigh the fee by quite a bit. We also make a little money from grading fees.

We've been doing this for 13 years or so. Our visiting sensei are among the strongest in North America (recent examples - Tsumura-sensei from JCCC, Koike-sensei from Northwest). I think obviously Nishikawa-sensei would be a bigger draw, and you might budget based on attendance of 100 or more.

[pchen911]

Hi Neil,

Thanks so much for the information on your projects. I have shared your experiences with our committee at SDKB. It was definitely helpful for us.

Hope you won't mind, but if we have any other questions, I will definitely let you know!!

Thanks again.

Paul

[SirFingerLickin]

A tournament sounds like fun, but I'd end up with court duties probably. Oh well, I think just a lot of practice with him would be fun enough for everyone.

[pchen911]

A tournament sounds like fun, but I'd end up with court duties probably. Oh well, I think just a lot of practice with him would be fun enough for everyone.

You know what would be even more fun?

We just heard that there is a chance the Miyazaki brothers may be coming in march to join Nishikawa sensei in the seminar. If this turns out to be the case, we will have 3 of Japan's top kendoists together for the event in San Diego next march.

I will post more information on this as I find out the details. I am sure that related costs will increase if this were to happen so please help by buying a tee shirt.....

Deadline for orders is coming up at the end of this month.

Please let me know if there are any questions.

[SirFingerLickin]

WOW. The Miyazaki brothers too huh? Maybe I should start actively selling those T-Shirts too huh?

[pchen911]

WOW. The Miyazaki brothers too huh? Maybe I should start actively selling those T-Shirts too huh?

YES!!

Sell Sell Sell.... or Buy Buy Buy!!

I also want to remind everyone that the orders will be due very soon. The last day to place orders will be next Saturday, November 29th. (Orders must be received at that time).

If you cannot make the deadline but still want to order the shirts, please email or call me at 619-805-5329 asap.

Thanks to everyone for your support! Email confirmation will be sent to those who sent in their orders already very soon.

For your reference, the SDKB Gasshuku project PDF can be seen at:
http://www.imakproducts.com/downloads/SDKB_Gasshuku_Project.pdf

Paul

[pchen911]

Hi All,

Thanks for all those who supported the SDKB Gasshuku project. Especially to those who contributed by buying a tee shirt. We are happy to say that we have had some decent sale and are definitely moving forward with the seminar.

I would like to confirm with everyone who ordered a shirt that the item has been ordered and will be shipped out as soon as they arrive in our hands.

Please let me know if there are any questions.

Paul