AUSKF 2012 Iaido Camp, June 20-24, Tacoma, Washington

[Halcyon]

I was hoping there would be another east coast summer camp next year, but I guess I will have to wait a few more years.

Most likely the nationals will be on the East Coast in 2014. AUSKF tries to rotate between east, west and central U.S.
2004 -- Boulder, Colo. (central)
2005 -- Torrance, Calif. (west)
2006 -- Cincinnati, Ohio (east)
2007 -- Omaha, Neb. (central)
2008 -- Bryn Mawr, Penn. (east)
2009 -- Boise, Idaho (west)
2010 -- San Antonio, Texas (central)
2011 -- Cleveland, Ohio (east)
2012 -- Tacoma, Wash. (west)
2013 -- Omaha, Neb. (central)

[hl1978]

Most likely the nationals will be on the East Coast in 2014. AUSKF tries to rotate between east, west and central U.S.
2004 -- Boulder, Colo. (central)
2005 -- Torrance, Calif. (west)
2006 -- Cincinnati, Ohio (east)
2007 -- Omaha, Neb. (central)
2008 -- Bryn Mawr, Penn. (east)
2009 -- Boise, Idaho (west)
2010 -- San Antonio, Texas (central)
2011 -- Cleveland, Ohio (east)
2012 -- Tacoma, Wash. (west)
2013 -- Omaha, Neb. (central)

Oh sure, I understand this, I just don't really consider Cleveland to be the east coast (geographically) though they belong to an east coast federation. I tend to think Philadelphia, NYC, DC, Pittsburgh, or Orlando as East coast.

[Halcyon]

Oh sure, I understand this, I just don't really consider Cleveland to be the east coast (geographically) though they belong to an east coast federation. I tend to think Philadelphia, NYC, DC, Pittsburgh, or Orlando as East coast.

It's a big country.

[hl1978]

It's a big country.

True,

Anyone have any idea regarding the selection process? Our local federation doesn't even hold iaido examinations and I'm not sure if our federation could even field a shinsa without importing people from outside the federation. Having worked on federation level events before, I certainly would be interested in setting an event up, but our dojo only has about 4 iaidoka though the local GNEUSKF affiliated dojo have significantly more.

For me personally, the only reason I would want to take an exam would be so that our federation would have another person who could sit on a panel, but I don't think they would put up the money for that

[Halcyon]

Anyone have any idea regarding the selection process?

Dennis Ralutin, who is also on this forum, can probably fill you in on the specifics. Why don't you PM him.

But speaking in general, the relative scarcity of iaido practitioners in the U.S. (and the size of the country) means that if you want to take a kodansha exam, you're gonna have to travel.

I don't have personal knowledge of the selection process, but I've attended the nationals for 9 years in a row so I think I have a decent idea of what's involved. I would imagine that a good deal of the decision is based on dojo leaders stepping up to the plate and volunteering to host the nationals. For this reason, I think the AUSKF officials need some personal knowledge of the hosting dojo/federation so that the AUSKF knows they can pull it off. These things take a LOT of work to organize so if I were an AUSKF official, I would certainly want some assurances that the hosting group is willing AND able.

That means the organizing dojo/federation must have some track record of attending the nationals as well, since that's the only way you can build that trust with the AUSKF officials. That also ensures that the hosting dojo knows the general standards that are expected of them. So if you wanna host the nationals, I think you need that face time with the AUSKF officials. This is purely speculation on my part, but it's a reasonable thing to assume in how these things work.

I suppose travel is the price we pay for practicing a relatively esoteric martial art in a big country. I do enjoy attending the nationals, but nowadays, I also think of it as a kind of responsibility to my kohai at the dojo.

[Ralutin]

Dennis Ralutin, who is also on this forum, can probably fill you in on the specifics. Why don't you PM him.

But speaking in general, the relative scarcity of iaido practitioners in the U.S. (and the size of the country) means that if you want to take a kodansha exam, you're gonna have to travel.

I don't have personal knowledge of the selection process, but I've attended the nationals for 9 years in a row so I think I have a decent idea of what's involved. I would imagine that a good deal of the decision is based on dojo leaders stepping up to the plate and volunteering to host the nationals. For this reason, I think the AUSKF officials need some personal knowledge of the hosting dojo/federation so that the AUSKF knows they can pull it off. These things take a LOT of work to organize so if I were an AUSKF official, I would certainly want some assurances that the hosting group is willing AND able.

That means the organizing dojo/federation must have some track record of attending the nationals as well, since that's the only way you can build that trust with the AUSKF officials. That also ensures that the hosting dojo knows the general standards that are expected of them. So if you wanna host the nationals, I think you need that face time with the AUSKF officials. This is purely speculation on my part, but it's a reasonable thing to assume in how these things work.

I suppose travel is the price we pay for practicing a relatively esoteric martial art in a big country. I do enjoy attending the nationals, but nowadays, I also think of it as a kind of responsibility to my kohai at the dojo.

Paul is pretty much spot on with his post above. I've attended the camp from 2000 to 2010 and helped organize in one way or another about half of them. The selection process is based on individual dojo and/or regional federations who step up and volunteer to host the camp. The AUSKF Iaido committee makes the final decision based on the dojo's/federation's readiness to host.

Personally, I would like to see a future camp somewhere in the southeastern U.S. (Florida, Georgia, Carolinas, etc.). It's the only region that hasn't hosted a camp so far, unless you count Memphis in 1999.

Here's a Google map I made of all the AUSKF Iaido Camp locations so far: http://goo.gl/maps/aLvs

[MikeW]

Speaking not as an iaidoka but as both someone on the board of directors of the SEUSKF and as someone that definitely has an appreciation of iaido, I know that the SEUSKF has an interest in hosting something like this. Our current president Bob Souder is an iaidoka and has been trying to get more exposure to iaido and getting an event held in the Southeast. I can't say for certain that the entire board will be in favor but based on the discussion going on here I will raise the possibility of the SEUSKF hosting the iaido nationals for 2014. As many have mentioned it is exceedingly rare for east coast iaidoka to have an opportunity to test and I think more of an exposure to iaido is a good thing personally. I believe this is something we could accomplish as we have hosted the AUSKF national tournament and AUSKF summer camp.

[Nukitsuke]

We'd love to host here in the Moorhead MN, Fargo ND area as well. Though the MWKF doesn't have a lot of iaido practitioners, we're easily accessible and central to the country. We'd likely get a nice number of Canadians to attend as well.
Brad