The British Go Association and Youth Go
The British Go Association is constantly trying to improve junior Go in this country. In the past few years, many things have been done to make it easier for juniors to learn Go, and to give young Go players more opportunities to play and to improve.
For example:
- The UK Go Challenge was set up in 2004, to allow schools to compete in a tournament with local heats and a national final. It was an immediate success, with more than 400 players from 23 schools taking part in the first year.
- The BGA put funding into the GoZone program which introduced Go to thousands of school children.
- A system of Regional Youth Representatives and local volunteers was set up to support schools interested in Go.
- BGA member Alex Selby set up the SIG Go Server for schools
- A Youth Go Newsletter was relaunched at the end of 2005
- The BGA's junior web pages were improved and expanded
- A set of easy cartoon rules of Go were devised and printed
- The BGA Certificate Scheme was launched in 2006, where juniors can improve and win certificates by learning from a series of puzzles
- The UK Go Challenge launched a series of Geographical Go Galas, with the first one held in Cambridge in November 2005
- A mentoring scheme for young players was set up
- The Schools Go League, with play online, was started in 2005.
We hope to carry on making things better for junior Go players. We have identified our top priorities for the next year or so:
- Strengthening the role of the Youth Regional Representatives and supporting local initiatives
- Holding online tournaments and teaching and an online youth grand prix
- Issuing answer sheets and introductory text for each section for the BGA Certificate Scheme puzzles
- Seeking more sponsorship for youth Go events
Please let us know if you have your own ideas of how you would like to see junior Go in this country develop.
