This time I will answer such a problem.
I’ve been running this blog since 2018, and I’ve been asked the most questions like this.
There are few people in the generation of parents who actually understand Go, and many people are worried because they do not know how to support their children’s Go.
As I write this article, I have played Go game for 18 years.
Only my grandfather, who lived far away, can play Go, and during my elementary, junior high and high school days, I was supported by my parents who can’t play Go.
In this article, based on my experience as a Go instructor, I will consider the role of parents in supporting children’s Go.
Contents
[Go] Think about what parents should be to strengthen their children [Aim to become a professional or just enjoy it? ]
Very few parents can play Go, and it is rare that they can support their children’s Go training.
So you don’t have to regret that you can’t play Go.
Parents of strong children often can’t play Go
It’s an experiment I’ve seen, but parents of children know little about Go.Is there a child who learns from the parents….
Unless the parents are professional players, the top children in the country are doing some kind of training.
Recently, the number of people who are getting stronger on the Internet Go is increasing, and there are many things that even elementary school students can do if they act on their own.
Especially at the prefectural convention level, regional disparities are irrelevant.
If you set a goal that you want to play an active part at the prefectural convention level, it is a goal that you can fully achieve with your own efforts.
However, it is true that the environment has a large impact .
Even at the national competition, I feel that the Kansai region, which is in a better environment, is producing results. Especially in Tokyo Kanagawa, the level is extremely high.
By the way, the parents of Joanne Missingham, who is the third largest girl in the world, couldn’t play Go either. In addition, please refer to the efforts that continued to grow stronger despite the fact that you were not blessed with the surrounding environment due to immigration to the United States.
[Reference] A complete translation of the feelings for Go spoken by the female shogi player Joanne Missingham
How parents support their children’s Go life
When parents support their children’s Go, strengthening is not the only support.
The world of Go is very small, and friends connected by Go become lifelong friends . Parents can also support you by picking you up to participate in the tournament, enrolling in a Go club, and increasing your chances of getting involved with Go.
If you want to become a professional, it’s common to move to Tokyo or Osaka and go to a strong dojo.
This requires a great deal of preparedness, so we may first aim for the national best 8 or higher in the Boys and Girls Go Tournament.
If your child really wants to be a professional, “ Go graduate student exam and age /necessary Go skills summary! What kind of life do you usually live in? As introduced in “Are you there? “, the easiest route is to become a graduate student.
The age limit for graduate students is 14 years old, and 6 dan is required for the strength of the game. However, in order to become a professional, it is generally best to be prepared in the third grade of elementary school.
How to train a stronger child
As I mentioned earlier, strong kids are training themselves in some way. Especially in Japan, there seems to be an educational idea of ”think for yourself and become stronger for yourself”.
However, if you don’t know what kind of Go training methods are available, the content will not be fulfilling.
First, check the general Go training methods and think carefully about which method you can continue.
- Work hard with Internet Go
- Train your fighting power with Tsumego
- Learn a professional sense by arranging game records
- Get tips for improving from the prefecture representative
- Have a strong person consider it
All of these are effective methods, but there are some things that you can’t help but be self-taught.
In addition, it is best to go to a Go club with strong people and train them so that you can point out the sweetness and weaknesses that you do not notice. >.
For the Internet Go site, refer to the article “ Go free recommended games, I seriously summarized the Internet Go site ” Please.
It is the role of parents to support their children’s ingenuity
Parents’ support isn’t just about Go.
To be honest, it doesn’t matter if a parent can play Go for a child. Above all, I am happy to support the challenges of children.
Finally, I would like to introduce three things that made me happy to have my parents.
Parents and children start playing Go
If your child is a beginner level, it is recommended that parents start playing Go together.
The presence of rivals is very important for children, and it leads to motivation to never lose .
When parents start playing Go together, they can become familiar rivals for their children. You can play hard with the feeling that you don’t want to lose to your parents, or you can motivate yourself to go to a Go class.
Even at my house, my father and mother remembered Go and used to play with me in the early days. I stopped playing Go halfway through, but I think it was one of the reasons why I enjoyed playing Go as a child.
By the way, even in the Go class where I was an instructor, there were about 3 cases of learning Go with parents and children, and children were highly motivated without exception .
In some cases, a mother who was always waiting for her child’s game became addicted to Go, and eventually her child was waiting for her child’s game to end.
The child is in the third year of high school this year, but he has been attending Go classes for more than six years since then, and now he is in the seventh dan. I’m happy.
I’ll let you go to an excellent Go class
If you go to a good Go class, your child will grow up at once.
Children get a lot of inspiration because there are excellent teachers and highly motivated rivals in a good Go classroom.
By the way, the place of a good Go class is the quickest to hear from the top people at prefectural competitions . If you want to make your child stronger, they will definitely show you a good place.
In my area, there was a closed study group where only the top level in the prefecture gathered, and the study group was held by a complete introduction system. Since participating in this study group, I have been able to set high goals, and since I work hard with strong opponents every day, I have been highly motivated.
A good Go class is a little far away, and the monthly fee and participation fee are high (we were 5000 yen /month), but parents are encouraged to support us.
By the way, it is a common story for children who want to become professionals to study abroad in South Korea, and Nakamura Kaoru was one of them.
A friend of mine also went to Korea to study Go for a month. After returning to Japan, he was so unscrupulous that he began to devote himself to Go as if he had changed, and it made me really feel the impact of the environment on people.
Mental support is the most important
It may seem surprising, but the mental support of my parents is quite large.
For a child who plays Go, the most painful thing is the cruelty of the world of winning and losing. Repeated wins and losses can be quite stressful, and some children are crushed by mental pressure.
In my personal opinion
- Don’t talk about winning or losing
- I’ll leave Go to the teacher
- Give refresh
Keep this in mind when parents support their children.
Children are exhausted from playing Go, so it’s really tough to win or lose even after returning home. If you can’t give specific advice on Go, it’s safer to focus on mental support.
However, there are cases where even strict parents succeed, and the family of the world queen Yu Zhiying is quite a parent. He was so strict that he got angry when he lost.
This depends on your parents’ coaching skills, but it’s safe to leave it to your teacher.
By the way, my parents were completely interested in Go, and I felt like I liked it because I could lose. Thanks to that, I was able to play the match without any pressure, and I am grateful that it created a good environment when I think about it now.
Think about how parents should be to strengthen their children
Actually, there is no correct answer for parents who support their children’s Go.
There are some professional shogi players who grew up in opposite environments, such as Joanne Missingham and Yu Zhiying, and it is not said which is the correct answer.
But what we can say in common is that parents supported their children’s challenges .
