Marjorie “Su Co” Hey has been chosen as the AGF’s Teacher of the Year. An ordained Buddhist nun, she is in good company, joining Honinbo Sansa, the 16th century founder of the Honinbo House, among notable go playing Buddhists. Hey, who lives in Medford, MA, has been a dedicated go teacher for the past seven years, with go programs at elementary schools, libraries, and Boys and Girls Clubs, often running five or six separate clubs each week. “For those people who are afraid I am teaching their kids Buddhism, I point out that go was being played at least a thousand years before Buddhism or Christianity were established,” Hey told the E-Journal, “go teaches us to do our best, treat our opponents with respect and to avoid being greedy (the surest way to lose).” Hey seems never to have been worried about the competitive aspects of the game, and instead delights in teaching and helping beginners. She is not a strong player herself, with an AGA rank of 18 kyu, but she possesses a special gift – the ability to fascinate and delight children. Her main interest is in helping her students, and she enjoys seeing their progress. “Ralph St. Louis (age 14) and I played to see if he would be eligible to play in the Massachusetts Go Association (MGA) tournament. Playing even, he won by a half point,’ said Hey. “The next morning I loaned him my 10 volume set of Level Up and he set to studying it before the Sunday tournament. I entered him as a 20 kyu. He played me the first game and mowed me down. He went on to play a 6 kyu and won and then lost to a 4 kyu. I only won two and lost two. Last night I checked the new ratings and I had gone from 19+ kyu to 18.9 kyu but Ralph went from 20 kyu to 16.6 kyu. WOW!!!! Ralph is more than 2 kyu stronger than me.” Tom Bahun, a teenaged 2 dan, tells a similar story: “the first tournament I went to at the MGA was dull and boring, but the next one was run by Su Co, and we had tons of fun. All the kids had huge smiles on their faces they were so happy, including me, even though I had lost. She is all around a great person and a great teacher of go to children.” The Teacher of the Year Award has become quite competitive in recent years, and many excellent teachers are finding themselves on a waiting list for the honor, which includes an all-expenses-paid trip the annual US Go Congress. Honorable mention goes to Portland go teacher Fritz Balwit, and Colorado teacher David Weiss, who were also nominated for the award this year. Hey will hold a round-table discussion — for those who teach and those who would like to — at the Congress, on Monday Aug. 2 at 5pm.
– Paul Barchilon, E-J Youth Editor. Photo: Hey, at center, teaching children at Brooks Elementary School in Medford MA.
hardly ever seen apart but they’re quick to tell you that Matthew’s the older one. “Two minutes,” the twelve-year-olds say together. Matthew’s 4d and Nathan is 3d but they both agree they’re very close in strength and indeed Nathan won when the two were paired in Tuesday’s third round of the North American Ing Masters tournament. They’ve only been playing a couple years, learning the game after seeing it played at a chess tournament at their elementary school in Boulder, Colorado. “We thought it was cool,” says Matthew, “and the go players were friends of our mother,” adds Nathan. The boys are regulars at the Boulder Kids and Teens Go Club, run by Paul Barchilon and David Weiss. The club boasts four dan-level children, all of whom are at the Congress. The fraternal twins are fiercely competitive with each other, of course, and play at least one game every day, in addition to taking on other players on KGS. They cheerfully admit to having been caught playing go by flashlight under the covers after bedtime, and are thrilled to be playing in the Ing this year. “It’s great to get your butt kicked by 8-dans,” says Nathan, “yeah, we learn a lot and it’s fun,” adds Matthew.
