Woof all! Have to say, as someone flying in for these events, I'm with Gong Fu Dog on this one. I like the current structure. Here comes an essay, but I've been thinking on this....
First, regarding the number of fighters at the open, it was a long day but did anybody at the end of the day feel like they didn't get to do the fights they wanted because the day was too long? As long as there's good drumming and good fights, I could have stayed another hour! There may come a point at which we need to limit the number of fighters (see my suggestion at the end) but I didn't sense that threshold was reached yet. Nobody said - "Ooops, 3PM, really wanted that last stick fight but everybody's hungry so I'll fly back to Texas without doing it......" Realistically another hour probably would do that, but I didn't get the sense that it happened yet. Once the knife fight and initial stick fights were past it thinned out pretty quickly, my last 3 fights weren't that far apart.
Regarding the current structure, I think that having the Tribal closed gives people a little more to shoot for, and frankly, I felt that the 2 days is perfect - even so I didn't get to fight nearly as many of the other tribe members as I would have liked. I would hate to see that diluted. 3 days logistically will start to get a little prohibitive for some, and injury-wise there can sometimes be too much of a good thing. Combining Open and Tribal events will make it a little difficult to avoid more spectators, and it will be a little harder to exclude people who "just show up with the rest of my school's fighters", meaning it will be a little harder to keep the quality and close feel that the Tribal has. It could be done, but not nicely if people don't respect the "closed location" idea. Lets say I bring out a new fighter for the Open part, what does he do during my Tribal day(s)? Perhaps it worked in the past, I wasn't there, the full DB's know better than I on that.
Regarding not being able to make a specific Gathering, sorry, but shit happens. If something is important enough to you, you will find a way. Hawaii doesn't have 2 official Ironman's because some people can't fly out there in a certain month. If you want to do it you plan accordingly. Life does sometimes get in the way, like weddings, deployments, etc. C'est la vie. Practice your art, sharpen your blade and surprise people even more at the next one. Having people spend some time between Gatherings (with the assumption that skills are improving in between and people are working towards a goal) is beneficial so that when fighters become part of the tribe there is a certain "quality control". Time alone does not assure this, but lack of time will certainly not help quality control. Things worth having need to be earned. What's the hurry?
Another consideration (here's my marketing plug and main point) is that there are now more places to go to get "seasoning" prior to and between Gatherings. If your only event of the year is the Open Gathering, you are not doing your homework. I traveled to Houston every quarter for a year to get marked up by Top Dog et al prior to and after my first Gathering, we have hosted fight days in New Braunfels, TX and will do so again. I know that C Shadow Dog and Dog Pete and Salty Dog have hosted fight days and will continue to do so; there are the BTCOOC events; my point is that there is now an effective "farm club" system out there for sharpening skills aside from the Open, and more schools should be hopping on the bandwagon every year - that's how we will grow. In addition to the "unofficial" opportunities to fight, there is now an official Dog Brothers Gathering in Canada, which is open, and of course Europe. If you want to fight more than once per year there are now plenty of venues - look for them! Rather than a second Open in California, I'd rather see us coordinate and support the Canadians to make each of our existing Gatherings as strong as possible. The second Open (with a capital O and full support and hoopla) should be the Canadian, IMHO. My understanding is that the same opportunities for advancement to Dog or Candidate, etc exist at the Canadian as at the Open and Tribal. I understand the Californians having different ideas about this, but as a national organization and network this is probably the rational plan for sustained growth. Schedule coordination between the events to allow some sort of "rhythm of the seasons" will be the key to success here. The current schedule isn't quite right for that, but that's another topic for another time....
Last point and a possible suggestion......if the Open gets too large, then make a requirement that a new fighter have fought in one of the various "farm club" events. Individuals should make the commitment to do the preparation and have some skills. You don't just go run the Boston Marathon....you have to qualify, and that's part of the reason its a premiere event. I'm not talking pro cards here, but SOME RCSF experience SOMEWHERE prior to stepping on the mat at at the Open would be a good idea. Have BTCOOC, or the various club events serve as a certifying opportunity (certifying participation, not skill) so that a person is not stepping out at the Gathering as their first EVER real contact event. True, the Open would not be truly Open in the sense of any Joe Schmoe off the street showing up, but this would be a boon for the various ancillary events and schools/clubs and would get us a higher level of participant at the Open. The Open would perhaps be a little tougher, but thats OK because everyone there would have done this before at SOME level SOME where.... Thats a win-win for the whole organization from the individual schools on up. It would also give more groups incentive to become official DBMAA schools or host local fighting events, probably in conjunction with seminars. Again, win/win.
Sorry, that's a little more than 2 cents.......
C Dr Dog
