Well, this past Saturday (Aug 16th, 2008) in Redmond, Washington, we here at ARMA Seattle had our very first ever NTP 1.0.
Brought about by the dogged persistence of Seattle Study Group Leader GFS Christopher Eastwood, this small and widely dispersed group has struggled for years to form a large enough core of members, and find the right time against difficult scheduling conflicts over the past months, to finally pull this event off. And, I might add, with Great success!
Though as expected it was a relatively small showing with only 9 member students, several of whom only recently earned their ARMA membership in the past couple of months. Following all historical precedent, the Northwest has been the last hold out of all the regions of the United States in forming any significant numbers of ARMA enthusiasts. Though Portland came first, I believe ARMA Seattle can now be considered the center of the greater Northwest for ARMA with members attending this event from as far as Portland Oregon, Montana and Vancouver, B.C. covering over 3,000 square miles of territory. Even locally members are spread thinly throughout Western Washington; from North Seattle to Tacoma in the South, and from Cle Elum east of Seattle to Port Orchard on the west across the sound. On top of this it was no small accomplishment for Stew Feil who came all the way from Spokane Washington (300 mile to the East) to instruct us in this NTP 1.0. For this reason it is even more notable that such an event came together at all. However, the fact that this first ever NTP for the Seattle group even came about pales in comparison to the greater success of the event itself.
Veteran ARMA member SFS Stew Feil, graciously supported by his lovely wife (and living pell) Chris (sp?), brought his years of experience and depth of knowledge to bear in providing us with a well rounded and much needed class of instruction that provided all members who attended, from novice to intermediate student, a challenging yet thought provoking course. From the most basic information to small and intriguing peeks into more complex and intricate knowledge, Stew managed to interweave fundamentals of longsword instruction into a complete curriculum that provided very specific information as well as insightful elements of exploration to last a life time. He even managed to squeeze in enough time at the end of the day to give all members a chance to experience some instructional free play, also ensuring that even the newest members had an opportunity to spar for the very first time in a manner that showed them how a proper sparing match should be conducted in an educational, respectful and rewarding way. No one could possibly have left at the end of the day without having taken something more valuable than money could buy.
Now that this first Seattle Event has been allowed to "break the ice" on the local ARMA training programs, new potential members seem to be slowly but surely knocking on the door. Future plans for more events and seminars are already picking up momentum and Northwest members can look forward to several more classes in the next year alone, to include a Sword & Buckler workshop (presented by Stew Feil), a historical Martial Arts presentation for Armed Forces Day at Fort Lewis (15 May, 09), and another NTP 1.0 around this same time next year which will include instruction in the "New" curriculum. That's only what is currently planned as there is already more in discussion, so more to come.
In closing I would like to thank Kevin Crisalli for his hard work and sacrifice in finding us just the right venue for our little event at the Enso Center; Christopher Eastwood for just being ornery and persistent in pushing for this event to even happen at all; Tom and Craig and Corey for making the trip out from such long distances just to be here with us and to have been part a small part of modern history; and to the rest of the locals, Jeramy, Andrew and Dave for pushing so hard to get those applications in before the deadline and showing that you truly have the passion to make this your thing. And I would like to thank Stew and Chris for coming out West and accepting our invitation to be such an important part of this first stepping stone in our growth as a study group, and a double thanks to Stew for letting me get a few shots in at the end.
If I've ever met a more diverse and interesting group of scholars in one place, it was on that day. I see great and wonderful things for the future of ARMA in the Northwest.
Ken Dietiker
ARMA Associate Member - Mt.Tacoma
any ideas?