The Next Chapter, Part II: Harvard

This past weekend, the Boston University Kendo Association (BUKA) took part in Harvard’s 17th Annual Shoryuhai Taikai. 18 BU students took part in the event, together with 2 BUKA affiliates – from Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (MCPHS) and Tufts, respectively – serving as guest players. Here’s a recap of the entire weekend:

Day One – Teams

BU A

  1. Sempo: John Yi (SMG’14)
  2. Jiho: Katsutoshi Kawakami (ENG’13)
  3. Chuken: Lucien Thomas (CAS’14)
  4. Fukusho: Jessica Alexandria (CAS’13)
  5. Taisho: Shawn Shou (SMG’14)

BU B

  1. Sempo: Julie Zhu (CAS’15)
  2. Jiho: Raymond Feng (SMG’15)
  3. Chuken: Kenneth Jeng (Tufts)
  4. Fukusho: Erica Wiener (ENG’16)
  5. Taisho: Brandon Kesselly (CAS’14)

BU C

  1. Sempo: Taryn Ross (CGS’15)
  2. Jiho: Michaella Chung (SED’15)
  3. Chuken: Kayla Gillespie (CAS’16)
  4. Fukusho: Genevieve Boudreau (CAS’16)
  5. Taisho: Renee Wang (CAS’15)

Mixed Team Players

  • Boshan Mo (ENG’16)
  • Victoria Moore (CAS’15)
  • Daniel Kim (ENG’16)
  • Yevgeniy Temchenko (CAS’16)
  • Rafael Kim (MCPHS)

Results

1st – University of California at San Diego (UCSD) A

2nd – University of California, Riverside (UCR) A

3rd – Boston University (BU) A & Stony Brook University (SBU) A   Highlights

  • BU A took 3rd place overall!!
  • BU A advanced to the Semifinals for the first time in two years!!
  • BU A defeated NYU A in the Quarterfinals after being defeated by them at Rutgers
  • BU B defeated Harvard A during the round robin!
  • BU B tied Harvard A and NYU A in total wins during the round robin!

The Team tournament went rather well for BU.  The A team had a record of 4-0-1 and was the only one to advance to the Quarterfinals. BU A went on to defeat NYU A 3-1 in the Quarterfinals before UCSD A defeated them 2-0 in the Semifinals. BU A placed 3rd alongside SBU A.

BU B played strong despite a slow start. During the first match of their round robin group, NYU A defeated them 5-0 ( in wins-losses; 10-1 in points). For every subsequent match, however, BU B seemed to truly blossom as they went on to win every other match, including an upset against Harvard A, which brought their record to 4-1-0 and placed them in a 3-way tie with NYU and Harvard. Unfortunately, BU B was still unable to advance due to the number of total points they had scored throughout the round robin, ending their run in the tournament.

Day Two – Individuals

 

Highlights:

  • Boshan Mo (ENG ’16) scored his first tournament point: a Do!
  • BU affiliate Rafael Kim (MCPHS) scored two Do points today!
  • BU Captain John Yi (SMG’14) advanced to the Quarterfinal!

The individual tournament was not as strong for BU as the previous day. All of BU was eliminated before the Quarterfinal with the exception of BUKA Captain John Yi (SMG ’14). Yi was unfortunately defeated during the Quarterfinal by Matthew Yang (Rutgers) who placed 3rd.

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The Next Chapter, Part I: Rutgers

Last weekend, BU Kendo took a trip to New Jersey to compete at the 20th Annual Rutgers-Shidogakuin Tournament at Rutgers University. Rutgers is a higher level tournament than the Cornell Tournament with more divisions including age, rank and school. A lot of dojos compete at Rutgers, giving many of our newer members a chance to see what kendo is like outside of the the collegiate level. Various schools, dojos and sensei competed, and BU had a chance to test its mettle against the other kendoka in the region, sending two teams to the tournament:

BU A

  1. Senpo: Brandon Kesselly
  2. Jiho: Lucien Thomas
  3. Chuken: Shawn Shou
  4. Fukusho: Jessica Alexandria
  5. Taisho: John Yi

BU B

  1. Senpo: Genevieve Boudreau
  2. Jiho: Kayla Gillespie
  3. Chuken: Erica Wiener
  4. Fukusho: Julie Zhu
  5. Taisho: Raymond Feng

BUKA Coach and former Captain Alex Eitoku also competed last weekend in one of the Individuals tournaments.

The Good

3 of our members placed in the individuals tournament brackets - President Lucien Thomas (CAS '14) took 1st in the Mudansha tournament, Coach Alex Eitoku (CAS '12) placed 2nd in the Shodan (1st Dan or "degree") tournament and Captain John Yi (SMG '14) placed 3rd in the Samdan (3rd Dan) tournament. Various members of the club did well in the tournament before their eventual defeats: A Team members Jessica Alexandria (CAS '13), Brandon Kesselly (CAS '14) and  Shawn Shou (SMG '14) each nearly made the quarterfinals of their brackets in the Mudansha tournament, and Alexandria nearly made the quarterfinals during the women's tournament as well. B Team member Rongdian "Julie" Zhu (CAS '15) also advanced in her bracket in Women's Individuals, while her teammates Erica Wiener (ENG '16) and Genevieve Boudreau (CAS '16) each scored their first ever tournament points! B Team's taisho, Raymond Feng (SMG '15) managed to hold his own against Shidogakuin DC's taisho, breaking even in their duel.

The Bad

Unfortunately, Boston University did not place in the Team tournament this time around. And the teams who beat both our A and B teams - New York University A and Shidogakuin DC - placed 2nd and 1st respectively. However, as opposed to letting this hang over our heads, we are taking this time to re-evaluate our strengths and weaknesses as both a team and as individual kendoka. We are only as strong as our weakest link, and we only grow stronger together. Captain Yi has already outlined his strategy to prepare us for Harvard, and we will be ready.

What's Next?

Last weekend we truly had a chance to bond as a team for the first time since last semester. This tournament may not have been our best, but it most certainly has not been our worst. And Harvard is right around the corner. Who knows what the future has in store for BUKA?