ACBL Director's Report
ACBL Director's ReportHello, All --
ACBL Board meetings: The March meetings were very busy for me. The biggest hot topic was Strength of Field Scoring, which was deferred once again. (The basic concept is masterpoints are based on the average masterpoint holding of the entrants in the event rather than the number of tables entered.) Management will score games for two months under both systems and show us the results. Hopefully, this will come to a conclusion one way or the other in July.
Juniors were also big. There had been a proposal to cut back on junior coupons at the NABCs; instead, we increased them. They are now worth $10 per session and valid at all events at an NABC. They are available to any player under the age of 21 and to full-time students under the age of 26. The use of Junior Fund money was also changed. That part of it used to fund junior teams in international events can now only be used for world championships, which I believe eliminates several college competitions. On the other hand, the amount of money that can be used no longer has an annual limit but is based on actual costs, and teams from Canada (and Mexico, if they should compete) will be supported to the same extent US teams are supported.
The Grand National Teams conditions of contest were amended to clearly spell out who can get permission to play in a district other than the one they reside in and the procedures were made clearer. I know this will be of interest to some of you. These procedures include the requirement that the person be an active volunteer in the district they wish to be allowed to play in.
We also had a strategic planning session. We spent several hours with staff and management trying to figure out the most important areas of concern for the ACBL. Management will work on developing the plan and present it in July.
A proposal was made to add specific masterpoint penalties for convictions of various ethical violations. This was deferred to July to work on the details.
After the ACBL meetings ended, I attended the World Bridge Federation meetings for three days. I made a presentation on the ACBL disciplinary system at the request of the WBF president.
Regional visitors: District 8 will be visited by both the ACBL President and CEO this year. Robert Hartman, who became our new CEO last year, will be visiting the Champaign Regional and playing Saturday and Sunday. Robert is working very hard and is interested in visiting as many districts as possible this year. Please be friendly and introduce yourself to him, as well as to our President, Sharon Anderson, who will be attending the Fort Wayne Regional. She is particularly interested in talking to volunteers and club managers. She will hold one or two meetings at the tournament to hear your ideas and concerns.
Grand National Teams: Finally, PLEASE SEND IN YOUR RESERVATIONS FOR THE GNTS. I look forward to seeing more of you this year at the event. It is at the Eagles Club in Springfield (not Riverton) on April 28 and 29. The flights are: less than 500 masterpoints AND NOT A LIFE MASTER, less than 2000 masterpoints, less than 5000 masterpoints and open. Your flight is determined by on your masterpoint holding as of September 1, 2011. District 8 will give the winning team in each flight $1000 to help with travel expenses to the national finals in Philadelphia.
I attended meetings for the GNT task force in Memphis and described the event as our bridge family reunion. We all get together for a day or two, play some bridge, have good food and the winners get to represent our district in a nationally rated event at the summer NABC – this year in Philadelphia. If you haven’t played before, give it a try. Gold points are available for the overall awards in all flights and anyone could win.
I look forward to seeing you at the tables at the GNTs and our regionals this summer. And if you have any children who will have finished 5th – 10th grade this summer, consider sending them to Bridge Camp in Carlinville IL at the end of June. My son went last year and can’t wait to return.
-- Georgia
If you have questions or suggestions about ACBL Board actions or other bridge matters, please contact me at gkheth@hotmail.com or 917 S. Main St., Morton IL 61550-2419.