ACBL Director's Report
ACBL Director's ReportThe Atlanta NABC is still going on as I write this. I enjoyed my time there. Besides the meetings, I played bridge for two days and participated in the “Learn Bridge in a Day” seminar as a table monitor on my last day there.
"Learn Bridge in a Day": My son Kortlan (he caddied the GNT final in May, so some of you have met him) went to bridge camp in July for the first time. He loved it and we have played in our first open game already. We only had a 39.1% game, but we beat two pairs, so we were very happy. Anyway, so many volunteers had helped him learn to play that I thought I could “pay it forward” in Atlanta. To my surprise, I had as much fun as the students did. The students at my table were very interested in the game and were asking the right questions as we went along. They learned enough to bid simple hands and play them. This is a great way to introduce people to the game.
Board actions: I am chairman of the Governance and Bylaws committees. There was a proposed bylaw change on the agenda regarding term limits. I only had a chance to speak to one unit board about this before the meeting but they were opposed. The main argument for the amendment was that it would bring fresh blood to the board. The main argument against it was that districts should be allowed to send whomever they want to represent them. There has been a turnover of more than 2/3 of the board during the 10 years I have been there so I didn’t agree with the fresh blood argument. The amendment was defeated 9-16.
In governance we continued our work on updating the Codification, reorganizing it so all regulations are sorted by topic and removing regulations no longer in effect. Phyllis Harlan is the board member working with staff on this. She has been working for several years and expects to finish up this year. This has been a massive undertaking and she and staff deserve our heartfelt gratitude. When I was asked to be chairman of governance this year, I said yes only if Phyllis would continue this work – I knew I didn’t have the time required! We also approved one unit change, deferred another for more information, approved changes to the Hall of Fame voting procedures, approved the new competitive bidding policy (for the business, not bridge) and approved removing retirement medical benefits for employees hired after December 31, 2013.
Conditions of Contest for online NAP unit and district finals were approved, a new victory point scale for NABC+ events passed, and a requirement for one and two seeds in NABC+ events to purchase their entries at least 15 minutes prior to the start of the event or not be allowed to participate in the event was deferred. However, management did start running a request for players to do so in the Daily Bulletin. The purpose for this is to speed up the start of seeded events.
Two motions regarding the factors used for masterpoint calculations were deferred. These involved the M and X factors. This was after the committees had spent hours working on these but it was decided more work was needed.
New NABC events: After the success of the 0-10,000 Swiss teams at the St. Louis NABC in March (more than 80 teams entered), four new 10K events were added to the NABC schedule: mixed swiss teams and pairs in the summer, a swiss in the fall and a KO in the spring. I supported all but the mixed swiss teams, which I thought was getting too specialized with the double restrictions of masterpoints and being mixed.
Women's NABC events: The Machlin Women’s Swiss and the Wagar Women’s KOs were re-evaluated because of the small number of entries. It was decided to keep the events, but after this year they will no longer serve as qualifying events to satisfy the need to win a national event to make Grand Life Master. I am considering proposing a motion to do the same to all women’s events. If you have an opinion one way or the other, please let me know.
New flights for NAP and GNT: The flights for the North American Pairs were modified to make Flight B go up to 2500 masterpoints next year. The Grand National Teams were changed so that flight B goes up to 2500 and flight A goes up to 6000. The GNT changes are effective this year.
President's resignation: Finally, Donald Mamula, whom many of you met at the Champaign regional, has resigned as President of the ACBL effective at the end of the Atlanta NABC for personal reasons. Despite allegations on BridgeWinners to the contrary, there is no cover up of illegal activity. Bill Cook was elected to serve as president for the remainder of the year. I would like to thank Donald for all of the great work he has done for the ACBL (he was also chairman of the Board of Governors for four years) and welcome Bill to the job. Donald continues to serve as a member of the BOD, Bill will be leaving the board at the end of this year.
The GNT finals were held while I was in Atlanta and our District 8 representatives had a strong showing. Three out of our four teams made it out of the qualifying rounds and placed overall. Our teams in B and C flight came in tied for 9/16 and our championship team came in 5/8. The members of our flight A team entered the 0-5000 Life Master Pairs and both pairs qualified for the third day and placed overall. Congratulations to:
Championship flight: Mike Halvorsen, Dick Blumenthal, Will Engel, Bob Fashingbauer
Flight A: Ned Horton, Hugh Williams, Tod Moses, Art Seltzer
Flight B: Rich Pestien, Charles Young, Mike Tomlianovich, Pat Moos
Flight C: Carol Sue McNaught, Shirley Logan, Nancy Shaver, Mark Beattie
One of the interesting things about our GNT representatives is that while some of the individual players had represented District 8 before, they were all playing on new teams this year. The beauty of this event (in our district at least) is that anyone can win. There are no legacy teams that it is pointless to compete against.
I know you are saying, "Georgia, do you ever get off the GNT bandwagon?" But the answer is no, I love this event and want to see everyone participate. I especially would like to see more flight C teams enter. Most of these people started playing after club qualifying was eliminated, so they just aren’t as familiar with the event. It is our duty as old timers to build it up for them and get them interested in playing. We did have a few technical difficulties at the last district final, but they won’t be repeated.
Another thing I want to get out there early is that the date of the District Final for next year has been changed. The event is normally held the first weekend in May, but for 2014 only, it will be the last weekend in April. We will return to the traditional date in 2015. The 2014 GNT District Final will be April 26 and 27 in Springfield.
World championships: While I was in Atlanta, I finally got the news that the World Championships next year (open to all players) will be held in China. This is for the two of you who have been anxiously awaiting that information.
I hope to see many of you at the St. Louis Regional this month.
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.