ACBL Director's Report

   by Georgia Heth, Morton IL
         District 8 representative on the ACBL Board of Directors

News from the Spring Championships in Dallas: Hello, everyone. When I read the April issue of the Advocate, I looked eagerly for the story about District 8’s newest national champions, only to find no mention of them. I guess this is what happens when you have a modest editor. Karen Walker of Champaign IL, our esteemed Advocate editor for as long as I have been playing bridge, and her partner, Tom Kniest of St. Louis, won the two-day Rockwell Mixed Pairs at the Dallas NABC in April. There is a very nice article about their win in the June ACBL Bridge Bulletin, so I won’t embarrass Karen any further. But: Way to go, guys!

Grand National Teams: Speaking of successes, we had 43 teams at the Grand National Teams District Finals, held on May 5 & 6 in Springfield. That’s up from 31 teams last year, and Flight A alone increased from one team to nine. We had new winners in Flights A, B and C. We will be moving the NAP and GNT finals to a different building in Springfield starting with the NAP event this November. Check future issues of the Advocate for details. I have already started forming my team for next year. You know it’s never too early to start planning. I hope to see everyone back in 2007. And good luck to our teams in Chicago!

Dues reminder: Please remember: you must have paid your dues or Life Master service fee to be eligible to play past the club level in either the Grand National Teams or North American Pairs. If you are not paid up, you will be ineligible to enter the District or national finals, you will forfeit any masterpoints you won, and you may make the rest of your team ineligible to move on.

ACBL Board representatives: Tom Oppenheimer and Bob Carteaux have been re-elected as our first and second alternates to the ACBL Board of Directors. Liz Zalar was appointed to fill our remaining vacancy on the Board of Governors. I would like to thank them for agreeing to serve.

Upcoming regionals: I look forward to seeing many of you at the upcoming District 8 tournaments. Champaign was fun last month and the new site at the Hawthorn Suites was a success. Paducah and Rockford are hosting a split regional later this month (I am going to Rockford to check out their new site at the Clock Tower Inn). In August, St. Louis hosts its popular tournament at the Renaissance Hotel near the airport. Our final regional is in Fort Wayne IN in September.

Calling all bridge teachers: ACBL president Harriette Buckman of Chicago is planning on attending the St. Louis Regional, where she’ll be hosting a special event for bridge teachers. If you teach bridge classes, I hope you can join Harriette and your fellow teachers in St. Louis.

See you all at the tables,  -- 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.