ACBL Board Meeting
The ACBL Board of Directors held its spring meeting in Reno in March. I wish to thank District President John Van Ness for ably representing our district in my absence, especially because he had relatively short notice.
A motion to require a minimum of 26-27 boards in regional events at NABCs was defeated by a narrow margin. The local tournament chairs will continue to be able to decide whether fewer boards/session is appropriate for their particular NABC. A motion to change the name of the Side Game Series regional-rated games to Regional Pairs Series Game was defeated. These were called Continuous Pairs for awhile. Whatever, we've got to come up with a way to eliminate the negative connotation the name of these games carries. Side Game Series games are not like side games in the past; indeed, they are an integral part of all NABCs and most regional tournaments.
All sanctioned games held in clubs, with the exception of STACs, will now count toward the unit, district and ACBL Ace of Clubs rankings. A Super Senior Pairs (age 70+) will be established as an ACBL+ event at national tournaments. This will run the last two days of each fall NABC. A motion to gradually increase the "senior age" from 55 to 60 was defeated. Therefore, in ACBLland, you're still eligible to participate in senior events when you reach age 55.
All clubs that run one or more sanctioned local charity games must provide, when asked, an accounting of how charity money raised in this manner is distributed, to whom and the amounts. The significance of this motion is that it replaced a motion to eliminate all local charity games. I think the requirement is totally reasonable, because up to now we have had no controls in place that would stand up to an audit.
Beginning with the 2010-2011 event, qualifiers to the national North American Pair finals from each district will receive a fixed monetary prize from a new scale. For players who fall under the new Life Master requirements (they joined ACBL or reinstated after 1/1/10), new milestones to attain rankings below life master have been implemented. Pigmented points will be required for all ranks sectional master and above.
Special Games at Clubs
Club special games that award masterpoints at sectional rating have become a hot issue with many club owners and players. Specifically, club charity games, junior fund games, international fund games and education foundation games have come under fire because they have started competing with tournaments, especially sectionals and STACs. The board has dealt with several motions over the past 2-3 years that would have either cut back on the number of these games clubs can hold, or which would have reduced the masterpoint awards these games offer.
In Reno, a compromise solution was reached. In February, which is junior fund month, clubs can hold as many junior fund special games as they wish. The same holds true for charity games in April and international fund games in September. In all other months, clubs may hold only one of these special games per month per sanctioned session, and the choice of beneficiary is up to them. In addition, the masterpoint awards for all of these special games shall be at 70% of sectional rating.
Obviously this move will reduce the contributions made to each of the four groups. The primary financial impact to ACBL will be the loss of junior fund revenue, estimated at $54,000 this year and $108K each year starting in 2011. The other funds are pass-through.
I initially opposed this change because these games are popular with players and because of the benefits to the various funds, but it has become clear that the price is too high, so the changes made were necessary. If players can stay home and play in games that award points using the same scale as that used in tournaments, why should they travel to tournaments once they have all the pigmented points they need? That's probably an oversimplification, but it highlights the concern.
It's probably time we do an in depth survey of why players travel to play in sectional tournaments. If we tie this into special club game participation, I think the results would be very helpful, not only to bridge governing bodies, but also to tournament organizers.
Special Club Games and STACs
A motion to prevent clubs from running special games within 50 miles of a sectional or regional tournament was defeated. It's easy to see the arguments on both sides. There are lots of tournaments, especially in metropolitan areas. In order for clubs to survive - and to prosper - it is unrealistic to expect them to run only rating point games every time there is a tournament.
But what about STACs? STACs are run in clubs, and are popular with players. Recently some of our clubs have run special games during our STAC weeks rather than participate in the STAC. Their argument is that players are more likely to win lots of points in special games than in STACs. Ouch! The new rules should help bring these clubs back to our STACs, and this is very important. Our STACs contribute significantly to the overall financial health of the Western Conference, and help keep sanction fees low. And, by the way, they're fun!
ACBL Move
We originally expected to move to our new ACBL headquarters building in early March. However, there have been problems laying the underground fiber optic cable and the fire marshal has pointed out some necessary modifications to the work done in the new building. Hopefully the headquarters will be in its new home by the time you read this.
Technology
The ACBL technology committee has been in existence for over a year. The committee has looked at several areas that would benefit from upgraded technology. Thanks to their efforts, all clubs can now post their results on the ACBL website. But that is only the beginning. The committee has been looking into ways to make our website more user friendly. Admittedly it is difficult to navigate the website now.
In addition, the committee has initiated discussions with ACBL management to rewrite ACBLscore, and has received a commitment from ACBL management to make this a high priority. Though it has been a wonderful tool for better than two decades, it is programmed in an obsolete language, and is very difficult to modify. Too often, changes that would have benefited our game have been ruled out simply because they couldn't be supported, without tremendous effort and cost, by ACBLscore. In addition, changes we have implemented were far more difficult than they would nave been with current technology.
Other Initiatives
Our plate is full. I believe we have to develop a ranking system that is based on current ability in order to give players whose masterpoint total does not reflect their skill level a reason to keep coming to our games. Slow play is a problem everywhere, but particularly in top flight events. Making starting times earlier does not solve this problem. It just gives slow players more time. If duplicate bridge is a timed event, why doesn't that apply to everyone? Additionally, zero tolerance is not uniformly enforced. The results are unpleasant experiences at the bridge table that drive people away and make it very hard to recruit new players. The good news is that we have people working on all these issues! As long as I am your ACBL representative, I plan to work on these and other projects that will build our game and make it more enjoyable for everyone.
My Absences
Except for one El Paso district board meeting several years ago that conflicted with my work obligations, I had not missed an ACBL board, Western Conference board or District 17 board meeting in the 20 years I've been involved in bridge administration in District 17. That record came to a sudden halt when I experienced a detached retina on my way to the Western Conference meeting in Monterey in January. Three eye operations forced me to miss the district board meeting in Albuquerque in January and the ACBL board meeting in March. As I write this, I am cautiously anticipating a full recovery, and am looking forward to a full resumption of my bridge activities. I look forward to seeing many of you in Las Vegas!
Your input and suggestions on any of the above topics (or any other issues you wish to raise) are always appreciated, whether you agree or not. My phone number is (505)662-3036, you can e-mail me at peanutcat@aol.com, or write me at 2175 La Tierra Road, Los Alamos NM 87544-2766. A special thanks to those of you who have contacted me to share your opinions.