And then there were three

Congratulations to Lisa Green, who has joined Chris Ross in becoming an apprentice NASPA director at our club. Like Chris, Lisa has chosen me as her mentor and is now authorized to co-direct club and tournament activities under my supervision. When I feel she has learned enough, NASPA will be notified and Lisa will become a director in full.

Lisa has already successfully directed her first club session - our September 2 meeting at Los Agaves - and professionally and fairly handled an unusual pairing situation which occurred during that session. Kudos to her for a good job keeping us in line and keeping things moving.

One of the things about being a Scrabble club and tournament director is this: it's truly a labor of love. It's not a paid position, it's a lot of work, and all eyes are upon you for leadership and guidance. You've really got to give it your all to be successful at it. I'm happy to see our two new directors stepping up to the plate of their own accord despite these obstacles, and I'm glad I've been able to provide an example they think is worth emulating.

Stay tuned, folks, as our club continues to evolve and grow.

A new director in town

Congratulations to Chris Ross, who has passed the NASPA director's test and is now an apprentice director at our club. Chris is now authorized to co-direct Scrabble club and tournament activities under supervision of a mentor. When his mentor feels he is ready to fly solo, NASPA will be notified of such and Chris will become a full-fledged director.

Chris has chosen me as his mentor. I'm very pleased by his effort in getting the test completed so quickly - less than 24 hours from ordering it to passing it - and with only three missed questions. I hope to train him well.

There are quite a few learning opportunities for our padawan over the next few months, including the Mountain State Open, a possible inter-club showdown against Lexington's NASPA Club 637, and the 5th Annual WV Scrabble Tournament (details of which will be announced in the near future - has it been five years already?). And, of course, our regular club meetings - two or three of those each month.

Awesome job, Chris - your club is proud of you.

In memoriam

Scrabble friends:

Our club was officially started on May 24, 2005 with three founding members - my wife Martha Mills, her father Arnold Keaton, and myself as director. Arnold instilled in Martha a love for this game, and she in turn instilled it in me. So had it not been for Arnold, our club probably would not exist.

From these humble beginnings, we have met many interesting people, made lots of good friends, and had several successful tournaments. We have passed the love of the game along to numerous new people, encouraged other new clubs in the area, and made contributions to the Scrabble community regionally and nationally. We have seen one of our members and friends go on a whirlwind Scrabble tour. We have ridden the ratings curve (both up and down), we have watched the coming and going of Scrabulous, and we have transitioned our club and members over to NASPA, the new player-run organization.

We truly owe it all to this gentle man.

We lost Arnold on Sunday to pulmonary fibrosis. His passing leaves an empty spot in our club and in our hearts.

Thank you for everything, Arnold. You will be missed.

WVA vs. WPA Smackdown results

Twelve players met in Clarksburg, WV today for the first ever WVA vs. WPA Smackdown. West Virginia was represented by six players and Western Pennsylvania was represented by six other players. Over seven rounds, each team member played everyone from the other team once with a king of the hill final.

Here are the results with cash prizes awarded to the top three finishers. Dollar amounts won follow players' seeds and team designations below - class prizes were awarded to those who didn't finish in the money.

1. 6-1 +547 1051 1083 +32 Aaron McGuffin (#4/WVA): $120
2. 6-1 +183 819 899 +80 Martha Mills (#7/WVA): $70
3. 5-2 +340 1104 1116 +12 M W Schroeder (#2/WPA): $50
4. 5-2 +171 1116 1125 +9 Brad Mills (#1/WVA)
5. 4-3 +60 792 805 +13 Zosima Gingerich (#8/WVA)
6. 3-4 +170 572 590 +18 Rafael Barker (#12/WVA)
7. 3-4 +115 903 888 -15 Tina Totten King (#6/WVA)
8. 3-4 -339 773 775 +2 Joe Larson (#9/WPA)
9. 2-5 -239 1079 1027 -52 Ed Vith (#3/WPA)
10. 2-5 -274 707 698 -9 Sarah Burroughs (#10/WPA)
11. 2-5 -379 594 594 +0 Michelle Gaynord (#11/WPA)
12. 1-6 -355 930 872 -58 Stanley Angrist (#5/WPA)

High loss: Stan Angrist, $10
High win: Brad Mills, $10
Most average finish: Zosima Gingerich, Bananagrams

West Virginia won 27 games while Western Pennsylvania won 15. Joe Larson brought one of his famous Scrabble sculptures as a trophy for the winning team, and it has come home to the house of the winning team's captain to be displayed prominently until next year when we (hopefully) do this again.

My thanks to all the players who participated, and thanks to co-director Terry Schroeder for helping plan the logistics, keeping me sane, and entertaining us with her poetry.

4th Annual WV Scrabble Tournament - final results

Here are the money winners, and our website has full results.

Division A

1. 11.0-1.0 +1126 1545 1741 +196 Daniel Stock (A12) $420
2. 8.5-3.5 +515 1823 1844 +21 Brian Bowman (A2) $195
3. 8.0-4.0 -225 1629 1686 +57 Kelly McKenzie (A8) $120

Oddball prizes in Division A
High play: AMBIANCE for 158, Marty Gabriel, $10
Mystery letter (H): THREATEN for 95, Jeff Cook, $10
High loss: 439, George Viebranz, $10
High win: 543, George Viebranz, $10

Division B

1. 11.0-1.0 +993 1476 1583 +107 Tyler Hannan (B2) $375
2. 9.0-3.0 +421 1439 1499 +60 Jack Eichenbaum (B5) $180
3. 9.0-3.0 +176 1447 1495 +48 Gary Perman (B4) $100

Oddball prizes in Division B
High play: SHAKIEST for 107, Robb Griffith, $10
Mystery letter (P): SENOPIA for 88, Bruce Shuman, $10
High loss: 431, Katya Lezin, $10
High win: 557, Karen Smith, $10

Division C

1. 10.0-2.0 +761 1100 1191 +91 Justin Bailey (C4) $320
2. 8.0-4.0 +445 1134 1159 +25 Susan Blanchard (C2) $165
3. 8.0-4.0 +121 1085 1112 +27 Cecilia Huber (C7) $90
4. 8.0-4.0 +69 1039 1078 +39 Joyce Stock (C10) $65

Oddball prizes in Division C
High play: REHOUSES for 158, Noah Lieberman, $10
Mystery letter (V): VISITOR for 97, Nandini Dickens, $10
High loss: 452, Aaron McGuffin, $10
High win: 535, Noah Lieberman, $10

Division D

1. 9.0-3.0 +317 800 846 +46 Peggy Grant (D3) $245
2. 8.0-4.0 +960 746 802 +56 Jason Luci (D7) $120
3. 8.0-4.0 +455 721 804 +83 Robert Stanton (D8) $65

Oddball prizes in Division D
High play: JENNIES for 105, Joe Larson, $10
Mystery letter (V): DEPRIVES for 85, Zosima Gingerich, $10
High loss: 396, Joe Larson, $10
High win: 473, Joe Larson, $10

Thanks again to everyone who was a part of this, regardless of how large or small a part you played. Looking forward to seeing everyone again at the Mountain State Open and at our 2010 event.

4th Annual WV Scrabble Tournament - round 11

Things are running smoothly here so I have time for a quick update. Dan Stock is leading Division A. If Stock loses to Jeff Cook and Brian Bowman beats top seed Marty Gabriel, Bowman could catch Stock in the last round. Tyler Hannan is facing Jack Eichenbaum in Division B and looking at a Gibson if he wins it. Divisions C and D are very close races - Justin Bailey is leading C and Jason Luci is leading D.

Looks like the Stock and Cook game just finished, so we will have answers very soon.

4th Annual WV Scrabble Tournament - round 9

Today is the final day of the tournament and the players are in round 9. We had a few morning announcements, a few show-of-hand votes on our future events, and the revelation of the winners of two of our side contests. Jack Eichenbaum won the Great Gas Giveaway prize of $32.99, which was computed by assuming a 15-gallon tank and this morning's price of $2.199 as reported at the Chevron station a few blocks from the hotel. Jack announced he doesn't even have a car, but since the plan all along was to give the cash equivalent of this prize anyway, it's all good.

Brian Bowman won the Speed Scrabble contest last night after 4 rounds of elimination brackets. Brian will become a NASPA member through December 31, 2010 and added $20 of his own money to get a vanity number (which I shan't reveal at this time).

One final note - Linda Hoggatt does not feel well this morning and has dropped out of the tournament, so there is now a bye in Division B. I've been told there could be a bye in Division C in the last round too, so it looks like the last day is going to be interesting, to say the least.