Here are excerpts from D22 Connection, the monthly District 22 newsletter. Rosemary Heath writes a column each month with news of activities in our Unit. Here is what she has published on our behalf.
|
|
|
|
| August 2023 |
First, we’d like to announce our 2024 ACBL Sectional Tournament! It will be held Friday to Sunday, March 22 – 24th, 2024, at the Community Center (& Woman’s Club) in Arroyo Grande. This may seem early to be planning for next year, but the Unit Board and tournament committee are very excited, and we want our members to be excited too. And we hope our friends from other Units start thinking ahead to spending some days in glorious San Luis Obispo County next spring.
The numbers are in from our Alzheimer’s campaign, and thanks to the extraordinary efforts of former prez, Bud Zeushchner, and the incredible generosity of our members, we were able to raise over $7,500. Members enjoyed the live raffling-off of our most senior players, as well as the raffle drawings all week for prizes.
New on the education front:
-Tom Snow is now offering a mentoring session at 10:30 am prior to the first monthly Monday game in Arroyo Grande. Beginning/intermediate players are joined by advanced/expert players for a lively, fun and productive 90 minutes.
- The mentoring program has been a real hit in the SLO Unit game, and it continues on the 2nd Saturday of the month.
- For intermediate+/advanced players, Jim Merzon is giving free lessons on Mondays at 11 am, prior to the game in SLO.
To sign up for any of these, go to our website at slobridge.com for more information.
We are having a team game in August, and by the time this is published, the fun will be over, but our players just love teaming up and hopefully there will be more of these soon. There are STaCs games this month from August 21 – 26, and we look forward to earning lots of
SILVER in this mega-tournament.
Numbers are great at all the clubs with SLO averaging 9 – 10 tables on Mondays and Fridays; AG averaging about 11 tables at the 199 game on Wednesday, and 8 – 9 tables at the open game on Thursdays. Paso Robles is hosting about 4.5 tables at each game, and Blacklake is drawing in about 6.5 tables on the last Sunday of the month. It’s really great to see our regular players coming back to the tables and to see the many new faces as well.
See you at the tables!
|
|
|
|
| June 2023 |
The sun was shining in SLO April 21 when we had 13 ½ tables for our Pro/Am game! Our top players were blind-matched with novices and intermediates for a shot at the George Sheffield Memorial trophy. Thanks to all who came out to support this annual event, and to Gail and Gary for putting it all together. Congrats to the winners, Bob Higgins with pro Gail Lapins won N/S and the overall, and Stacey Stack with Al Lapins won E/W. Everyone seemed to have a great time.
As part of a plan to serve our members and grow our clubs, the board is working hard to update our logo, email process and website. Our mailing lists have been consolidated into a new unit list thanks to the cooperation from all our clubs and the patient and diligent work of Dick Coulter. Monthly club schedules and educational opportunities and reminders will be sent out on a regular basis.
We have a new look too! Members may have noticed it in their emails. Soon that look will be on our website. Dick is our new website guru, working with BridgeWebs.com to manage our information. Many thanks to him for taking on this time-consuming, challenging, but important work. For many years, Jim Borland managed the unit mailing list and he built the original website himself. With a sigh of relief he is happily passing it on. Thank you, Jim. You did a remarkable job for us.
If you ask Bud Zeuschner to do a job, stand back because he is going to DO THE JOB. As chair of our Longest Day fundraising campaign, he put together a multi-faceted plan. It includes raffling off games with our expert players on the actual longest day, June 21. There are also raffles for wine and other items, a matching funds commitment, a special dinner, a presentation by our local Alzheimers chapter, and on-line donation link. June is going to be all about raising funds for this worthy cause that is very dear to many of us. If you haven’t already donated, do it now.
One last note: Our table counts are growing. We had 13 ½ tables in Arroyo Grande for the 199 game on April 26. The Blacklake game had 6 ½. Paso Robles is holding at 4, and SLO is consistently getting 9 – 10. Looks like we are almost back, folks.
See you at the tables.
|
|
|
|
| May 2023 |
The Mini-McKenney and Ace of Clubs awards presentation is always a big event for the central coast clubs and this year was especially so. The unit hosted a celebratory lunch, complete with decorations, banners and a big turnout, all carefully planned by Gail Lapins. Congrats to all the winners, and if you were not present, please check out our website at slobridge.com for more details. It was nice to hear that several of our players placed at high levels in the district in the Ace of Clubs and Mini-McKenney races, including 0-5 Ron Mullens (19th), 5-20 Eric Sturcke (18th), 300-500 Jonel Muller (11th), 2500-3500 Al Lapins (8th in Ace of Clubs & 9th in Mini-McKenney), and 3500-5000 Gail Lapins (7th Ace of Clubs & 10th Mini-McKenney). Very impressive!
Our clubs are continuing to thrive with an average of 9 tables at the San Luis Obispo club, 8-9 tables in Arroyo Grande, 4-5 tables in Paso Robles and 5-6 tables in Nipomo. We are welcoming many new players and appreciate the efforts that Tom Snow is making by teaching in Arroyo Grande on Wednesdays and San Luis Obispo on Mondays. That certainly is a draw, as is the monthly mentoring session that continue the second Saturday of the month prior to the Unit Game.
In other news, the Unit board led by our fearless leader, Linda Seifert, is working on several projects including approving our updated code of conduct – thank you Jack Luxton; improving our communications, including the website and email formats; ramping up for the Longest Day; and education/membership.
As I write this, I know that many of our players here in the Central Coast are packing their bags for the big San Diego Regional, where we will hopefully get to reconnect with friends in the district and maybe make some new ones. And, oh yes, bring home LOTS of points. Next month we’ll report all about it!
See you at the tables.
|
|
|
|
| April 2023 |
The Mini-McKinney and Ace of Clubs awards presentation is always a big event for the central coast clubs, and this year was especially so. The unit hosted a celebratory lunch, complete with decorations, banners and a big turnout, all carefully planned by Gail Lapins. Congrats to all the winners, and if you were not present, please check out our website at SLObridge.com for more details. It was nice to hear that several of our players placed at high levels in the district in the Ace of Clubs and Mini-McKinney races, including 0-5 Ron Mullens (19th), 5-20 Eric Sturcke (18th), 300-500 Jonel Muller (11th), 2500-3500 Al Lapins (8th in Ace of Clubs & 9th in Mini-Mickinney), and 3500-5000 Gail Lapins (7th Ace of Clubs & 10th Mini-McKinney). Very impressive!
Our clubs are continuing to thrive with an average of 9 tables at the San Luis Obispo club, 8-9 tables in Arroyo Grande, 4-5 tables in Paso Robles and 5-6 tables in Nipomo. We are welcoming many new players and appreciate the efforts that Tom Snow is making by teaching in Arroyo Grande on Wednesdays and San Luis Obispo on Mondays. That certainly is a draw, as is the monthly mentoring session that continues on the second Saturday of the month prior to the unit game.
In other news, the unit board led by our fearless leader Linda Seifert, is working on several projects including approving our updated code of conduct (thank you Jack Luxton), improving our communications, including the website and email formats, ramping up for the Longest Day, and education/membership.
As I write this, I know that many of our players here in the central coast are packing their bags for the big San Diego Regional, where we will hopefully get to reconnect with friends in the district and maybe make some new ones. And, oh yes, bring home LOTS of points. Next month we’ll report all about it!
|
|
|
|
| March 2023 |
Blizzard and gale warnings! Flooding! Road closures! Nothing stopped the Unit 540 sectional from being a success. Yes, we lost several tables to the weather warnings, but still averaged almost 20 tables each session, with many attending from Santa Barbara, Visalia, and other satellite clubs. Financially we were able to beat projections despite the weather. But the best part was the wonderful camaraderie apparent throughout the weekend. It was just like the “before times”.
Gina Kirk, the tourney director, did a fine job rallying the team. Thanks so much to Rose Will who organized an amazing display of culinary hospitality over three days, and to Ron Schwarer and Dave Elder who delivered tables, chairs, and a ton of equipment and set it all up. Then did the reverse on Sunday afternoon. Jack Luxton pitched in as he always does. Deb Cameron – what a star! Her tireless (well maybe tiring) work as partnership chair made a huge difference. Our president, Linda Seifert hosted with class and warmth, but she was also in the kitchen cleaning up when it was all over. Joining her was new board member Nancy Oliveira. Many others pitched in as well, so apologies to those I’ve not mentioned. A fine team effort all around.
Happily (I’m bragging here) we saw some unexpected game results. In a tough competitive field, Jack Luxton and John Fields, Sr. scored at the top on Friday. On Saturday, Rose Will and Linda Seifert did the same. Congratulations to all the winners, and thanks to those who literally weathered the storm to join us in the beautiful Central Coast on a not-so-beautiful weekend. We guarantee better weather next year!
On March 11 we will honor our Mini-Mckinney and Ace of Clubs winners with a luncheon and game. More on that next month.
See you at the tables.
|
|
|
|