Forty is the old age of youth; fifty the youth of old age.
—Victor
Hugo
In
lawyer speak if both sides are unhappy with the final result, it’s probably a
good settlement. Such was probably the case for several issues on the table at
the Reno Spring NABC national board meetings in March. Some come quickly to
mind:
The Age of
Enlightenment
There
was a motion to change the beginning age of senior status in ACBL to something
longer in the tooth than the current 55-year-old player. Although that makes
sense when you figure the
average
age of a league member is just about 70, but the aftereffects of such changes
are not so pretty. For one, there is a popular Western Conference Senior
Regional in Mesa, Arizona that has enjoyed terrific successes for the past
quarter century. If we bumped up ACBL senior status to 60, 65, or 70 it would
drive a stake in the Mesa tournament’s attendance and also deny them valuable
hotel room nights. The national board all agreed 55 was probably too low to
label an ACBL senior (although AARP is 50), and, if we were declaring today for
the first time, a reasonable senior age would be somewhat higher. But to change
now could just cause undue hardships and confusion to senior tournaments and
events everywhere.
We do not
have a horse in this race, since here in District 22 we’ve all but abandoned
senior games in favor of 10:00/3:00 early Open Pairs (much better). But I voted
against the motion to protect Mesa.
The motion failed 9-16.
Super
Seniors
A
motion was made to add a new event to the already crowded schedule at ACBL
Nationals: a Super Senior Pairs to be played on the final weekend of each Fall
NABC. This two day (qualifying and final) national event would be open only to
pairs 70 years and over. The maker of the motion stated he was just trying to
give attendees a reason to stay for the final weekend.
My
inquiries into terms and conditions of contest of this new game turned me off
from voting for it. First off, it is declared a national event paying coveted
platinum points, yet these points do not count in our annual senior masterpoint
races due to the fact the event has too much (age) restriction and limitation.
Second, and
for the same reasons, although it is designated an NABC National game, to win it
does not count towards Grand Life Master status, should you happen to be over
10,000 MPs and searching for that elusive national title to complete GLM
requirements.
Finally,
I’m thinking perhaps this should have been called the Super Senior
Men’s
Pairs,
since I am not sure how many women who just turned 70 are willing to jump into
such an obvious exposure!
The motion passed 23-2. Oh well.
Good News!
Following
the great success of the 2009 Fall NABC in San Diego, we have secured the
Manchester Grand Hyatt Hotel for a repeat performance in the Fall of 2017. Same
time, same venue, same weather, same great rates!
Vote: 25-0.
New Terms
for Charity & Special Games
In
2004 the floodgates were opened to allow near unlimited specialand charity games
in clubs. Although that paste is still out of the tube, to restore some sanity
we had another one of those
“nobody’s
satisfied”
compromise issues. The heated debate went from no change at all, all the way
down to doing away with special games completely. Of course neither of those
extremes is viable, but there was a lot of soul searching about the landslide
masterpoints we are now awarding in clubs.
The
compromise was that the month of February is reserved for Junior Fund Games, the
month of April is reserved for charity games, and the month of September is
reserved for International Fund games. In those months any and all ACBL
sanctioned club sessions may be special games for the named funds. In the
remaining nine months of the year one game per month per sanctioned session may
be a special game for those purposes. Masterpoints for all these special games
will now be awarded at 70% of sectional rating with a cap of 6.00 MPs.
Also, any
club, in any calendar year, that runs one (or more) allowed special local
charity game that is sanctioned for extra masterpoints must make available for
public inspection an accounting of all funds raised in such games no later than
Feb. 28 of the following year.
Motion passed 23-2, effective July 1, 2010.
Final Heat
One
more heated motion was brought up by the Board of Governors, who requested the
number of boards in play at regional events at NABCs be mandated to require 26
or 27 boards per session. I see little future change in the common 26-board
movements, but it should at least be a sponsoring district’s option to have
schedule input. I voted against such a confining mandate. However, all NABC
National events remain 26 or more boards. Always.
Despite some refinements and re-writes, motion failed 10-15.
See all the
Reno NABC board actions online at
www.acbl.org
Enjoy the aromatic beauty of Spring, especially in lovely downtown southern
California! —KenM@KenMonzingo.com