SCORECARD Bridge News Bulletin for the Texas Regional Conference San Antonio, Texas Volume 53, No 1 August 2021
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American Contract Bridge League District 16 SCORECARD Bridge News Bulletin for The Texas Regional Conference San Antonio, Texas Volume 53, No 1 August 2021 Nancy Strohmer Membership: Night and Weekend Paul Cuneo Elimination of the masterpoint multi- Games--The goal is to get people plier for Virtual Club games be- District 16 who are working or have daytime District 16 ginning August 2 commitments involved in the game. President National BOD Austin has been holding these Suspension of “special weeks” for games as a test. Contact Sandy Virtual Clubs also beginning Au- Potts, [email protected], for gust 2 Just when we thought we were out of the the form needed in order to partici- woods, the Delta variant showed its ugly face! pate. There are drawings for free Our clubs and players are returning to face- Expanding the Support Your Club It is a reminder that we need to stay vigilant, plays and discounted coupons. This to-face play. However, table counts for safe and use extreme caution when we are out is a part of the membership growth games with the addition of several face-to-face clubs are significantly lower masterpoint limited games and about. and retention program. than pre-pandemic. Total table count for I/N: Sam Khayatt is the new I/N Coor- throughout the day for our newer Congratulations to Hua Yang, Yan Song, dinator replacing Stu Nelan since he face-to-face and online bridge has been players. As face-to-face clubs re- Danny Feng and Lunhui Lin (Team Yang) recently resigned. We are very declining since early this year as people are open they are offering fewer for winning the Grand National Teams (GNT) grateful for Stu’s work on the board freer to travel and pursue other activities. games online and having trouble Flight A at the NAOBC!!! We’re so proud of as he provided a more effective I’m optimistic that we’ll see rising table getting their masterpoint limited you!!! They defeated Team Castillo (Juan structure for communicating and counts this fall in our face-to-face clubs. games to make face-to-face. Castillo, Luisana Madueo, Maris Zilant, Linda sharing best practices throughout the Epstein, Susan Fuller) from Florida’s District district. We welcome Sam who is a You’ve probably seen the notice that all Another important action by the Board was 9. Yang won the first quarter by 15, grew the Star Award recipient and bridge tournaments scheduled in August that re- to adopt a new version of the Code of Dis- lead to 40 at the half, and cruised to an easy teacher! quire ACBL directors will be cancelled. victory by a score of 149–117. ciplinary Regulations. The last major It’s unfortunate that the Delta variant has change was in 2017. This change is pri- NAP: The D16 NAP finals will be held caused a surge in so many states. I want to The following links will help keep you con- in conjunction with the San Antonio marily around online bridge but cleans up nected to District 16 news: sectional January 13-16, 2022, at the encourage everyone to be cautious and stay the structure of the code in all areas. Sad- Drury Plaza Stone Oak. No unit safe. ly, online cheating continues to be an issue D16 website: https://d16acbl.org/ qualifications are needed and quali- and pairs from our district have received ACBL’s financial situation remains strong D16 Facebook group pagehttps:// fications can be achieved anywhere. some severe sentences recently. www.facebook.com/ All flights will play January 15-26. despite lower revenue from both clubs and groups/361538851957494 online tournaments. Expenses were lower st The ACBL Educational Foundation is pre- Austin 2021 NABC: All NABC games than budget for the 1 half of 2021 and net paring to launch a new initiative to teach Mark your calendars: will be on the 4th floor, all Regional income is higher. Pairs and I/N games on the 3rd, and bridge to youth named Bridge Whiz. It is nd based on a very successful program in the Every day at 6pm: 99er Nite Club game. Daylight team games on the 2 , The ACBL Board has been meeting fre- Seattle area that uses Peachjar.com to For more information, contact making a great layout for events. quently and concluded its regularly sched- reach parents. It is called Bridge for Nancy Strohmer, Hotel reservations opened and the uled July meeting on the 16th. The most [email protected]. ACBL reported they were on track Youth. The Foundation has recruited important actions during that board meet- Every Monday at 4pm: 0-20 master- for 6500 tables. Parking options are teachers who will teach online classes to ing revolved around defining the plan for points game. For more information, still being explored. More options students interested in learning to play the transition back to face-to-face bridge. contact Kim Brinkman, will be available 30 days out. bridge. The basic program has 20 lessons The Strategic Committee, which I chair, [email protected]. and will be free to students. We’re plan- First Saturday at 12:30pm, Monthly: Scorecard Review: Electronic vs Print- has been discussing this topic since last ning an October launch. Zoom Beginner Lecture Series. ed. A two-year study was presented fall. We agreed some key elements with Second Saturday at 12:30pm, Monthly: with recommendations. An ad hoc managements which are being rolled out to Paul Cuneo Zoom Intermediate Lecture Series. committee was appointed to gather the clubs in August. Among these are: Austin NABC Promotional games will be more data in order to clarify the held the week of August 22-28. differences between electronic and Through the end of August: North printed issues. ACBL DISTRICT 16 American Pairs (NAP) club-level REVISED COVID-19 TOURNAMENT VACCINATION POLICY qualification. Marketing/Publicity: Marketing at this Puerto Vallarta Regional:November 1-7. point is done on an on-demand ba- EFFECTIVE AUGUST 1, 2021 Austin NABC: November 25-December 5. sis. A Policies and Procedures Man- San Antonio Regional: December 17-23. ual is near completion which will The District 16 Board of Directors has adopted the following policy for all Sectional and Region- include job descriptions. Rachell al Tournaments held anywhere in the District, effective immediately: On July 6, your Board of Directors met via Jackson and team are doing an ex- Zoom. The following were the main points ceptional job. The Facebook D16 of the meeting: group page now has 528 members. 1. No one shall be permitted to play in any tournament unless thatperson has provided proof of vaccination against the Covid-19 virus. There are NO exceptions. Please send Life Master Photos to [email protected] District Director’s Report: Paul Cuneo Mexico Agreement: An official agree- updated us regarding ACBL actions. ment was approved by the D16 BoD 2. A vaccination card or a photocopy of a vaccination card is acceptable proof. If proof can be (See his report in this issue.) and Unit 205. Going forward, the provided in some other manner it may be accepted. An affidavit or other declaration by a pro- Puerto Vallarta Regional will be Financial Report: D16 continues to be handled as other Regionals through- spective player is NOT sufficient. in a strong financial position and is out the District. As a result, the in good standing to continue its District terminated the previous 3. Each Tournament Chair shall designate an Event Safety Coordinator. If there is no Tournament mission. profit-sharing agreement with Unit Chair the Unit President or District President shall make the designation. 205; all profits will belong to Unit 4. The Event Safety Coordinator shall be responsible for ensuring that only vaccinated people Director’s Corner: Melody Euler con- 205. ducted Zoom lectures for the past participate in the tournament. To the extent possible, the Event Safety Coordinator should also five months giving the club directors It has been a difficult year and a half require proof of vaccination from non-players before granting them entry to any playing area. the opportunity to refresh their di- for all of us, but in spite of the pandem- rector skills before going back to ic, your board has implemented several 5. The Event Safety Coordinator may implement additional safety protocols at their discretion, F2F bridge. Thank you, Melody!!! new initiatives which improve our such as providing masks or hand sanitizer, but may not require anyone to wear a mask. However, Thanks also to Kevin Perkins and district’s bridge community. Increas- Scott Humphrey for serving as lec- ing and retaining membership is the #1 the Board of Directors of the tournament sponsor (the host Unit or District) may mandate masks. turers. priority since nationwide numbers con- tinue to decline. Please share your SUGGESTIONS FOR TOURNAMENT CHAIRS Education: The D16 0-20 and 99er Nite ideas with us to help our district grow! Club games have been very success- Let’s play more bridge! No one wants to turn away a player, so tournament flyers posted on a Unit, District or ACBL ful. We have also enjoyed great attendance for the Lecture Series website should include a statement that only vaccinated people may play in the tournament. averaging 90 attendees each lecture. To minimize disruption to the tournament schedule, particularly on the first day of a tournament, consideration should be given to accepting proof of vaccination in advance of the tournament. FURTHER INFORMATION This policy will remain in force until modified or rescinded by the District 16 Board of Directors.