A N EWSLETTER FOR Club Managers Dear Club Manager, Work is underway in rewriting the ACBLscore program. This major project is being led by Nicolas Hammond of Atlanta GA. An important function of this program is the service Fall Edition • September, 2012 and support it provides to the many clubs. We welcome and need to hear suggestions for ways in which ACBLscore+ can be improved to better meet the needs of bridge clubs. The website www.acblscoreplus.com has been developed and you may posts suggestions and comments on the Bulletin Board at http://ideas.acblscoreplus.com. At the summer meetings in 2012, the ACBL Board NEWS of Directors passed a motion that gives districts more opportunities to raise FUNds to support the two Grass Roots Inside... events—the North American Pairs (NAP) and the Grand Letters to Carol ........... 2 National Teams (GNT). If you have played in these events, you know how much FUN it can be to play at your local club Be Prepared for or unit in a qualifying game and then move on to the district Flu Season ................... 2 level. Once there, you can compete with players from across your home district for a Special Events chance to win a travel subsidy to compete in the national final as your prize . and the Corner .......................3-4 prize just got bigger. See page 3 for more details. Update from the Board Your 2013 club game(s) sanction renewal forms and information was mailed to each of Directors Meeting in club manager recently. Please return the signed form with the Philadelphia ................. 5 appropriate fees at your earliest convenience. Seminars and Meetings We hope to see you in San Francisco at our Fall at the San Francisco NABC. A list of seminars, programs and the Fall NABC ..................6-7 schedule of games are available on our website at www.acbl.org/nabc. As always, please don’t hesitate to contact me if I can be of assistance. Director of Club and Member Services A message from our Marketing Department AMERICAN CONTRACT BRIDGE LEAGUE Providing complete player information in ACBLscore for your 6575 Windchase Blvd. Horn Lake MS 38637-1523 non-ACBL members is extremely important. The more we know about players, the better we can serve our community. www.acbl.org Player retention isn’t just a club issue. Let us help you! Follow us on American Contract Bridge League and @ACBLbridge ACBL/ Carol Robertson Director of Club & Member Services 6575 Windchase Blvd. Letters to Carol Horn Lake, MS 38637-1523 Dear Carol, To a card-playing traveler, finding a good Bridge Club on the road is akin to the parched and weary Nomad stumbling upon an oasis in the desert. My experiences at the Boise Bridge Club evoke this analogy. After a summer of attending the Philadelphia NABC, the Hunt Valley Regional and the Sparks-Reno Sectional, I found myself on a combined business and pleasure junket to the state of Idaho as I made my return back to the state of California. A friend suggested to me that we play at a local club, and he said that the Boise Bridge Club had a new owner... that we should try it out. I am delighted that I followed the lead. Bruce Thornburgh, the club manager, is a class act. I have been to many excellent clubs in California, and the Boise Bridge Club takes a back seat to none of them. At Bruce’s club, there are scorepads at each table so that all players have a virtual knowledge of their performance on the board most recently played. The refreshments are outstanding, and Bruce offers his guests a choice of various gourmet coffees and hot chocolates. If coffee isn’t your beverage of choice, inexpensive soda and a variety of teas are available. The table fees, especially by California standards, are quite reasonable. Besides the amenities he offers, Bruce is a true gentleman. On one hand I played, my opponent revoked twice, but Bruce, seeing that the offending player was new to the game, handled the situation gently and competently. Bruce is a “people person.” I had a wonderful chat with Bruce after the game, and from our conversation I could tell that Bruce, not yet a Life Master, is a budding bridge aficionado. His enthusiasm was apparent as he explained other great ideas he has for his club, such as purchasing LCD displays so that he can keep precise time for each round. Kudos to Bruce! The ACBL should be proud to have him as an owner/manager. When I return to Idaho in October, the Boise Bridge Club shall be one of my first stops. Sincerely, Denis C. Racine ACBL Member Be Prepared for the Flu Season Flu season is almost here. Help keep your players healthy and in the game! Here are some helpful tips to consider: • Keep bottles of hand sanitizer available for your players. • Wipe the tables and bid boxes with the disinfectant wipes. • Encourage players to get annual flu shots. ACBL — Club Managers Newsletter ♣ 2 Fall Edition • September 2012 Special Events Corner Special Event Sanctioning During January, March, May, June, July, August, October and November, clubs may choose one game per month per The 2013 club renewal packet includes the Special Events sanctioned session from one of the following funds: sanction form. This form lists the dates of the 2013 special games as well as the deadline for submission. We Grass Roots Fund — To hold a Grass Roots Fund encourage clubs to sanction games online by visiting the game, it is necessary to download ACBLscore version Special Events page for Club Directors and Managers. 7.76 by clicking here. Junior Fund During the month of December clubs may hold all sanctioned sessions as Grass Roots Fund games. No other Charity Foundation — To benefit the ACBL Charity fund/foundation games can be held during the month of Foundation (Canadian Charity Foundation for clubs in December. Masterpoint awards are 70% sectional rated Canada) or alternate to benefit a local charity organization. black. Fees are regular club game fees plus $4 per table. International Fund Educational Foundation If you have any questions, contact Special Events at [email protected] or phone 662-253-3139. NOTICE TO CLUB OWNERS/MANAGERS NEW Grass Roots Fund Game: A new Special Events month—December—has been designated by the ACBL Board of Directors as Grass Roots FUNd Month. This means that no other special games, notably the charity games frequently held in conjunction with club holiday parties, may be held in December. Instead, clubs are encouraged to schedule special games in support of NAPs and GNTs—the current Grass Roots events—in lieu of charity games. However, our intent was not to prevent clubs from holding games in support of their favorite charities, and we suggest the following options as a means to allow you to continue to show your traditional support, whether at a holiday party or at some other regularly scheduled/sanctioned game in December. You can simply add $1 per person (or whatever amount you choose) to your regular entry fee and keep those extra dollars to send to your favorite charity—do NOT send the extra dollars collected in to ACBL because the options below are not “special games” per se, but simply ways to collect for your charity while offering players extra points: • Schedule a Membership Game—every club may hold one Membership Game per year for each sanctioned session. Membership Games offer a full 100% sectional rating, but a player must be an ACBL member or join at the event (e.g., if you have 10 games a week, you can hold 10 membership games any time during the year at the time of an already sanctioned session) • Ask your unit to allocate to you one of its local Unit Championships—each unit receives 24 a year and may give one to a club for its use. Unit Championships carry an 85% sectional rating. • Schedule a Club Championship in December—every club may hold one per quarter. A Club Championship game has a 65% sectional rating. (Special Events continued on page 4) ACBL — Club Managers Newsletter ♣ 3 Fall Edition • September 2012 Special Events Corner (continued from page 3) Jane Johnson Inter-Club Championship Games Club Appreciation Month - October Players at your club play face to face with the perk of Clubs may hold one Club Appreciation Pair game and across-the-field scoring through the Internet to determine one Club Appreciation Team game per sanctioned session overall rankings at all clubs that participate on the same during October. Masterpoints awarded for the Club date. Hand records are sent by email a few days before the Appreciation Pair game are 100% sectional-rated black. game is held. The club director sends the game file by email The Club Appreciation Team game awards 5% gold to a to ACBL the next day to be included in the overall scoring. maximum of 0.25 per player. The remaining points are sectional-rated black. There are no additional fees for these Your players earn regular club masterpoints at the club in games. Click here for the Conditions of Contest. addition to club championship masterpoints if they place in the overalls. The fees are $1 extra per person. Two Inter- Club Championship games are scheduled for each month. Please register online at http://www.acbl.org/play/ Canada Olympiad Fund Game icc-registration.php. Monday evening, October 22, 2012. Cost is $8.35 per table, plus game and table fees. Masterpoint awards are Click here to view the dates for 2013.