Board of Directors Meeting

July 23-26, 2018

Atlanta, GA

With yesterday’s temperature of 100 plus Fahrenheit or 40 plus Celsius it’s hard to believe the end summer is drawing near. The only remaining District 18 Regional is Missoula, MT on September 24 to 30. If you haven’t made plans to attend this you are missing out on what promises to be a very enjoyable tournament. If you attended either the Jackpot or Moose Jaw Regionals you may have taken part in a trial KO format. The format we used involved having all the teams in the event play in a 2 session Swiss to determine bracket qualifiers. Our experiment had teams playing all team in the qualifying round. The format was well received with the exception that teams disliked having to play teams out of their bracket. Other Districts experimented with that format and it was well received. The new format has been approved beginning in 2019. The recommended round robin qualifying play is that teams only be matched against those teams that are in their own bracket. Thanks for your participation and input.

 The Atlanta Board meetings had a full schedule. The hiring of a new Chief Executive Officer highlighted discussions. The responsibility of running head office in Horn Lake is being handled on an interim basis by Joe Jones the CFO. Advertisements have been sent out and you will have seen the job description in the August Bulletin. I am part of the search committee and we hope to have found a capable candidate before the end of the year. If you or anyone you know fits the description contact theacblsearch@gmail.com.

Part of the meeting, as always, dealt with housekeeping chores of updating language for the masterpoint book, the CDR, conflict of interest guidelines, NABC regulations, and the various minutiae of everyday life. Here are some of the new items that I believe are of the most interest for District 18.

Changes in club play were made in an attempt to make your life simpler. The regulation for handicapping games now states masterpoints are considered for handicapping. There is a formula built into ACBL Score but if you have another way you believe is better suited for your club those amounts can be calculated and manually entered into the game file. Another simplification is being made for calculating special games masterpoints at the club. Currently awards for special games at the club are calculate using the tournament formula. This is difficult and it seems you are never sure what the awards should be. The new formula is simply 150% or 200% of what normal club awards are. Club championships will be 1½ times regular club awards and special and ACBL wide games will be 2 times the regular award. Limited one day Sectionals have become popular for new players. These regulations have been changed to allow 6 of these limited one day tournaments per year.

Fragrance Policy……..whoa!! This item received full discussion. We are all aware of that what we wear can have adverse effects on the others around us with allergy problems. It would be impossible to make our tournament directors the odor police. It was decided that the ACBL will develop a policy on how to best educate our players on what are acceptable scents. These best practices will be shared with all tournament organizers. The ACBL cannot control clubs but it is hoped they would follow these practices.

Other changes were aimed at the tournament and national level. The ACBL will be enforcing a Zero Tolerance at all tournaments being staffed by ACBL employees. Clubs cannot be mandated but are encouraged to enforce the ZT policy. Due to poor participation the Women’s BAM and Base Senior KO are being eliminated from the National schedule. The 0-10000 KO teams has been shortened. It was felt lasting 5 or 6 days made it too long for players to commit. The new format has shortened the event to 3 days. This should be a positive change. If you participate in next year’s GNTs or NAPs you will find the awards have been increased. There was discussion of allowing more than 1 team to qualify for Districts that had more than 8 teams participating in flight B and C of the GNTs. This motion was narrowly defeated. I believe this would provide an unfair advantage to the larger Districts and did not support the motion. NABC goers can add Reno in March of 2022 to their calendar.

There have been concerns expressed about the effectiveness of the new temporary membership. Management felt it is too soon to truly evaluate the program and will be doing a full evaluation early in the new year. There is a change for the Board of Directors. Under a newly passed regulation members of the Board of Directors will be limited to four consequent 3 year terms. Please contact me with all of your questions and concerns.

Best wishes for your Fall bridge plans and as always may all your finesses be successful.

Claire Jones

District 18 Board of Directors