March/April 2023 Volume 55, No. 2
President’s Message By Betty Starzec President District 16
T
he January Houston Lone Star Regional (LSR) made playing tournament bridge feel almost back to normal. While the attendance may never reach pre-Covid numbers, the playing rooms looked full with many players enjoying the regional. The tournament attracted quite a few top players as well. These great top players included ACBL 2022 Player of the Year, Zach Grossack, who exhibited goodwill to everyone. He loved the tournament and hopes to return next year. His youth gives us hope that this game will flourish for years to come. Zach and his teammates each accumulated the top masterpoint award holding of 137.50 points during the tournament. The LSR also provided the venue for recognizing this year’s District Star and Goodwill recipients as well as the recognition of Sally Sassen, Austin, as D16 Teacher of the Year. Read further to see the articles about these recipients. Congratulations to all. The District Board also established dates for two Royal STaCs for 2023 which are May 8-14 and October 16-22. Remember, a Royal STaC is where you can win gold at your face-to-face club. The games have been a tremendous success for clubs and the ACBL is happy to let us have them again. Please mark them on your calendar! The District Board also established a Cooperative Advertising Program to assist units, clubs and teachers as a supplement to the ACBL Cooperative Advertising
Scorecard March/April 2023
Program. The district has $250 per quarter available for this program. You can read about this program in another article in this issue or for more information contact Rachell Jackson, rachellann.tx@gmail.com The Presidential Extra Mile Award was presented to Nancy Strohmer at the District meeting by me for her contributions to the board over and beyond her established responsibilities. My personal thanks and congratulations to Nancy. Changes in committee members are also occurring: Sandy Potts is now Awards Chair and Lauri Laufman is Membership Chair. Congratulations to you both and good luck with your new responsibilities. For those of you who are interested in numbers, the following is a small summary of points won in 2022:
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107,819 ACBL members won 5,619,313.42 points at any level of play • 8,206 members won points at online clubs ONLY • 35,120 members won points at face-to-face clubs ONLY So, 64,493 ACBL members who won points played both online and f2f. The remaining bridge population either didn’t play or didn’t win masterpoints when they did. See you at the table!