Some of our regular members must be on vacation or working feverishly on the Donald Trump Campaign(I hope not) but our numbers were slightly down yesterday as 20 and 12 showed up to do battle. First off, I want to thank Paul Trachtenberg, Bill Lapinski, Bruce D and Lorry Higgins for running Club 34 very professionally in my absence. We didnt miss a beat while I was gone on a Japanese recruiting trip.
My efforts paid off as 3 new members showed up last night for their first taste of competitive Scrabble. I must say that I think they all had a great time. They came from Meetup as I did get several hits while I was gone. Glenda Collins, a local dog groomer from nearby Costa Mesa, showed up and stayed for all 4 games. I think she is a keeper. Then I met Kelly Hatfield, a recent college graduate, and her father Ty, a retired police officer. Kelly is studying for her LSATS as she is preparing to enter law school next year hopefully. She currently is a paralegal for a law firm in Long Beach. They both have played Words with Friends and now want to go to the next level. I hope that we see them often in the weeks and months to come.
When I came to the Club yesterday afternoon, I was pleasantly greeted by Elly Ciefuegos, who presented me with a Scrabble hat and thank you card for running Club 34. She is recovering from recent cataract surgery but had the energy to stop by, present me with this wonderful hat, and play one game before she left. I hope that I am this spry and energetic when I get to 88. It was great to watch her and 95 year old Desiree Engel do battle yesterday, not with each other unfortunately. If Elly had stuck around long enough, that would have happened!!
Since I have so many hats, I proceeded to award my new Scrabble hat to the winner of the secret score in game #2. The score was 368 and the winner Jeff Polan with a 371. He was thrilled to say the least and wore it the rest of the day. Barbara Ring made a surprise visit in the afternoon and let me know that she would like to hold a Blankheads party probably in September. I will keep everyone informed as we approach that time!!
It has really been exciting for me to find these new players through our advertising campaign. I hope that we can reach our goal of 30 by the end of the year. Some of our new members cannot believe that Club 34 is a free Club thanks in no small part to the IHOP. Where else can you go and spend the entire day playing this great game for absolutely nothing!! I hope to have a Club Championship later in the year as we continue to accumulate stats thanks to Amnon Meyers with lots of awards to be handed out in December. All $$ collected from the donation box will be used for this purpose as well as for more local newspaper advertising. I still want this Club to become the biggest Scrabble club in the world. Lets make it happen.. Just one more thing. Most of our members have stepped up to the plate and use the IHOP’s facilities and services very admirably. They obviously enjoy the food so I hope they continue to do so before, during and after Club sessions.
See all of you next week.
NASPA Club #34 Blog 