Adam Kretschmer posted
this on a public forum:
While pondering the
shorter-than-usual entries list for this year's SA Champs, I noted that there
are 4 'competing' events on this weekend in Qld, NSW, Vic and ACT.
This time last year, I
recommended through my state committee that ASPA works to avoid these clashes
to help states run strong championship events. This fell through the cracks and
it was not discussed at last year's AGM.
I am re-raising it this year and making
it more public to ensure it gets a proper consideration and discussion this
time.
My proposal is: that by
some cutoff date (Martin can advise), each association nominates their
championship weekend for the following calendar year. That locks out that
weekend for other states to hold rated events on those weekends. If an
association does want to run a clash tourney, they MUST negotiate approval from
the association that has the weekend reserved in order for the event to be rated.
A lot of effort goes into
organising championship events and it would be really disappointing to see this
watering-down continue.
AK
My comment:
Adam is a
very intelligent and caring person. He sensed a problem and has been asking for
a solution. Martin Waterworth is a hard-working and seemingly busy person, with little extra help, if any. His focus is on scrabble statistics and maintaining
records. He has no time for figuring out a workable solution to Adam's problem. He could only help with some pertinent information.
So, what
Adam should do is to actually put forward a feasible plan for solving the
problem. Here is a suggested tentative plan :
Many people
would like to attend most of championship tournaments, but only if they are
spaced reasonably evenly and are not running concurrently with other regional tournaments.
There are 52
weekends per year and a total of 8 championships. The year 2019 is no
exception. So, it is possible to plan ahead in order to have a span of 7 or 8 weeks between any two
major events. This should be done in advance, and the dates suggested by one
person (Adam?). States should then be consulted and allocated their mutually agreed dates. This
should be done before any State plan their future tournament calendar.
So, here is
a suggested job for you, Adam: I hereby bestow on you the honour of being "Championship
Dates Coordinator". Otherwise, your complaints would continue to fall on
deaf ears and you may at best get the same waffle you may have already
received. See ya in a few days.
