Minutes

WBL Board Meeting

August 25, 2004

The meeting was held at Steve Forsythe’s house.

 

In attendance: Barbara Ames, Don Berman, Winston Edwards, Richard Ferrin, Steve Forsythe Fred King, Steve Robinson, Barbara Summers, Dick Wegman, Ron Zucker, and non-voting members Kitty Gottfried and Nadine Wood.  Ron Starr also attended for a portion of the meeting.

 

President Dick Wegman called the meeting to order at 7:27 PM.

 

Secretary’s Report

 

Following suggested amendments, the board approved the minutes, without objection.

 

Treasurer’s Report

 

Treasurer, Steve Robinson, reported that we have $14,084.21 in our checking account.  The rent for the October sectional is already paid.  The Mid-Atlantic Bridge Conference reimbursed the WBL $1125 for the 2003 July 4th Regional (with a $75 penalty for not submitting the budget on time).  Dick Wegman commented that the WBL should improve the formatting of the annual report.  Barbara Ames said that she and Steve Robinson would provide a report at the next Board meeting regarding the formatting.  The board approved the treasurer’s report, without objection.

 

Bridge In Schools

 

Ron Starr, who runs the WBL high school bridge program, reported on the status of the program.  The program is targeting the following schools: BCC, Whitman, Blair, Churchill, Walter Johnson, Richard Montgomery, and Eleanor Roosevelt.  Ron identified the following ideas to promote the program (see attachment):

 

·                    Contact the schools to see if they will include a bridge club on their web page.

·                    Send a notice to the web page for parents of the schools attendees to let them know that we would like to start a bridge program, noting the many advantages of learning a new skill, offering to supply a teaching, and providing other necessary information and needs.

·                    Learn all of the sign-up days and nights for school clubs, and make sure we have a representative with all of the information.

·                    Send notices and bridge information to as many students as possible about their school’s program.

·                    Make sure we have teachers for all schools and organize the schedules.

 

Ron noted that BCC includes the bridge club on its web page.  Ron also happens to have a long list of e-mail addresses for high school kids through work (he is a pediatric dentist).

 

Barbara Summers and Steve Forsythe stated that they may volunteer to teach.  Ron stated that each school needs a teacher sponsor and a teacher.

 

Fred King suggested that there should be an inter-school competition, with trophies.  Ron stated that he has looked into this, and the ACBL is willing to cooperate, supplying t-shirts, etc.  Ron suggested a competition in April.

 

Steve Forsythe commented that on Saturday, October 2, during the October WBL sectional, there will be an “Instant Bridge Player Program” from 10 AM to 4 PM, to introduce bridge to players who have never before played.  Winston Edwards offered to help out with the October 2 event.

 

With regard to the Bridge at Schools program, Winston said that the program should also target middle schools, because kids in that age range have more free time, as there are not as many other extracurricular events against which bridge would compete.

 

Dick Wegman appointed Winston Edwards, Barbara Summers, and Steve Robinson to serve as an advisory committee for the Bridge at Schools program.  Ron stated that he had a total of four persons lined up to teach.  Dick stated that it is important to have one person to coordinate the entire program, and Ron Starr offered to assume that role.

 

July-August Sectional

 

Dick Wegman reported that the scheduling experiment for the Saturday of the sectional was a success.  (The previous three-game schedule of morning, afternoon, and evening was replaced by a two-game schedule with start times of 10:30 AM and 3:30 PM.)  In the last sectional, the three-session format attracted 98 tables, whereas the two-session format fetched 108 tables.  Dick said that his informal polling of participants suggested that most people were pleased with the new format.  Dick also reported that the Saturday workshop was well attended

 

Nadine Wood noted that the lunch served between sessions on Saturday resulted in long lines, because unlike the Sunday Swiss, the lunch on Saturday could not be staggered between two groups of players.  She said that the October sectional should work out better, because the start time for the second game will be 4:00 PM instead of 3:30 PM, giving more time for everybody to be served.

 

Dick reported that overall attendance at the WBL sectionals is slowly improving, as noted below:

 

2002                            2003                            2004

Jan.      315                  Jan.      366                  Jan.      325

Mar.     364                  Mar.     280                  Mar.     340

May     371                  May     255                  Aug.     359

Oct.     278                  Oct.     310

Nov.    371                  Dec.     252