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Matt Reklaitis steps up for Collegiate Program

Posted By: Phil Simborg
Date: Thursday, 21 January 2016, at 2:07 p.m.

We all know Matt is a nice guy, and a fun guy, and in the past couple of years we have also seen he is one hell of a player...posting some excellent results in ABT events.

Yesterday he also stepped up when Mochy and I asked for some tech help with the International Collegiate Program and he volunteered to provide tech support. He created our Facebook page for us and did a great job and he is now helping us create our web site where we will eventually have hundreds of high school and college students around the world register for this new program.

Yes, we've decided that there is no reason not to extend this to high school students...they can win scholarships for college as well, but most aren't going to end up winning. Most will simply have a place to compete regularly on line (SafeHarborGames) in tournaments and ladderboards as well as in special events on BackgammonAce, and they will get free lessons and seminars and videos and hopefully, through their country's federations, even more direct help such as free or discounted backgammon boards and local programs.

Some countries may even develop on-going live programs and camps and a "backgammon university" such as the very successful program Mochy developed in Japan in his Under25 program.

We encourage you to go to our new facebook page and "like" it so you can be alerted to news and events in the coming months. The link is https://www.facebook.com/collegiatebackgammon/?fref=ts

Thanks, Matt, for your help. One of the "fringe" benefits of a program like this is getting more people involved in promoting the game and working with kids. When we did a collegiate program a few years ago in the US we not only had over 100 kids participating, we had 30 seasoned backgammon players working with college and high school kids in their local community, and again, this is the "grass roots" way to grow the game.

Messages In This Thread

• Matt Reklaitis steps up for Collegiate Program
  Phil Simborg -- Thursday, 21 January 2016, at 2:07 p.m.
  • Very Well Done Matt Reklaitis! *NM* *NM*
    Rick Janowski -- Thursday, 21 January 2016, at 4:06 p.m.