| |
BGonline.org Forums
Good luck!
Posted By: Joe Russell In Response To: Good luck! (Michael Petch)
Date: Monday, 2 May 2011, at 12:21 p.m.
Michael, you are combining two highly different USBGF sanctioned programs; the 2011 USBGF National Collegiate Backgammon Championship and the new Collegiate Hall on Safe Harbour Games. These are not one and the same. I welcomed anyone to watch the the former, although the only advertising I did was to state on BGO the final match between UCLA and Northwestern was in progress. I tried to record all of the matches, although a couple were corrupted. If you have all of them, I would appreciate it if you send them to me, especially the UCLA matches, as one of them was corrupted. I was pleased with the level of play, as I stated in another post.
Phil is the driving force behind the vast majority of these college programs. He has spent uncountable hours volunteering his time to get these programs rolling. He has found the students and the coaches at most of the schools. The members of the USBGF Education Committee are very appreciative to have Phil organizing clubs at colleges throughout the country. His efforts are showing positive results and are leading to much excitement within our committee about the possibilities for expanding backgammon at the college level. I think it should be exciting to the backgammon community as well.
Phil has organized a summer program on Safe Harbour Games. I think he would like to see the students at the schools that participated in the recent college tournament continue their backgammon experience and education, as well as have students from many of the universities that were unable to compete or are just starting programs get some experience and be introduced to the joy of match play backgammon. Phil and many of us on the Education Committee believe that these students should be allowed to learn and enjoy the game without too much scrutiny and emphasis on current skill level. I do not mean to imply that anyone would do anything counterproductive to what we are trying to accomplish. I think Phil just wants to make sure that does not happen. Is he being overly protective? Possibly, but it is his baby and he has spent the time helping it grow and nurturing it. I support him in his efforts and if he seems too protective to you, forgive him and consider what he has done that no one else in the U.S. or Canada and possibly the world has done before; attempt to organize backgammon on the college level and find success.
| |
BGonline.org Forums is maintained by Stick with WebBBS 5.12.