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From the President
Karol Shadle
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Karol Shadle
51 South French Street
Alexandria, VA 22304
703-461-3086 (H)
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Over the summer,
the Board of Directors and Staff met for several all-day sessions to improve
the CHRVA program. At our first meeting in early summer, the Board approved
staff and committee changes. Probably the most notable change is that JoBeth
Killough will be the Registrar for the upcoming season. I would like to
thank Wanda Hsiung for her past years of dedicated service. Charles Ezigbo
has also agreed to serve as the Junior Girl’s Program Director. Fran DuVall
had held this position the past couple of years, and I thank her, as well,
for her dedication to the program. In addition, Dixie Collins has agreed
to be the Scorekeeper Chair and thanks to Tim Stubbs who headed the program
last year. Other staff and committee appointments can be found elsewhere
in this issue.
One of the most exciting developments approved
this summer is a new half-day tournament format. In previous surveys, many
members indicated an interest in alternatives to the full day tournaments
we currently run. We hope that many of you will see the advantages of such
a format, and you will at least try this format once or twice during this
season. As always, we will be soliciting feedback from those who participate,
from players, and tournament hosts. Please see the article from Julie Briggs
and Ron Sommer for details.
Another new development involves adult divisions
with fewer than 10 teams. In recent years, this has been Women’s AA and
Men’s and Women’s B. We have been tossing around ideas on how to generate
more participation at these levels; and, over the years, various ideas
have been tried. Our current Handbook allows for Women’s AA players who
register as a club, to “borrow” players from teams within that club. Beginning
this year, that rule will be extended to other divisions, as determined
by the Adult Tournament Chair. The way it will work is that at the beginning
of each new season, the Adult Tournament Chair and his committee of Division
Coordinators, will look at the registration numbers from the previous season
and make a determination on which divisions could benefit from this rule.
If I’ve totally confused you, please see the article that details this
new rule!
Another issue discussed was the practicality
of conducting regional tournaments for divisions with a low number of registered
teams, both in the adult and junior divisions. Our Handbook states, “A
Regional Championship will be conducted for each division that participated
in the Regular season, unless there are insufficient team entries to
justify the tournament.” In recent years, we have provided a regional
championship for every division that participated during the regular season.
This past year, we conducted a regional championship for a division with
two teams. As you can well imagine, this is not practical, neither from
a logistical nor a cost standpoint. So, for future years, the Board will
make a determination on whether to conduct a championship in these situations.
Let me say, however, our goal is to provide the best possible playing experience
for everyone, throughout the entire season.
The rest of the all day sessions involved
going through our Handbook and doing some “spring cleaning.” While we printed
a new Handbook last season, we found through the course of last year that
some of the sections of the Handbook needed to be clarified or simplified.
This is an extremely tedious task, but we hope the end result will be a
less confusing product. We will re-print the handbook again in its entirety,
and all team representatives will receive a new copy—not simply updates
for insertion.
In closing, I’d like to thank the entire Board
of Directors and Staff for all the hours you have given over the summer.
I feel we have developed a very good working relationship across all fronts,
and I’m very excited about the upcoming season. From the bottom of my heart—THANK
YOU!
— Karol Shadle
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