2019 SECTIONAL NEWS!
THANKS TO ALL WHO PARTICIPATED IN UNIT 254’S SECOND SECTIONAL TOURNAMENT! THE TOTAL TABLE COUNT THIS YEAR WAS 104.5, AND 98 PLAYERS RECEIVED SILVER POINTS 😀

Top winners were Sarah Sykes and Bob McCaw from Zihuatanejo who won 25.83 each, followed by Sherry McHarg and Rick Kerbel with 18.8. You can go to the ACBL website to see all the results of the tournament winners:

https://live.acbl.org/masterpoint-winners/1902066.

This was a really great tournament with a wonderfully enthusiastic
atmosphere. So many folks contributed to the success of the weekend:

We kicked off the tournament with our Thursday charity game that had 13
tables. Directors Susan Cumming and Bob Cult donated their time and expertise. They did a great job in making the game comfortable and fun! The food was also donated.

Again, Lynn Chambers and her “cookie angels” came through with 10
dozen donated cookies per session, and not one cookie was left over! So, as
players took home the silver point wins, some may have also gained some extra pounds! We all owe a big SHOUTOUT to the following friends who generously donated to our event: Mary Kaufman, Allie Eilers, Melissa Hirsch, Susan Anthony, Syndi McDougall, Teenie Gibson, Susan Curra, Judy Rosenthal, Christie McGue, Liz Jacobson, Beth Rosener, Jean Dorr, Sue Cummings, Barbara Rinder, Malinda Vertiz, Wanda Zyler, and last (but not least) Lynn Chambers.

Of course, along with cookies and treats, gallons of coffee were served.
It’s a behind the scenes task, but an important one that Ian Irving stepped
up to daily resetting the coffee pot as needed. Pat Bagg brought in the savory treats for the morning sessions, and Sherry McHarg brought in the afternoon snacks. Pat also provided the outstanding Caesar salad that accompanied the yummy lunch served at the Sunday Swiss. For those who missed the Sunday event, you may enjoy seeing the picture below of the outstanding tres leches cake created especially for our tournament by Juana Olvera.

Liz Jacobson was a great partnership chair, working to the last minute to
pair players and put teams together. Wendy Valentine helped promote the
tournament on the web. Liz, Sherry, Sue Cumming, Wendy Valentine, Gerdur and others reset the room between sessions. Julie Allbritton contributed her entire Sunday to assist as “caddie” for the Swiss teams!

Once again, Woody McHarg provided outstanding service as tournament director. He was aided by Del McDaniel and Tom Chambers who collected entries each day, and Del in his capacity as treasurer of the Unit has the yeoman’s job of providing the financial accounting for the entire tournament. Eight new players participated in the events and became members of the ACBL.

As all can see, this tournament was truly a community effort. Of course, the
biggest “THANK YOU” goes to the Bridge Studio for allowing the Unit to
host the Sectional tournament in our most beautiful and comfortable “bridge home.” Having the Sectional at the Studio makes it possible for the
tournament to be financially viable.

This tournament was a tribute to our dearly departed friend, Victor Bremson. I do think Victor would have been proud of the way we all came together to honor his generous spirit. We also gave tribute to a wonderful man, Robert Martel, who has for so many years been a big supporter of this Sectional event in SMA and of the game of duplicate bridge. We are indeed fortunate to have such legacies.