Saturday, April 17, 2010

Congratulations, Steve Bush, Apprentice Director!

Our club is sanctioned by the North American Scrabble Players Association as its Club No. 637. One of the requirements for being approved by NASPA is that the club be directed by a person who has been sanctioned by NASPA as a club and tournament director.

The first step in becoming a NASPA-sanctioned club and tournament director is to pass a test on NASPA Director's Manual and its Official Tournament Rules. This test does a good job of covering basic information that is needed in directing club and tournament play of Alfred Butts' word game.

This morning I was very pleased to receive an e-mail from Mary Rhoades of Texas, NASPA's Director of Clubs and Tournaments, advising me that our fellow club member and friend, Steve Bush, has successfully completed NASPA's director's test and is now an apprentice director. Great going, Steve!

The next step is for the apprentice director to gain experience in handling club and tournament situations so that the apprentice's mentor can certify that the apprentice is ready to be granted full director status. I will be serving as Steve's mentor and look forward to working with him in this process.

Our club will benefit from having a second director to work collaboratively in running it. Nothing would please me more than to have a couple more of our members also take NASPA's director's test and join in the club's leadership team.

John Spangler
Director, Lexington (Ky.) Scrabble Club
NASPA Club No. 637