CHAIRMAN’S REPORT

CHAIRMAN’S REPORT

AT BI-ANNUAL ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

It’s been six months since the election of the present SABF Committee. I would like to thank my whole committee for their assistance and a special thank you to the Executive, who I am almost in daily contact. They always make themselves available to bounce ideas and I value their input.

REPORT BACK ON NEW SABF INITIATIVES

1.                  As you are aware, the SABF has invited the Unions to co-sponsor seminars presented by experts. So far only KwaZulu-Natal have utilised the offer and Craig Gower’s seminars were very well received. There have been enquiries from other centres and we urge the Unions to take advantage of this initiative in order to expose their players to the international players.

2.                  Commencing in the new year, there will be online lessons given by Tim Cope on BBO. Anybody will be able to kibbutz four players being given lessons. There will be a roster that you could apply to play and be coached online. Tim will thereafter prepare a body of notes that will be available only to SABF members.

3.                  I am pleased to report that through Carol’s efforts we have, at last, started to make contact with the Society of the Deaf and plan, with the GBU, to teach bridge at the their community centre on Thursday mornings.

OVERALL AIMS

DEVELOPMENT

The rest of the provinces are nearly a full decade behind the Cape although I have heard very positive reports from what is happening in Pretoria. We are hoping for SASCOC to provide us with the necessary entries into the schools. Experience has shown us that only if you are lucky enough to have a bridge playing teacher or principal can the program retain its impetus. The Minister of Sport has emphasised the importance of school sport and we need to get involved. One can only look enviously at the success that chess has had.

TOURNAMENT DIRECTING

Heidi Atkinson has been selected to attend a course in Germany through which she will hopefully obtain EU accreditation. Heidi will thereafter be conducting Tournament Director workshops throughout the country. I am advised that her workshop on Wednesday at the Orchards was informative and very well run.

The overall aim of the SABF committee is to make the SABF more visible and to provide answers to the old age question “what do I get out of joining the SABF?”

Before Congress next year the SABF Committee will meet with a representative from each of the Unions for further attempts to open up the channels of communication.  We believe that having difficulty in communicating our messages and look for ways to improve the communication.

BLOG 6 November 2012

On Sunday night, Carol and I went to the SA Sports Awards dinner at the Sandton Convention Centre. They served no whiskey during the entire 2 hours; they must have saved themselves a fortune. We were placed at a table with Caster Semenya and two tables away from the entire Le Clos family when Chad thanked his adopted family (I thought it must be Carol – see earlier blog).

The Interclub teams start in Johannesburg as well as the bi-annual meeting (Roz - will we be serving whiskey?). There is also a second Committee meeting with a long agenda, this promises to be an interesting weekend.

BLOG 31 October 2012

KZN held the Greyville Tournament which had 98 pairs competing. We were fortunate enough to have Craig Gower who gave lectures on Thursday night and Friday afternoon which enthralled the Durban crowd. Craig also had the misfortune of playing with me at Di Adrain’s club on the Friday morning before he went through each and every hand with the members thereafter. The SABF have invited the unions to put forward proposals with respect to seminars held by the top players that will be co-hosted by the SABF and the unions.

Congratulations to Craig Gower and Merle Modlin for winning the Greyville, beating out Tim Cope and Glen Holman. Further congratulations to Roger Wilson and his team for an event that ran very smoothly.

Next week is the Interclub teams being held at the Links as well as the bi-annual meeting.

BLOG – 7 October 2012

On the 28^th to the 30^th Carol and I competed in the Bedford teams of four. I confessed to having to Google how far Bedford was from Port Elizabeth and was told that the driving distance was 8 ½ days to reach Southern England. Carol drove and we got there a lot quicker.

The 24 teams competing in the Tournament, which when one considers Gauteng for their mini congress managed 18 teams and Durban only 10. This is a fantastic credit to the Tournament. The only time not playing bridge was spent eating and then eating some more and drinking. As with all tournaments in the Eastern Cape as posted by Tim Cope, players are to endure a starvation diet (I had to take my trousers out a further level after the weekend). The Tournament was very well run by Heidi and Carol was an absolute pleasure to play with. She only looked disappointed once when I passed a cue bid raise and made her play in the opponent’s suit in a 3-2 fit (I think she could have played it better). Carol and I received useful information regarding the development of bridge in the Eastern Cape.