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Novices To The Fore at Tauranga
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A "Recipe for Success" by Karen Martelletti
The Tauranga club decided to take a leaf out of the book of the Hamilton club and run a novice session alongside their Intermediate and Junior tournaments (all held on the same day). The novices arrived at the club in time to partake in lunch with the Intermediate and Junior players, then played 21 boards during the afternoon.
This was to try and introduce new players to the tournament atmosphere, playing against fellow new players and without any pressure of playing against more experienced players. Only 4 tables, but for those participating, they thoroughly enjoyed it. One pair, Bronwyn Kamphorst and Mary Sanders came all the way from Whakatane.
The best format for this group was a Howell, so they could all play each other and it was with some trepidation we introduced them to this format, However, they handled it better than most experienced players !
The results for the Novice were:
1st Angela and Mike Newton
2nd Kathy Abel and Jill Stewart
3rd Keryn and Steve O'Brien
The pairs that were 1st and 3rd were just out of this year's classes and 2nd placed pair were out of last year's classes. A great testament for Amanda Smith and her team for her teaching skills.
Novice winners: The Director ("Major Turner") The Scorer ("Minor Letti")
Mike and Angel Newton (could be Karen Martelletti)
The Novice Section.
The Junior and Intermediate events were a Tauranga benefit, with the winners coming from the home club. Melanie Rex and Jan Johnstone winning the Junior and Peter and June Hagan, the Intermediate. With 22 pairs in the Junior, 33 pairs in the Intermediate and 8 pairs in the Novice, we were bursting at the seams and the catering team of open players put on an amazing lunch. So much so, we had a flurry of people requesting a copy of the recipe for the beetroot salad!
"Preparing the beetroot...and other salads". "The Kitchen Girls"...Open players in their rightful place!
Maybe other clubs could try not just the beetroot salad but this style event as a "recipe for success" in growing our game?
(if you are interested in seeing what is involved in running such a tournament, click here)
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