An open letter to NASPA board members and leadership (cross-posted to CGP)
Before I get into any actual content, I would first like to thank all of you for your extensive volunteer efforts in keeping tournament Scrabble running. It is an often thankless job to do all that you do, and I want to be clear that I am very thankful. While it is a small contribution, I will be directing my second tournament (the BC Provincial Scrabble Championship) as a fully certified director this August. I hope that as I finish school and I have more time that I will be able to give back even more to the Scrabble community.
That being said, I'm bothered by several things that have happened in our community in the last few months: 1) Marlon's suspension from NASPA and 2) James Leong's exclusion from CNSC.
I understand that being as neutral as possible is difficult when tough decisions have to be made. However, I do believe that in both of these cases, there are 2 main issues that came up: 1) communication problems and 2) lack of established procedure.
In Marlon's case, please don't see this as disrespectful (I don't mean for it to be so), but any email address with 'homtail' in it should scream "typo!" Besides that, was it not possible to send a quick message to CGP asking for his email address? Many people have asked for players' contact information on here in the past. Furthermore, was Marlon given a warning or warnings for his purported behaviour?
In James' case, let me assure you as someone who has known him for over 10 years now that James has absolutely no problem with money, and certainly not with paying for anything. Anyone who has ever had dinner with James in attendance can attest to how difficult it is to make sure he doesn't pay for the meal (and even then, we often still fail miserably). It is a shame that one of the front-running contenders for the CNSC title was unable to participate on a technicality. I don't begrudge Andy for successfully appealing the decision to put James back on the waiting list in the top spot. It was perfectly within his right to do so, even though as one of James' good friends it pained me to see it happen.
I want to reemphasize that I believe that our volunteers are doing the best they can with the current tools they have. However, I believe that we are in dire need of an overhaul. It is unrealistic to expect Chris Cree and John Chew to truly get to know everyone within NASPA...that would take more than a lifetime. However, it is clear that there are at least one or two people in every major Scrabble region that are very familiar with a majority of the players in that region. Why not have a Player Representative for each region that acts as a go-between for the players and for NASPA leadership? That way, when issues such as James' impending exclusion from CNSC come up, that Player Representative has a chance to contact whoever (s)he needs to. After doing so, the PR would then get back to NASPA leadership and let them know whether or not to proceed with a decision like removing James from the CNSC entrants list. Similarly, with the Marlon case, the PR could act as a link between him and NASPA and deliver an appropriate warning, or if it were to become necessary, a suspension notice. Because I prefer to create solutions and be a part of them, I would like to nominate myself as the Player Representative for British Columbia. If needed, I would even be willing to be the PR for Western Canada as well. One of the wonderful things that we have as Scrabblers is community, and I believe that a PR is the best way to link each regional community to the tournament Scrabble community at large.
Respectfully,
Jesse Matthews
Kelowna, BC
That being said, I'm bothered by several things that have happened in our community in the last few months: 1) Marlon's suspension from NASPA and 2) James Leong's exclusion from CNSC.
I understand that being as neutral as possible is difficult when tough decisions have to be made. However, I do believe that in both of these cases, there are 2 main issues that came up: 1) communication problems and 2) lack of established procedure.
In Marlon's case, please don't see this as disrespectful (I don't mean for it to be so), but any email address with 'homtail' in it should scream "typo!" Besides that, was it not possible to send a quick message to CGP asking for his email address? Many people have asked for players' contact information on here in the past. Furthermore, was Marlon given a warning or warnings for his purported behaviour?
In James' case, let me assure you as someone who has known him for over 10 years now that James has absolutely no problem with money, and certainly not with paying for anything. Anyone who has ever had dinner with James in attendance can attest to how difficult it is to make sure he doesn't pay for the meal (and even then, we often still fail miserably). It is a shame that one of the front-running contenders for the CNSC title was unable to participate on a technicality. I don't begrudge Andy for successfully appealing the decision to put James back on the waiting list in the top spot. It was perfectly within his right to do so, even though as one of James' good friends it pained me to see it happen.
I want to reemphasize that I believe that our volunteers are doing the best they can with the current tools they have. However, I believe that we are in dire need of an overhaul. It is unrealistic to expect Chris Cree and John Chew to truly get to know everyone within NASPA...that would take more than a lifetime. However, it is clear that there are at least one or two people in every major Scrabble region that are very familiar with a majority of the players in that region. Why not have a Player Representative for each region that acts as a go-between for the players and for NASPA leadership? That way, when issues such as James' impending exclusion from CNSC come up, that Player Representative has a chance to contact whoever (s)he needs to. After doing so, the PR would then get back to NASPA leadership and let them know whether or not to proceed with a decision like removing James from the CNSC entrants list. Similarly, with the Marlon case, the PR could act as a link between him and NASPA and deliver an appropriate warning, or if it were to become necessary, a suspension notice. Because I prefer to create solutions and be a part of them, I would like to nominate myself as the Player Representative for British Columbia. If needed, I would even be willing to be the PR for Western Canada as well. One of the wonderful things that we have as Scrabblers is community, and I believe that a PR is the best way to link each regional community to the tournament Scrabble community at large.
Respectfully,
Jesse Matthews
Kelowna, BC