SharonRoeAnderson

Listening in Minnesota

As a child, Sharon's family moved frequently.  Sharon lived in many states.  Yet, ultimately Sharon settled in the Twin City area with husband Roger, where she has enjoyed all of her long bridge career.

At the most recent Gopher Regional in May, Sharon continued her listening tours.  At this suburban Minneapolis tourney, Sharon held two sessions.  One was with I/N players; the other included a mix of intermediate and experienced competitors.

The stories and preferences being told to Sharon will be gathered, then presented to her director colleagues at the upcoming July NABC in Philadelphia.

Moving Up

Congratulations to our members who have moved up in rank!  As of the beginning of June, 2012, here are the achievements of District 14 players.

Special kudos to Freda Thornbrough of Omaha for achieving Diamond Life Master ranking, 5,000 masterpoints, and to Jim Jacobson of Sioux City, now an Emerald Life Master with more than 7,500 masterpoints!

We also wish to recognize one of our District's youngest Life Masters:  Ben Kristensen of Duluth.  Fourteen year old Ben not only is now a Life Master, but he will be representing the United States in the 2012 Damiani Cup on USA 2 in China this summer!

Good luck to all as they continue to achieve at the bridge table!

District 14 Membership Stats

District 14 continues to add members!  Here is the breakdown of membership by Units as of the end of May, 2012.

 

District 14 Membership by Unit as of 05/31/2012

Unit#    Unit Name                       Members

103     Minnesota Gopher                   954

104     North Dakota                          224

162     South Dakota                         172

163     Iowa State                             470

178     Viking Bridge Unit #178           910

184     Nebraska                               251

216     Hawkeye                                453

235     Northwest Iowa                       152

241     Cornhusker                            590

Total Members                        4,176

Honors

Honors is the third "big New York" club that Sharon toured.  Proprietor Gail Greenberg, after many years, decided to sell her ownership of Honors.  A number of people purchased the Club, with Scott Levine as its president.

Life is good at Honors.  Many classes are offered and new students are arriving.  Games are large - especially during the day.  The teaching and directing staff is strong and capable.

Their main facility is located on the 14th floor of 58th Street.  With a kitchen for preparing excellent meals, multiple nooks and crannies for games of various sizes - and a floor below for teaching - Honors is a winner.

Sharon enjoyed seeing Al Levy, Director of District 24, and meeting Scott Levine, a most enthusiastic and talented president of Honors.

Alene Friedman met with her class of earnest beginners.  And Sharon also had the opportunity to meet two of the Wednesday night players, Charles Harmon and  Sohail Hasan.

 

The Manhattan Club

If you're in New York and a bridge player, then you must visit the Mahattan Club.  Although the Club has three owners, Jesus Arias ("Zeus"), Jeff and Barbara Bayone, only the first was in town when Sharon and Roger stopped to visit.

The Andersons report back that "Zeus was wearing his many hats."  Prior to the game, he engaged in a one-on-one with a player and gave a lesson to about 20 299ers.  Following the competition, Zeus conducted a post mortem with roughly six players who lingered.  Oh - and, by the way, during the game, Zeus played, too!

One player commented, "If we could unleash Zeus in the public school system, our young player programs would be flush."

 

 

 

Charlie Nurse collects the entries; Christopher Rivera and Bonnie Gellas are two more of the directing and teaching staff.

 

 

During a break, it was Sharon's pleasure to meet and greet the players.

Ron Haack and Sharon strike a pose, both flashing big smiles!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New York, New York

In so many respects, New York is unique.  It's bridge life is no different.

Sharon first visited the Cavendish Bridge Club.  It's on the Upper East Side, and like the Honors and Manhattan Clubs, you take an elevator to arrive.

Club owners Bjorn and Kathy Fallenius have a new twist on starting the game.  Hands are shuffled, dealt and played; then hand records are made. 

Bjorn at the computer

 

 

 

Sharon visits with Bjorn and Kathy

 

 

Miami Valley Bridge Association

Mother's Day weekend, Sharon and Roger traveled to the south side of Dayton to visit the Miami Valley Bridge Association.  Despite the regional tournament, the Club hosted a small Saturday game because some players would not compete in the Saturday Swiss.  Upon Sharon's arrival, "Hail to the Chief" rang out!

One of the locals who is in real estate built their spacious quarters, and rents out half to the MVBA.  With a full kitchen, high ceilings, comfortable chairs and excellent parking, it's a fine place to enjoy bridge.

Sharon had a wonderful time meeting players and visiting with Stefanie Ginger, the director that Saturday.

 

 

 

CBA

Sharon and Roger had the pleasure of visiting the Cincinnati Bridge Association, otherwise known as the CBA.  The CBA runs bridge in Unit 124; cincybridge.com is the website for both the unit and their Reading Road bridge center.

Their most recent tournament was held at the Sharonville Convention Center, a nicely upgraded site near a historical community named Glendale.

Sharon held a listening session at dinner with some of the unit officials and teachers, including A.J. Stephani, Unit 124 President, Nancy Sachs and Steve Moese, teachers, and Barb Levinson, on the CBA Board. 

Potter Orr, Chairman of the Regional, reported to the district board.  Sharon and Janet Lee of Dayton struck a pose!

 

 

 

Beautiful Vancouver!

 

Bonnie Christopherson and Bob Beck with Sharon

The end of April saw Sharon visiting one of the ACBL's most picturesque locations:  Vancouver.  Sharon had a wonderful time having the opportunity to meet some of the hundreds of players who attend the Richmond (Vancouver) Regional.

In addition, Sharon had the pleasure of seeing Don Mamula, District 19 representative to the Board of Directors, with his lovely wife Linda.  Along with Randy Corn and Sharon's personal photographer and partner Roger, they enjoyed dinner together on the Fraser River.  Watching seaplanes make runs between Richmond and cities on Vancouver island was a treat among many others!

 

Sharon with Corrine Tapley and Insa Fricker

 

 

 

Sharon, Peter Morse of the Canadian Bridge Federation and Don Mamula

 

 

 

Don, Roger, Sharon, Randy and Linda watching seaplanes!

 

 

 

May Masterpoint Report

As of May 5th, we have three masterpoint reports for District 14 players.

The first is District 14 "Top 500" contenders. Jade Barrett heads the list at 637.  Karen Lee Barrett is second with 533; Jim Jacobson snags the third position with 369.

Our second report is the sectional masterpoint race for our district. Three Unit 103 members head this list:  Terry Lijewski with 76, and Kathy and Terry Beckman, tied at 72.

The final report is for lifetime greatest totals.  Way ahead of the rest of the pack we find Alan Stout.  Alan has amassed an amazing 32,624 masterpoints.  In the second spot we find Jade Barrett with 23,496, and then Jim Nash with 20,896.  Our top three lifetime holders are the only players in our district to have earned over 20,000 masterpoints.

The full reports in each category are listed below.