It’s always a little hard to report how an event went while you’re in the middle of it, but I may as well try. 13 folks from our great state ventured down to Las Vegas to compete in the Medalist World Championships. Was supposed to have 1 more added to the group, but we won’t get into that. Over all I feel Alaska did well considering our numbers. Joe & Bryan took a 9th in the C division, Goat & Robert took a 3rd & a 9th in C division. Alvin & Matt snuck in a 9th in A division, I partnered with a lady from Thailand to take a 9th in C, but the real winners are Margaret, Hallie, and Bill grabbed the Trio’s 1st place, and Bill followed it up with tugging Stephanie to a 1st in the consolation round [0]. So all and all, not that bad, when you consider the single elimination format we played under. The Medalist police did a fair job of policing the bump ups. Alvin got to try out a 13, Matt is still a 9, Bill had a 7 for a day, Hallie mustarded up a 5 for a day and I managed to bury myself in a 8.

The Pro-Am had some Alaskan players playing in it this year. Bill Grabbed 3rd place while Alvin's team shot past him to approach the stage and capture 1st. Good job guys!

The bad side of things, and they were apparent. The 20 week season allowed for what I told ever one, 3’s that shoot 7’s and what not. Hell, I found a 2 that was re-ranked to a 7 by the last day. That’s not only amazing about her new found skill, but it smells fishy if you ask me. The drinks were horribly over priced, 6.75 for a mixed drink in a tiny cup. What a highway robbery. Late starts were the norm, I think it’s that way no matter how much you plan. As the tournament went on the staffer got shorter and shorter with players. I understand they have an often thankless job, but they set the tone, so don’t be short or asses to the people you serve. Lots of complaints about the single elimination format, but I didn’t feel it was that big of a deal. The lack of a player’s party sucked in my opinion, but it’s understandable that that takes money from the tournament. Lots of people complained about the date of the venue. While down there, it sure seemed like, unless you drove over to the tournament, you paid a fortune to get there. Numbers were down, could have been the 20 week season making less teams, could have been the little bit of turn around teams had from their qualifiers, the price of travel or the date. Overall, things trucked along and Medalist managed to pull through the event again.

Locally I think we have a lot of work ahead of us as a state to continue to make our Medalist teams competitive. There are always questions about payouts, the managing of the accounts and the board. I think the only answers are to really look at things and either start fresh brand new, follow the examples that other leagues have formed for us, or to roll up our sleeves and make things better. There’s too many things that change on a whim, and it’s not fair the to the players of the league to be told one thing then receive another. I hope to see you all at the Medalist general membership meeting and you take the time to vote on an actual board.