Today marks the last round of the first ever GNYBA Winter League regular season. We still have the exciting postseason knockouts, but for now I’ll take some time to reflect.
As a reminder, we are an all-volunteer committee of three primary organizers. David Moss already mentioned the league his is District Director letter, and league committee chair Katherine Todd has been in constant contact with all of you… often via Constant Contact.
Thanks To All
First, we had a great experience with NetBridge (aka BridgeResults), our tournament director and leaderboard provider. We hope to continue our collaborations for future events.
Next, I thank GNYBA for greenlighting this ambitious project. I effectively joined the board in October 2019, and I remember hearing discussion about reviving the Von Zedtwitz Double Knockout league as a fun way to play team games among a familiar field of New Yorkers and friends. Now that the game has moved online, a weekly swiss allows every team to play the whole season (and afterwards, anyone can check how 29 other tables handled the boards).
Most importantly, I want to thank all the captains and players who participated and helped our weekly games run smoothly. There were a few hiccups, especially around match setup, game procedures, and of course scheduling conflicts. However, in the end we collectively played 30 tables of fun and competitive team games for five weeks straight.
Thoughts For The Future
We want to hear your feedback as we plan the next season beginning in early 2021. Did we strike a good balance between fun and competitive?
To keep the game sustainable, we will charge an entry fee in the future. However, it will be done close to at-cost. The more teams we have, the less we need to subsidize or collect.
We were also very happy with the field. The majority of teams contained familiar names we recognize from the local clubs and regionals, plus a few guests that we were more than happy to host. The skill range spanned a full spectrum of players, all the way to world class levels in the top bracket.
Moving forward, we want to strike a balance between welcoming our neighboring units and friends while maintaining a distinctly Greater New York crowd. What would make your team want to participate again? Better yet, what is stopping you from spreading the word to convince your friends to form teams?
Reach out and comment on this post, or contact us at league-support@gnyba.org.
Round 4 Fastest Players: Moss vs Connors
This week’s fastest player shoutout goes to the match between David Moss, Andrew Rosenthal, Katherine Todd, and David Gurvich versus Ryan Connors, Randi Adelman, Owen Lien, and Marc Sylvester.
Someday, when we are all back at the physical clubs in NYC, we will hold a long-postponed awards dinner to celebrate the winners of the 2019 races, 2020 races, and league winners. We might even give a special prize to the individual or pair who is consistently the fastest player. However, I don’t recommend anyone deliberately try for the prize at the expense of playing well.