Less than “FIFTY CENTS” a week

By Mahlon Nobles

Synopsis – The following is intended for evaluation from all shuffleboard interest including novice players, intermediate players, professional players, shuffleboard vendors, leagues, shuffleboard establishment owners, shuffleboard manufactures, and shuffleboard tournament owners and for all shuffleboard enthusiasts’ whether they are individuals or possibly future promoters or sponsors.

          This synopsis along with other evidence has been submitted to the T. S. A. for evaluation and consideration for broadening their non-profit organization’s future ambition and goals of increasing membership. This synopsis should be recognized as only a suggestive guideline. If T. S. A. should decide to promote membership for their non-profit organization, they need to be aware of the many hard hours, and sleepless nights of dedication necessary to strengthen the organization, ambitions and goals.

          For less than 50 cents a week, would allow players to become, proud “Sanctioned Player” members of a well-organized, non-profit association. Members would reap from the many benefits offered by the non-profit association, as the membership grows, so will the benefits. Listed below are some possible incentives, organizational goals and advantages for all members.

          ·      Sanctioned Players’ - Membership Drive:  What would the Organization have to offer the many, many thousands of shuffleboard players across the nation? The Organization should be capable of offering participation to all members, the following examples; The Organizations Parliamentary Procedures and Bylaws, Player Committee, Tournament Committee, Rating Committee, Rules Committee, Promotional Committee, Publications Committee and an Board of Advisers.  

                   Comments; for every player that attends a major tournament, there are many others playing the game, with fewer than half of them, belonging to local leagues. I believe there are numerous reasons for the lack of participation in leagues and some of the largest reasons are due to the lack of organization, lack of properly handicapping players, lack of players having fair league formats, lack of standardized formats for area regional and national playoff competition and the lack of player ambition to increase their abilities, I’ve included potential league formats for reference. 

          ·      Associate Membership – Membership Drive: Memberships would be offered to Vendors, Manufactures of shuffleboard products, Shuffleboard Establishments and Major Tournament owners.

                   1)     Vendors’ – to promote the Association and Leagues, thereby increasing “Sanction Player” membership and sales of their products.

                   2)     Manufactures’ - to promote the Association, thereby increasing “Sanction Player” membership and sales of their products.

                   3)     Shuffleboard Establishments’ - to promote the Association, thereby increasing “Sanction Player” membership and to offer incentives for sanctioned players to use their establishment for local leagues and misc. events.

                   4)     Major Tournament Owners’ - to promote the Association, thereby increasing “Sanction Player” membership. To promote their tournament for all players, while offering non-sanctioned member participants, an opportunity for fair play.

                    Comments; Vendors’ will become most beneficial to the promotion of shuffleboard players, shuffleboard leagues and shuffleboard establishments. Manufacturers will commit to improving their products, for example; try to realize how much bowling lanes and equipment have improved over the years and bowlers have improved their averages, because of the improved products. Also realize, because bowlers organized, bowling became the number one family sport in the world and have made a few bowling manufactures, multi-million dollar corporations. 

          ·      Player’s Achievement Awards - Sanctioned Players should be awarded an assortment of awards for their accomplishments. Small achievement awards would include, for example; patches pins, rings, shirts jackets and plaques. Other awards for national achievements could also be offered, example; Hall of Fame.

        ·   Scholarship Foundation -

        ·      Sponsorships – Sponsorship Drive: Once the organization has risen above the crawling and diaper stage, Sponsors will be overwhelmed at the opportunity to promote the association’s functions and events. Sponsors would reap from the benefits for contributing to a well-organized, non-profit organization.

                Comments; One of the most important changes that must be made for Professionals participation in major events, is that Sponsors would demand, corrected fairness of competition, for example; brackets would need to be seeded. Please refer to the sheets enclosed, called “Theoretical Seeding Brackets”. This study should, without any question prove the reason all organized sports use, not only seed brackets on the winner side, but as well, the looser side.

        ·      Rules Committee - to continually format, modify and correct a book that will be known as, for example; “The Official Guideline for Table Shuffleboard Association’s Rule Book” for the year of 2004, etc. This book of rules would include ways into which Tournaments and Leagues may accommodate and make choices on certain rules for their particular situations.

          ·     Handicap Committee – yearly appointed, as prescribed by the organization made up of individuals with at least two years experience as a qualified rater on the Bower’s Rating System. 

                  Comment #1; The committee could perhaps, include assisting the Bower’s in their system of handicapping individual players, to a degree of equalizing the game, match, events and promote the sport to all players. The committee’s duties could include assuring the organization to pay the Bower’s for their time and worthwhile. The committee’s duty would include assisting the Bower’s in standardizing rater’s guidelines for handicapping, training and certifying all raters on all aspects of the System. The committee’s duty could be to insure ratings are correct for all individuals.

                The Official Ratings Book could be incorporate into sections.

                    1^st - Guidelines approved for use by certified raters,

                        2^nd - The Official Rating Committee,

                        3^rd - Area Certified Raters,

                        4^th - Sanctioned Tournament players,

                        5^th - Sanctioned League players,

                        6^th - 4 pages for stick-on updated materials, from the Rating Committee,

                        7^th - 6 lined pages for notes,

                        8^{th -}10 pages for use when rating newly sanctioned or temporary players.

          All Raters should be sent 6 copies of this book for $50.00, in which they could easily sell 5 of them for $10.00 each.

          Comment #2; During all major tournaments, tracking results of all competition could be easily kept up with by using simple computerized spread sheets, numbering the match on brackets used for each event and assigning the results and rating for each competitor, especially for single events. This in turn would allow raters as well as a simple computer program to track players throughout each season. This would also work extremely well using seeded brackets. 

      ·        Sanctioned Leagues Committee - to standardize formats and software for leagues to use for league tournaments/playoffs and the end resulting in State and National Championships for each Division.

          Comments; I don’t believe that Franchise type league sanctions are the answer, due to players playing numerous formats throughout the nation. What I propose is to offer incentives to existing leagues for competition on a national level by formatting leagues and playoffs to lead to a national championship for different classes of teams. In my opinion there could be tens of thousands of league players that are in the field of intermediate and novices and that an organization should concentrate in setting up leagues and playoffs for these players. I’m sure that one of the existing large tournaments would be overwhelmed to have an eventual, additional 200 + players from all over the country competing for a national title.

Minutes Prepared by Lynda French, TSA Secretary (and reviewed by attendees) prior to distributing to the TSA Membership distribution list.  Mahlon Nobles Presentation was prepared and presented by Mahlon Nobles during this meeting and is included as an addendum to the TSA Meeting Minutes.