NSC 2009: Before the Tournament

Dayton welcomes us at the airport!

Kenji Matsumoto (Amherst, MA) and Rafi Stern (Seattle, WA) play some frisbee in the registration room.

Rafi Stern (Seattle, WA) and Kenji Matsumoto (Amherst, MA) play indoor frisbee.

Official event SmoothTiles by Sam Kantimathi (Sacramento, CA). They match the event shirts!

Keith Cejmer (Cincinnati, OH) helping with div 1 registration. Rafi Stern (Seattle, WA), Kenji Matsumoto (Amherst, MA), Conrad Bassett-Bouchard (Moraga, CA) get their materials. Joey Krafchick (Roswell, GA) in the background.

Pakorn Nemitrmansuk (THA), fresh from an overnight bus ride from New York City, chats with his buddy Nigel Richards (MYS).

NSC 2009 Director Mary Rhoades with her Star Trek communicator headless phone attachment. She was on the phone all day long!

Sam Kantimathi (Sacramento, CA) employees some handsome helpers: Joe South (Piqua, OH) and his buddy, Shea Holowecky.

SamTimers with bright colored buttons atop some tile bags and timer bags.

The NASPA raffle board donated by Gene Tyszka (Mississauga ON), made of zircote.

Raffle board, tile racks, padded cover and some other raffle items off to the right.

Raffle tickets with "proxy" section.

New non-braillable double injected Protiles. Sold by Gene Tyszka (Mississauga ON) for Bob Schoenman.

More Protiles.

Flat boards that fold for easier transport.

Coupons for deals on meals at Pacch!a, a great restaurant in the nearby Oregon District.

Rafi Stern (Seattle, WA) and Pakorn Nemitrmansuk (THA), in his brand new event T-shirt, get ready to play a game in the Convention Center's foyer.

Pakorn Nemitrmansuk (THA) models another shirt.

Event T-shirts official signage by Michael Zoller.

Kristen Chew with sons Liam and Jamie. The room was so giant, the kids just ran and ran and ran.

Pakorn Nemitrmansuk (THA) vs. Rafi Stern (Seattle, WA), a crowd forming and maybe even wagering on the result!

Gene Tyszka (Mississauga ON) sits in front of two of his boards.

"Yeah, I'm collecting NASPA membership fees. What's it to ya?" Bryan Pepper and I run on battery power in the middle of the registration room.

Division 2 volunteer registrar Ruth Hamilton (Lake Oswego, OR) plays SCRABBLE with Betty Cornelison (Portland, OR) between registrants.

Convention Center employee, Mrs. Edly (married to her own Joe Edly), helps hand out materials to Dave Wiegand (Portland, OR) and Cheryl Tyler (Lubbock, TX). Mrs. Edly asked me to show her a photo of our Joe Edley (Port Jefferson, NY)!

Dave Wiegand (Portland, OR) and Chris Wiegand. Chris will be volunteering in division 2.

Cheryl Tyler (Lubbock, TX).

Jesse Matthews (Kelowna BC) models the gear bag donated to the players by Merriam-Webster.

Official NSC 2009 gear bag.

Official announcement sheet.

Materials for players in their bag: menus, coupons, lists of Dayton activities, etc.

Lauren Smith (daughter of Cheryl Tyler (Lubbock, TX)) will be here for the event assisting Mary Rhoades. First duty: help with these nametag lanyards!

John D. Williams, Jr., of the NSA here to handle PR for Hasbro.

Hu Rhoades, NSC 2009 director Mary Rhoades, and Jim Pate (Birmingham, AL).

Michael Early (Fort Worth, TX) and Christopher Sykes (Cambridge ON).

Travis Green (Indianapolis, IN), volunteer division 2 registrar.

Keith Hagel (Waterville, ME) and his daughter (with her cello in tote).

Volunteer div 5 registrar Linda Bianca (Myrtle Beach, SC) hands out registration materials to Ruben Radlauer (Los Angeles, CA). Tristan Vanech (Venice, CA) is next.

A meeting of School SCRABBLE folks: Bob Vanech (Venice, CA) (coach and parent), Tristan Vanech (Venice, CA), Amy Krafchick (coach and parent), Ruben Radlauer (Los Angeles, CA), and Lynn Sneed (coach and parent). Both Amy and Lynn will be volunteering during the event.

Staff meeting.

Conrad Bassett-Bouchard (Moraga, CA) vs. Evans Clinchy (Boston, MA). Andrew Solomon (Barrington, IL) and Ian Weinstein (Coral Springs, FL) watch the game.

An article in the July 29 edition of The Medina Gazette about players competing in this NSC: Terry Oblander (Medina, OH) and Pete Zeigler (Medina, OH).

Division 3 registration volunteers: Tapani Lindgren (Roseville, CA) and Kate Watson, division 1 annotator.

Name badges for those who have yet to register.

The Thais arrive and join NASPA: Amnuay Ploysangngam (THA), Nawapadol Sayavesa (THA), and Ravee Joradol (THA).

Staff dinner in the private dining room at the Crowne Plaza. Thanks to the NSA for covering registration while we ate!

The first of many, I suspect, Dan Stock, tableaus in 100 tiles.

Paul Epstein (Keego Harbor, MI) on piano. soooo good!

After-hours room play between Jerry Lerman (San Francisco, CA) and Peter Armstrong (Milwaukee, WI) with Joe Edley (Port Jefferson, NY) and Steve Grob (Fenton, MI) looking on.

Jeff Fiszbein (South Lyon, MI) and Jeremy Hall (New York, NY) vs. Brian Galebach (Columbia, MD) and Ryan Fischer (Charlotte, NC).

Stephen Sneed (Ft. Worth, TX) vs. Matt Canik (Austin, TX) with Chris Canik (Austin, TX) and Jon Canik (Austin, TX) watching.

Mary Rhoades, Chris Cree (Dallas, TX), and John Chew just as registation wraps up.

School SCRABBLE partners, Ruben Radlauer (Los Angeles, CA) & Tristan Vanech (Venice, CA), chat with [bobvanech (coach to both and father to Tristan), and John D. Williams, Jr., of the NSA.