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{|class=candidates
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!Candidate
!Candidate Statement
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|class= name|'''[[John Ortman]]'''
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Thanks for considering me for the Advisory Board. Between playing tournaments since 2003 and having been on message boards and forums from the beginning, I think I have a pretty good grasp of the variety of perspectives that SCRABBLE players have.
I launched the Roseville SCRABBLE Club around 2006, and I’ve directed a few local club and open tournaments. I’m open to people’s opinions and think I have some fair insights on how to regrow the game.
Also,and this is big (for me), in about a month I’ll be going on a trial work retirement. I’ll be able to devote the due time to the Advisory Board and potentially other volunteer positions later with NASPA. Also I plan on traveling quite a bit to tournaments outside of my region in the near future.
As far as platform stances, here are mine:
* I advocate for freedom and creativity. In the context of the post and continuing COVID period I believe that if directors want to direct, they should have that freedom, but just be clear about what precautions will be instituted and then let people decide what their risk-appetite is and if they then want to participate. With respect to creativity, within reason I would advocate variations on tournament play. E.g., I like the allowance for laddered tournaments that may take weeks to finish, and I like the allowance for 5-point penalty challenge with the NWL (although I have yet to direct these variations myself).
* I advocate for no limitations on dictionaries. If you are a proponent of Collins only or NWL only, I’m not your candidate.
* I would like the exploration of ways to promote NASPA more. Crazy possibility, though it might be out of our price range: semi-targeted advertising on the SCRABBLE Go app.
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That’s all I can think of as far as platforms. Regardless of whether I’m elected, I would enjoy chatting with you about Scrabble issues or just plain chatting.
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