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NSSC 2007 Commentary: Before the Tournament

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Go to: Before the Tournament, Round 1, Round 2, Round 3, Round 4, Round 5, Round 6, Final Round 1, Award Ceremony.

Pre-event Coverage

The 2007 National School SCRABBLE^® Championship registration began today at 9:00 am at the top floor of Rhode Island Convention Center. Three floors of escalators brought students, coaches, teachers, and parents to the lobby carefully laid out with a table for schools A-L and another for M-Z. Two laptops atop draped cocktail tables sat on either side of the registration area, beckoning students over to try out the self-adjudication software. Event workers, Joel Sherman and Matt Hopkins went over the use of the program, Zyzzyva, for the students who hadn't yet had a chance to use it in their clubs. Each table also featured a digital timer so that its use could be demonstrated.

Afterwards, each team made its way to the photo area where two photos were taken of each team for use on the web site. Tables were spread out over the sunlit foyer and coaches, parents, and players played games, ate lunch, and lounged until the event began.

Dinah Fuller, the coach of the Eastern Greene teams from Indiana is here again! She and her students flew into Boston yesterday and went to Fenway Park and got a chance to wave at Manny Ramirez, the Red Sox slugger. One of her students had his first flight on an airplane and another saw the ocean for the first time!

NSA member and rated player herself, Katya Lezin arrived today wtih her two children in tow, Randolph Middle (NC). Son Noah Lieberman was already slated to play in this year's NSSC, but when his partner was suddenly unable to come, Katya got creative and opted to bring Noah's sister, Hannah. A SCRABBLE-loving 5th grader, Hannah makes a great parnter for the 7th grade, Noah.

In addition to his three teams--Evangelical Christian Team 1 (TN), Evangelical Christian Team 2 (TN), and Evangelical Christian Team 3 (TN)--Ryan Porter, who has been coaching very strong teams from Tennessee for several years now, has his eye toward the future. He brought his daughter, Maggie Porter, who is in kindergarten, and the sibling of the "twin team," Anna Tansey, who is in second grade. Before long, we expect to see them at an NSSC! They girls were both spelling words with the wooden tiles scatterd on the tables in the atrium.

At one point, during registration, Joel Sherman, a former World SCRABBLE^® champion and committee member, caught a student slipping out of his sweatshirt. Pointing to the sweatshirt, Joel asked if the student knew the anagram of GIBBONS. He did: SOBBING.

Only one team didn't make it to registration on time and they were caught at the airport, so this meant all teams who registered were able to participate this year!

John Chew put up pairings for round 1 a bit after 1:00 and a few minutes later, the doors opened and the students poured in. Parents and coaches escorted their teams and flashes were going off in all corners. For the first time that I can remember, the ample seating on the room's sides for parents, coaches, and family members was quickly filled up and we were a "standing room only" event!

While students tore off plastic wrap on their new games and counted Protiles (blue tiles with white letters and white tiles with blue letters), John D. Williams, Jr., the National SCRABBLE^® Association Executive Director, made brief opening comments. He mentioned the presence of both ESPN and a camera crew from the Jimmy Kimmel Live show. Turns out that Jimmy is a fan, too! As always, John's comments were short and encouraging and in no time at all, he introduced the 2007 NSSC director.

Ben Greenwood took to the podium and went through some of the game rules, the paperwork expectations of the players, and the workings of the event. Ben has the most calm and clear communication style I've ever seen and as a teacher, the students really respond well to his instructions. A few short minutes later, and the event began.

A breakdown of how many teams we have from each state: 24 MA, 14 NY, 7 CA, 6 RI, 6 MD, 6 FL, 5 TX, 5 IN, 4 TN, 4 NC, 3 CT, 2 SC, 2 PA, 2 OR, 2 NH, 2 IL, 2 GA, 2 AZ, 1 WA, 1 NJ, and 1 AL.