Photos: NSSC 2008: Before the Tournament

Youth Activities of Zion "YAZ" (UT) plays in the Skittles Room with Mica's mom. They are playing a barefoot and relaxed game and no one is keeping score. First team ever at an NSSC from Utah!

Chris Woodward from Evangelical Christian School Team 1 (TN) plays Peter Olson from Texas State Champions - Trinity Bend Christian School (TX). Chris found sPeCIAL and TN was beating up on TX.

Stephen Sneed Texas State Champions - Trinity Bend Christian School (TX) plays Philip Gasperetti, a 10th grader who aged out of the program a few years back. He is here for the event with his sister Lily of Janney Elementary School (DC).

The goody bag each student and coach received!

Each chair had a bag for a student and one bag at the head of the table, on the floor, for the coach.

The student bag: Boggle, Franklin Electronic Dictionary, medal, pens, and great event hats provided by Electronic Arts.

A shot of the student goody bag.

The coach goody bag had a Travel SCRABBLE set instead of Boggle, a pad of School SCRABBLE paper, and a pin, in addition to the Franklin, event cap, medal, and pins.

Buckley Country Day (NY). Check out the shoes! School spirit: rah!

Longtime attending coach, Charlotte Bremond, and her two teams: Maxwell Park Team 1 (CA) and Maxwell Park Team 2 (CA).

M-Z registration table and a lot of students!

M-Z registration as seen from within the table.

The NSA had wooden tiles scattered around and this Buckley Country Day (NY) player decided to press them into service. She is using both brown and blonde colored tiles!

Every student who registered received an event ESPN T-shirt.

M-Z registation table with player folders and name badges.

Arizona Cactus-Pine Council Inc. Team 2 (AZ) shows us their Girl Scout badges.

A close up of the brand new SCRABBLE Girl Scout badge. It is so big and visible!

Katya Lezin discusses strategy. Two of the four students here are her childen, who she coaches: Randolph Middle School (NC). Noah Lieberman, undaunted by his racklessness, uses his cell phone as a shield against prying eyes.

Arizona Cactus-Pine Council Inc. Team 2 (AZ) tries out a Zyzzyva-equipped laptop set up in the foyer. Students got a chance to interact before games began.

Jim Lowe, senior editor, and John M. Morse, president & publisher of Merriam-Webster, Inc., work a table in the registration foyer. One player thumbs through an OSPD, 4th edition. The students loved the free pens handed out at this table.

James Balog, product manager at Franklin Electronic Publishers, sits at a table covered in their electronic offerings. He had six different electronic dictionaries and a great electronic sudoko game!

Our favorite Franklin product: the OSPD, 4th edition in electronic form. Get one exclusively at the NSA's Word Gear site!

More Franklin electronic dictionaries. Get more info on them at Franklin.

More Franklin electronic dictionaries. Get more info on them at Franklin.

More Franklin electronic dictionaries. Get more info on them at Franklin.

Seplling Bee electronic dictionary! Get more info on them at Franklin.

Christine Economos, NSA Educational Consultant, interviews students from Thomasville Middle School (AL).

Seth Lipkin, coach of the Hopkinton teams, designed this T-shirt for his players.

Arizona Cactus-Pine Council Inc. Team 1 (AZ) shows off the new Girl Scout SCRABBLE badge!

Arizona Cactus-Pine Council Inc. Team 1 (AZ) and thie Girl Scout SCRABBLE badges shown in profile.

Emerson Middle School Team 3 (CA), check out those sneakers!

Arizona Cactus-Pine Council Inc. Team 1 (AZ).

Event director, Ben Greenwood, goes over specific rules questions with parents, coaches, and players. One of the most asked questions: how does the timer work?

It's a family affair, Quincy Cerebino-Hess, of Windham Nesmith Library (NH), is here with his little sister, Flora, his dad, and his mom (not in photo).

Walter C. Young Middle School Team 1 (FL), Walter C. Young Middle School Team 2 (FL), Walter C. Young Middle School Team 3 (FL), pose with their coaches.

Mark Fidler, BBN coach, with his single team this year: Buckingham Browne and Nichols School (MA). Girl power!

SCRABBLE coach, Kathy Hummel, is flanked by Hampton Bays SCRABBLE Team White (NY) and Hampton Bays SCRABBLE Team Purple (NY).

Darcy Davis of Park View Middle School Team 1 (RI) has bionic Rubix's cube solving skills. Her hands were on fire!

Ruth Keeler Library Team 2 (NY) and one student from Ruth Keeler Library Team 2 (NY), plays a SCRABBLE card game with their coach.

Students play with the random SCRABBLE tiles scattered around the room.

Stephen Sneed of Texas State Champions - Trinity Bend Christian School (TX) explores of the the lookup software's finer points with Magnolia Sixth Grade Campus (TX).

Hampton Bays SCRABBLE Team Purple (NY), Hampton Bays SCRABBLE Team White (NY), and the Hummels relax with cards after registering the teams.

Hampton Bays SCRABBLE Team Purple (NY) and Hampton Bays SCRABBLE Team White (NY).

Hopkinton Middle School Team 1 (MA), Hopkinton Middle School Team 2 (MA), Hopkinton Middle School Team 3 (MA), and their coach, Senior Lipkin (an NSA member and top player himself, Seth Lipkin).

Buckley Country Day (NY) and their coaches.

Event director, Ben Greenwood (back), meets his committee to discuss the Championship flow. Joe Edley, Gregg Fsoter, Donna Paul, Jason Katz-Brown, Joel Sherman, Christine Economos, Annette Bailey, pending, and pending.

The refurbished big board with the new SCRABBLE logo and and new board design with different premium square colors.

NSSC 2008 Committee: Joe Edley, Annette Bailey, Christine Economos, Ben Greenwood, Jason Katz-Brown, Gregg Foster, Joel Sherman, Sherrie Saint John, and John Chew.

The National SCRABBLE Association Staff: pending, Katie Schultz, Patty Hocker, Joe Edley, John D. Williams, Jr., Monica Sledjeski, Theresa Bubb, Jane Ratsey Williams, and pending.

The left side of the playing room, as viewed from the stage to the press table across the room.

The left side of the playing room. The calm before the storm...

And now the storm: the students and coaches enter the playing room.

Excited students seeking their assigned tables and loot bags!

Students rush around in the search for their assigned tables.

One happy student from White Brook Middle School (MA).

Hopkinton Middle School Team 3 (MA) tears into their goody bags.

Event Protiles come in white with blue letters and blue with white letters. The students were asked to put them into square groups of 25 tiles in each quadrant. This way, at a glance, that the game starts with 100 tiles can be verified each round.

Random pairing placed Eastern Greene Middle School Team 2 (IN) vs. Bear Branch Elementary School (TX) at table 1. The avent annotators, Gregg Foster and Jason Katz-Brown test the laptops to ensure they are on the internet so this game can go up live, play by play, for those watching remotely.

Ruth Keeler Library Team 3 (NY).

SCRABBLE necessities: our dictionary and a SCRABBLE lunch box.

Darcy Davis of Park View Middle School Team 1 (RI), has a tote bag made entirely of colored duct tape!

The NSA's Executive Director, John D. Williams, Jr., welcoming the students.

Camera operator from Channel 10, NBC, WJAR, in Providence.

Some students doodled during the brief rules review.

NSSC 2008 Director, Ben Greenwood, reviewing rules from the event stage.