The other morning, Marolyn and I were eating breakfast in a new and popular spot called “The Breakfast Club”. Seated across from us was a nice young family and I noticed the son was wearing this shirt.

 I asked if I could take a picture of it and assured him I would make him famous. I thought it would be a nice companion to the picture at the top of the home page. 

 But it made me wonder. How did shuffleboard get to California? Where did it come to first? I suppose it got here like most Californians. It came here because of the weather. This is one of the best places to be. Especially at this time of year, when a lot of the US is having one of the worst winters on record. I’m sure some of our members can point me in the right direction, so more on this later.

 So, in a week or so, when we, here in Hemet, begin play in the annual team tournament, the”CSA Soboba Classic”, hosted by District 7, 20 teams, five venues, and a host of volunteers, will be LIVING THE CALIFORNIA DREAM.

 From the CSA board, GOOD LUCK! And let the games begin!

From right: Shirley Eager, Sec-tres, Russel Smat Pres, Gene Eager, 1st VP, Dick Serburn

Last Saturday, 9 of us traveled to Cathedral City to attend District 5″s Spring meeting. District 5 takes in the Palm Springs to Indio area and a large part of it’s members are snow-birds. They have 2 meetings per year, one in the fall, as the members arrive for the winter, and one in the spring, before they all leave for the summer.

The meeting was presided over by President Russel Smart. Russel is also 3rd Vice president of CSA.(California Shuffleboard Association).

Along with Marolyn and I, were Sharron Brown, 2nd VP of CSA and her husband Julian, Nelda Lichtwald, 2nd VP of CSA and her husband Robert, and Rocky Raver, secretary of CSA. Along for the ride were Jan and Leroy Zerr, last year’s National Doubles winners.

The meeting started on time and went smoothly, with a report from Gene Eager on his efforts to attract new clubs to the District. Of the 4 he visited, one looks promising. Next were the reports from the club Presidents, all of which were concise and detailed. They included the number of members, new members, placing of their teams in the leagues, and individual trophies won.

District 5 has 2 leagues. The fun league is called Desert Shufflers. These teams play for fun, with time for refreshments and socializing. No stats are kept. The serious league is called High Ten. It is more like our league, with trophies given at the end of the year. After the meeting, we were invited to play a game on their boards. A four board facility, nicely kept and had windows overlooking the pool. Refreshments were served by Barbara Smart, the President’s wife. The boards were medium speed and had some interesting drifts to them. Very nice. To cap off the day, six of us more adventurous ones, took advantage of being in Palm Springs and visited Ruby’s for a late lunch. Also to celebrate Jan Zerr’s birthday,(39?) All in all, a nice day with our sister desert district.

If you would like to read the minutes of this meeting, ask for them at jayandmar@yahoo.com