by Dean Grattidge , District 7 Reporter

On Saturday, January 20th, 2018, hosted by Hemet West, the only 10-court venue in District 7, each roster from District 7 and District 5, Palm Springs, entered 40 players into this annual event. This has taken place for nearly two decades!

Many CSA and other local officers were involved: CSA president, Jay Davidson, 1st vice president, Carol Blansingame, 2nd vice president, Nelda Lichtwald, 3rd vice president, Russell Smart from District 5, Palm Springs, secretary Rocky Raver and Treasurer George Hayes. And District 5 president, Gene Eager.

Many thanks to Shirley Eager, secretary and  treasurer of D-5 for organizing and bringing her entourage of 40 players from her district.

The “MVP” of this competition has to be Lynda Goggin who ordered the three delicious cakes from Stater Brothers and presented them to the players between the two games!

Games were played at 9 AM and 1 PM and were non-sanctioned 16-frame games. Players switched their discs to the opposite side after playing 8 frames.

District 5 had the yellow discs for the first game, then District 7 had the yellow discs to start the second game. The first game ended in a “nail biter”,. One tie game was determined by a lag. District 7’s Marolyn Davidson won the lag leaving the games tied up 10-10.

Lynda Goggin was really multi-tasking to make this a successful tournament. We owe her a huge thank you for that! She presided as tournament director (assisted by Helen Noeltner), head scorekeeper, and both of them were head referees. She spent many hours gathering the 40-player roster together.

When the dust settled, District 7 had managed to pull off 12 wins in game two, resulting in a final score of 42-38.

District 7 president, Suzanne Shapiro accepted the traveling trophy on behalf of her district.

Thanks to Lynda Goggin for all her effort and to ALL participants for making this annual event another successful and

exciting tournament.

This Challenge is scheduled again for the year, 2019, as District 7 will travel to Palm Springs for the competition.