Youth Sub-Committee
Home » Youth » Committee

Youth Committee:

Karen Richards (Australia) - Chair
Jason Katz-Brown (USA)
Radhika  Mahalingaiah  (India)
Rohaina Tanveer (Kuwait)
Chrys Placca (Ghana)
Ruth Groffman (NZ)
Shaila Amalean (Sri Lanka)
(Henry) Yeo Kien Hung.  (Malaysia)
(Mrs Yap) Song Kim Lian  (Malaysia)

Terms of reference:

GOAL:The goal of this sub-committee is to promote inclusion of more youth into Scrabble activities world-wide.

THE COMMITTEE: Within WESPA, this committee may be known as Youth Committee. Outside WESPA, the full title of Youth Sub-Committee of WESPA will be used.

COMMITTEE STRUCTURE: This committee will consist of a Committee Head, plus at least four other members (total 5), up to a maximum total of 11 (ie Committee head plus 10 members).  It will represent a variety of countries.

VOTING:  If more than one member resides in a particular country, the voting power of that country is limited to a maximum of 2 votes.  Votes will be majority, with the Committee head having a deciding vote (but no primary vote).
Quorum for voting is “over half total current membership of committee” (eg membership of 10 or 11, quorum is 6) 

BUSINESS: All business, including voting, is to be carried out by email.  The sub-committee may also conduct extraordinary meetings in conjunction with biennial WSC events.

MEMBERSHIP: Members may resign at any time.  Nomination of new members may occur at any time, but appointment is subject to a majority vote. Any member who does not respond to requests for a vote on three consecutive occasions will be asked to resign from the committee

FINANCE OFFICER: The committee will appoint a Finance Officer. The committee will not hold an account for its own use, but will use existing WESPA accounts. The Finance Officer will be responsible for keeping records of all moneys received and expended, and ensuring these moneys are deposited in WESPA’s bank account, under the guardianship of WESPA Treasurer.  WESPA Treasurer will release such funds as required for Youth Committee activities, and in accordance with budgets previously approved by the Youth Committee.  Annual statements will be required, based on a calendar year. The Finance officer is also expected to prepare budgets, particularly for large-cost items such as WYSC (World Youth Scrabble Championships)

SECRETARY: The sub-committee will appoint a Secretary.  The main duty of the secretary will be to maintain a current list of contacts for “youth Scrabble” (or School Scrabble), preferably for all countries, but particularly those who are members of WESPA.  The secretary will then liaise with such contacts regarding all proposed and on-going activities of the Youth Sub-Committee.  The secretary may be asked, from time to time, to prepare reports such as the number of youth actively involved in Scrabble tournaments within each country.  Such figures may be used as one measure of the effectiveness of committee initiatives.

COMMITTEE HEAD: The Committee Head is responsible for preparing regular reports to WESPA, and for consulting with WESPA for decisions on discretionary issues, as well as being responsible for actioning and follow-up of projects undertaken by the committee, or by individual members of the committee on behalf of the committee.

TECHNICAL EXPERT: A technical expert will be appointed, preferably from within the committee. This person will be responsible for the Youth content on WESPA site, setting up appropriate links on WESPA site, and identifying and promoting suitable software for use by Youth (such to be viewed by committee members before promulgation)

COMMITTEE MEMBERS: Committee members are expected to be proactive, dynamic, self-driven, and capable of contributing ideas, skills, or time, to promote the cause of youth.

COMMITTEE BUSINESS:  Members may initiate discussions at any time (ie this is an ongoing “think-tank”).  Regular, preferably monthly, progress reports will be issued by the committee head for members, and WESPA if required.  Requests and suggestions from persons outside the Youth Committee will be considered, as appropriate .

RESPONSIBILITY TO WEPSA: Major decisions will be referred to WESPA for ratification.  WESPA reserves the right to veto decisions which may harm the position of WESPA in relation to copyright holders, or Scrabble-players.

RESPONSIBILITIES OF WESPA:  WESPA will provide limited funds for a “Youth Budget”.  The Youth Committee will prepare a budget for use of such funds, and will account for their usage.  Incoming moneys (eg tournament entry fees) will be made payable to WESPA, but receipted as “WESPA Youth Committee”. 
WESPA will handle all requests for decisions, or ratification of decisions, from the Youth committee within one month of their submission to WESPA.

About the Committee Members:

(Henry) Yeo Kien Hung Yeo

25 years old, admin executive.
Started playing in 2001.
2005 WSC competitor (probably over the hill right now)
Malaysia Scrabble Association Committee Member.

Although I am new to the tournament organizing scene, I have completed roughly 10 tournaments this year single-handedly, and quadrupling the youth participation in local tournaments in Kuala Lumpur (outside of Mrs. Yap’s School Scrabble tournaments). I am still experimenting with new ideas and proposals to further increase youth participation for the incoming year.

    Song Kim Lian (better known as Mrs Yap)

I am a Registered Nurse (Staff Nurse), but not practising now as I concentrated on bringing up my children after my first child was born 19 years ago. Currently, I am selling insurance, whilst focussing on advancing School Scrabble for young Malaysians. I have 4 children ranging from 14 to 19 years old.

 About eight years ago, I introduced Scrabble to my children (2 sons & 2 daughters). Of course, they are all better than their parents now. (My husband's a Surgeon).  I took my children for their first competition in the Malaysian National Junior Scrabble Championship in September 1999 and every year till 2001.  My elder's son best word WELLINGTONS is the longest word in Malaysian records.  Both sons stop playing when they left for Singapore to continue their studies there. My two daughters started playing again when I organised the Malaysian inter-schools competition in 2004.

 Thanks to Mattel SEA Director, Ms Geetha, for giving me the trust and confidence to organise these events since 2004.  Prior to this, I had been very active in my children's school's PTA fund- raising projects of which the patrons are Ministers in the country. All the events were well-organised. It so happened that Geetha also supported the school's fund-raising project because her daughter was also in the same school. That is how she knows about my 'work'.  Being in the insurance line is a boost as I have flexible hours. I can have time for work and 'leisure'.

I do learn a lot when I send my children for scrabble competition organised by others - I learn from their shortcomings and improve on my events.  However, I am still learning to improve further. 

 I have been organising the Malaysian Inter-school Scrabble Championship for the past two years. In each championship, at least 160-180 students, aged from 12 to 18 years old, participated.  For the year 2006, 200 students are expected to take part.  My blog www.myscrabble.blogspot.com lists all events organised so far. I really enjoy working with students.  It is also my vision to see youths excel in world meets, as this will prove that age is not a factor.

 Ruth Groffman

(President of the Dunedin Scrabble Club, New Zealand)

 I am actually Australian - I was brought up in Sydney, then married and brought up my children in Brisbane. Frequently, I would play Scrabble with my sons, but didn't know that Clubs existed until we moved to Dunedin six years ago. For the last four years, I have run all the Dunedin Tournaments. Our Club is small (20 members) but averages 14 regular players every week. There is quite a mixture of players; the youngest is 14 years old.  We also have a blind
player in her early twenties who just graduated with honors in Law and Arts at Otago University, and a plumber who has competed in the WSC at least 3-4 times.

For the last four years, I have run a competition for Primary School students, called "Scrabble for Fun".  In each of the last two years, 120 students have participated. Students make up teams of four, playing one-on-one games against students from other schools. They are competing for both their team and school. Everyone plays two games, which means that the maximum number of games a team can win is 8.  Spot prizes are also given for words in categories nominated by myself, and this creates a lot of excitement.  These prizes are presented by a lady who used to be a circus ringmaster (mistress?) and comes dressed in full regalia.  In 2004, she won the trophy for the Adult Scrabble for Fun in her library, and really enjoys playing Scrabble herself.  She is very entertaining and duly praises the students for their achievements. The games are dictionary games and they can receive help from parents and teachers (who enjoy it just as much as the students!)   However, at the playoff, no help is given. The winning team is presented with a shield for their school, plus a Scrabble Set is donated to their school library.

I would like to see Scrabble workshops in schools and junior scrabble clubs formed, but it is a matter of funding and resources.

 Jason Katz-Brown

 Second-year MIT student from the US.

 I started competing in Scrabble tournaments in 2003 and finished sixth at the 2005 US NSC and 60th at the 2005 WSC.

I am coauthor of Quackle (http://www.quackle.org/), a crossword game playing and analysing tool that rivals the best Scrabble players in the world.

Rohaina Tanveer

(anagrams to VETERAN!)

Kuwait club started here as a way to meet new people from all over. We started off with 50 members in 1994. The founder of our club unfortunately succumbed to cancer 5 years back. Since then I have been the President for our club.  Seeing its number drop down to a regular 7 of the remaining 15 members, I happily decided to do something for the club. The social atmosphere, too, soon changed to a very competitive one.

My husband does not play Scrabble officially, though he likes me to practice on him - so that I get my thrills beating him!  But this game has grown to an addiction now, and I play it more competitively than as friendly game. My love for it grew at the age of 9 when I played with my cousin, as I had 10 days off from school due to chickenpox. So I guess it was the best sick leave where I learnt this game. I made my first triple-triple at that age too, with the word being GENETICS, through a floating E.

When I was studying in India, around about the time Kuwait was invaded (1990), my parents came to stay with me. One of the things they carried with them was the Scrabble board, on which we would play a game each night to keep our minds diverted from the tension. In 1994, I finished my studies and joined them back in Kuwait (I was born and raised here, but am Indian by origin and nationality), and soon afterwards joined the club.

Lately I have been trying ways to attract people across Kuwait. I had two interviews - a local magazine approached me, and the sub-editor for Herald Tribune and Daily Star asked me for write-ups. A thought struck me that school-children would be the best to get involved with the club, as starting early is the easiest way to keep in touch with the game. It is also easy for them to retain words. .

2005 saw me advertising for a school venue where I could hold sessions for children over 9.  I distributed pamphlets in two schools, as well as advertised in the local media. My first batch had 21 kids from 4-5 different schools (it was the Summer vacation). They found the course to be really new, and their parents gave me very positive feedback, saying that it is the first venture of its kind. I immediately chalked out a program to have one more batch for 2005 and started the preliminaries for it. This was a smaller and convenient one consisting of only 9 kids. The others were just too busy. I thought to myself, if they can have time for dancing, karate, plays, basketball, cricket etc as extracurricular activities, how come no-one had time for Scrabble?  Well, the answer was of course, it isn’t popular YET!!!!   I have a real passion to help make it so.

 (Chrys) Chrysostom Mensah Placca

 Scrabble History:

Two-time Ghanaian National champion (1998/1999)

Participated in WSC 1995, 2003, 2005 and was reserve in 2001

Participated in 5 Pan African Scrabble Championships

Participated in UK Nationals, BMSC and Mind Sports Olympiad all in 2000

 Occupation: Teaching (Music and Social Studies) in Achimota School

    Radhika Mahalingaiah

 Currently I am very busy - both competing in, and organising, scrabble tournaments in India.  I have just finished organising the second iGATE International Tournament at Bangalore.

 I am very interested in promoting scrabble, especially among school children. So far I was concentrating on our scrabble club (tournament level scrabble is still at an infant stage here). We are planning to promote scrabble at school levels. In fact, I am planning to write a simple elementary book to introduce youngsters to competitive scrabble. I met one of the newspaper organisations (they were promoting sudoku - latest craze here) and they have agreed to publish and promote a book!

 Hopefully, with this push for more young players in Scrabble world-wide, we will have a few more competing in next year’s iGATE International (January 2007)

 Karen Richards

 When I was 8, my grandmother taught me Scrabble on an original 1950's board. Our games continued for approximately a year, until I started winning consistently!  Scrabble remained an occasional pastime for me - on our honeymoon, Paul and I dabbled in Scrabble, never foreseeing the impact it would have on our lives together many years later. 

 A graduate of both Economics and Management, I used to train managers and supervisors.  My husband (Civil Engineer) manages construction of power stations, which means we move every year or two.  In an effort to make some interesting friends, I searched for a Scrabble club where we were living in 1997 (country Western Australia).  Not finding one, I contacted ASPA (Australian Scrabble Players Association) and asked for help to establish a club.  Having set up my first club (there have been four since, plus various school clubs), I thought I should check out a tournament.  My addiction started at that first tournament, when I won 3 trophies.  After that, Paul decided that he should join me, so as not to risk being a "scrabble widower".  At home we had a 5-year-old son, Alastair (anagram - SALARIAT).  Alastair was intrigued by us practicising, and pleaded to play - he had been spelling since the age of 2, and reading since 3.  We allowed him to commence tournament play against adults at age 7, and he won his first trophy before he turned 8.  At age 8 he played a high game of 524 in the B section of Australian Scrabble Championships, and by age 9 he was competing against Masters players. Now, at 13, he is better than both his parents. At the time of writing, he is ranked number 1 in the state of Queensland, and 30th in Australia, with an International rating of 1691. He is the highest-rated “Speedy” player in Australia (10 minute games).

 I have established two schools in different states of Australia, which are aimed at allowing children to work at their own pace (both for those who want to move ahead quickly, and for those who need to go a little slower than average).  The curriculum is based on phonics (not taught in mainstream Australian schools for about 30 years) because I am concerned about the abysmal spelling of the last two generations of Australians. I have been home-schooling Alastair for 3 years, and he is working on his first University subject (Business Maths and Statistics.)  This I tell you, not out of pride, but to illustrate my awareness of the capabilities of young people, and thus my charter to encourage more of them to join the Scrabble scene.  Actually, I have five children (including a daughter studying Applied Linguistics).  In theory, only 20% of the population really enjoy a good challenge, and rise to the occasion. The rest hate to be moved outside their comfort zone, and find challenges stressful. That means my family is statistically normal, as only my youngest (ie 1 in 5, or 20%) gets an adrenalin rush from playing Scrabble, pitting himself against the "bag" and the best players in the world.

 Computers are not my forte. However, I believe internet scrabble has great potential for attracting and holding the interest of young players.  In Australia, I am the National Rules Coordinator, as well as being on the Ratings Advisory Committee. I have organised various tournaments (usually marathons, 10 games per day) as well as coaching clinics for all ages.  Currently, I am also working with U3A (University of the Third Age - for those over 50).   As you can see, I have a passion for Scrabble, and am trying to recruit players from all parts of the spectrum.  My major passion remains, however, the involvement of more young players, as they are the future of Scrabble.

SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark of J.W. Spear & Sons Limited, Maidenhead SL6 4UB, England except in Canada and the United States, where it is a registered trademark of HASBRO. Used under license from Mattel Europa BV.