Giving thanks for the North American Collins Championship (NACC)
It's quite fitting that this past week brought us the Thanksgiving holiday because, for obvious reasons, this is the most thankful time of year for us at the CoCo.
We've just finished putting on the North American Collins Championship (NACC), our flagship event. It was the biggest Collins-only event on American soil this year, and we're proud to say it was a great success. And an event of this magnitude, as you can probably imagine, is not something the three of us could have done alone. It took a village of awesome people, all making big contributions, for the NACC to be possible. And - wouldn't you know it? - now is the perfect time to thank them all.
Without further ado, let's get to the gratitude.
Thank you, Becky Dyer. Becky was originally slated to be one of our directors, but we made a switcheroo later in the year so that Becky could play and Conrad could direct. Nonetheless, Becky continued to contribute to the NACC's success in myriad ways. To name a few: She managed our entrants list all year long (including contacting players to chase down missing information), typed out everyone's scorecards and name badges, and even helped us research options for trophies, pens, stickers, and other swag.
Thank you, Wayne Dyer. Wayne was much more than a supportive husband cheering Becky on; he was also our tournament webmaster, building countless NACC-related webpages and managing them both leading up to the event and during it. He also helped with event setup (including coat rack assemblage!), photo processing, tech support, and so much more.
Thank you, Martin DeMello. Speaking on webmastering, Martin has been an integral part of the team all along - none of the tournament infrastructure you see at every CoCo event would be possible without him. Martin continues to refine the CoCo’s pairings software even added a couple of new pairings features that helped make our NACC directing experience easier.
Thank you, David Whitley. Like Becky, David was also an original NACC director before later switching over to play, but like Becky, he also did a lot to help plan the event throughout the year. He also helped with setup on the Thursday before the tournament began, and he co-directed a rousing trivia event on Saturday night.
Thank you, Puneet Sharma. Alongside David, Puneet was our other trivia co-director; he dazzled players throughout the night with his devilishly hard (but gettable, if you've got your thinking caps on!) questions. Together, David and Puneet put on a great show, and much fun was had by all.
Thank you to our many donors, who collectively donated more than $4,000 to the NACC budget. Their contributions helped fund all sorts of stuff, from the venue to the prize pool to the production of a world-class livestream. Speaking of which...
Thank you, Christian Kay and Andrew Kay. Together, these two brothers are the best Scrabble stream producers in the business, and it's not even close. The Kays flew out to Seattle, put together their set on Thursday, and then broadcast all 30 rounds of the tournament without even a hiccup. Just tremendous work, as usual. They also helped with event setup and breakdown, which was a huge plus.
Thank you, Will Anderson, Sam Rosin, Mike Frentz, and Matt Canik. Along with yours truly (Evans and Conrad, that is), these four guys contributed color commentary on the stream all weekend long, with each of them taking two of the eight sessions throughout the weekend. They all provided expert Scrabble analysis, as well as plenty of witty banter to keep the Twitch chat crowd entertained. Fun times all around.
In closing: This is what the CoCo is all about. The Collins Coalition truly is a coalition - it's a great team of people, all of whom care about our mission and are eager to work together to pursue it. When we all work together, we can make big things happen, and this past NACC was a shining example of that. So, to that end, thank you, everyone.