January 2018 Anniversaries

Here are the January 2018 judge anniversaries!

15 years

from Middx, England
from Beijing, China
from Plymouth, England
from Panama, Panama
from belleville, United States
from Frosinone, Italy
from Fort Collins, United States
from Dresden, Germany
from Yasugi-shi, Japan

10 years

from Ft Collins, Colorado, United States
from Mexico City, Mexico
from Austin, Texas, United States
from Santiago, Chile
from Salem, New Hampshire, United States
from Sunderland, Massachusetts, United States

5 years

from chongqing, China
from Denver, Colorado, United States
from Norristown, Pennsylvania, United States
from Temecula, California, United States
from Denton, Texas, United States
from Poway, California, United States
from Austin, Texas, United States
from Portland, Oregon, United States
from Savignano sul rubicone, Italy
from Niagara Falls, Canada
from Fort Wayne, Indiana, United States
from Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
from Davis, California, United States
from Xiamen, China
from darwin, Australia
from Taos, New Mexico, United States
from Bemidji, Minnesota, United States
from Renton, Washington, United States
from Rochester, Minnesota, United States
from Albavilla, Italy
from Monrovia, California, United States
from Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States
from Arlington, Virginia, United States
from Talcahuano, Chile
from Kansas City, Kansas, United States
from Hannover, Germany
from Little Rock, Arkansas, United States
from Bakersfield, California, United States
from Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
from Portland, Oregon, United States
from Gorzow Wielkopolski, Poland
from Cary, North Carolina, United States
from Bakersfield, California, United States
from Toronto, Canada
from Somerville, Massachusetts, United States
from Turku, Finland
from Charlotte, North Carolina, United States
from Columbia, Missouri, United States
from Oxford, United Kingdom
from Warszawa, Poland
from Columbia, Missouri, United States
from charlotte, North Carolina, United States
from Longmont, Colorado, United States
from aichi, Japan
from Roßwein, Germany
from tatuno, Japan
from Lys-Lez-Lannoy, France
from Mouscron Belgium, Belgium
from San Francisco, California, United States
from Pamplona, Spain
from Duisburg, Germany
from Hutchinson, Alabama, United States
from Reno, Nevada, United States
from Nicosia, Cyprus
from Hawthorne, California, United States
from Osaka, Japan
from Hillsboro, Oregon, United States
from San Francisco, California, United States
from Chico, California, United States
from Córdoba, Argentina
from Charlotte , North Carolina, United States
from tokyo, Japan
from Spartanburg , South Carolina, United States
from S. Pedro do Sul, Portugal
from Talca, Chile
from Beaverton, Oregon, United States
from Rockford, Illinois, United States
from Farsta, Sweden
from Talca, Chile
from Pistoia, Italy
from Kutztown, Pennsylvania, United States
from Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, United States
from Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, United States
from philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
from Kiev, Ukraine
from Westminster, Colorado, United States
from Watauga, Texas, United States
from Battle Creek, Michigan, United States
from Cravinhos, Brazil
from midlothian, Virginia, United States
from Gladwin, Michigan, United States
from Palma de Mallorca , Spain
from Pasadena, California, United States
from Seattle, Washington, United States
from Burlington, North Carolina, United States
from Heidelberg, Germany
from Toronto, Canada
from Belton, Missouri, United States
from Corona, California, United States
from Hurst, Texas, United States
from Bratislava, Slovakia
from Vlissingen, Netherlands
from Fortaleza, Brazil
from Guildford, United Kingdom
from stroud, United Kingdom
from Clovis, New Mexico, United States
from Westland, Michigan, United States
from Coventry, United Kingdom
from Bratislava, Slovakia
from Atlanta, Georgia, United States
from Savannah, Georgia, United States
from Riethoven, Netherlands
from Guildford, United Kingdom
from Malmö, Sweden
from Eindhoven, Netherlands
from Columbus, Ohio, United States
from Teresina, Brazil
from Lake City, Florida, United States
from Chateauroux, France
from Auckland, New Zealand
from Penticton, Canada
from Madrid y Sevilla, Spain
from San Jose, California, United States
from San Jose , California, United States
from Rolla, Missouri, United States
from Oxie, Sweden
from San Jose, California, United States
from Moscow, Russia
from Croydon, United Kingdom

Congratulations, and thank you for all your hard work!

Simon!

This month we are featuring Simon Ahrens and Alex de Bruijne! First, Simon’s RC, , has this to as about his anniversary:

I’m very happy to announce Simon Ahren’s 5-year anniversary this month. What he has achieved during that time is nothing short of amazing. A bit more than two years ago, Simon came up with the idea to implement an Area Captain structure in our region, and then helped make his bold plan reality. The ACs are now well established as the region’s leadership, and when I took over the mantle of RC, I had a functioning support network in place, making the transition so much easier.

However, that’s not the only big achievement of Simon—he also helped introduce and shape the L2 mentoring project in our region. Interested L1s can now be mentored remotely in a series of 2-on-2 Skype sessions, where they prepare for their life as L2 judges. The project is a huge success: the L2 exam pass rate has gone up significantly, and we are only beginning to see the long-term beneficial effects of good training. Since then, many other countries have adapted the recipe and implemented it in their region, most notably France. A while ago, Simon stepped back from his leadership duties as AC and in the L2 project for the birth of his son, and I’m happy that he is back, supporting the region (and me!) with his insight and diligence. Here’s to many more years!

Alex!

Next we have Alex:

Alex has been a main-stay at the European Grand Prix circuit for a while and has really found his role there, but as with many of these kind of judges the question is; how did this come to pass?

For that I send an inquiry to the judge who certified him for L1, Anniek van der Peijl. This is what her memory brought up:

I certified Alex during that time when we were pushing to have a judge in every store. De Burcht in Middelburg was my old LGS from when I lived there, so I had a chat with the owner, Christopher, about this judge-in-every-store thing. Initially he volunteered himself, but after some time it became clear that he was simply too busy. So who else would be a suitable candidate? We both knew Alex to be a reliable guy with lots of play experience under his belt. We’d all played since ‘back in the day’ when there was no LGS and Magic happened at the local library on Friday afternoons.

Alex was not the most excited candidate I ever met. I think he did it mostly for the local community, and because he was already showing up to every FNM anyway. I certified him, and he went about doing exactly that, running the FNMs and not much else. That is, until the store in Bergen op Zoom (a city two towns over) had an emergency: they didn’t have a head judge for their competitive event, and were close to cancelling it. Alex responded to that bat signal, judged his first Comp. REL event as the head judge of said event with minimal prep time, and the result was this report.

Most important quote: “I did not expect this to be my thing, but it is! I felt very happy and content with helping others and learning from this event. I’ll definitely try to get a judge spot at the next PTQ in my neighbourhood, and I’ll even try my luck for the GP Utrecht.”

The rest is pretty much history. I’m extremely proud of this ‘happy accident’, and it’s always a pleasure to work with him. To many more years!

As we all know, that’s only part of the story. Anniek certified him for L1, but Dustin had the honour of certifying Alex for L2, so there’s a story there too:

Alex has a history of volunteer work in his local community, and is a proven force behind many charities and local clubs. Despite that, he still manages to make time for judging, and frequently brings his wife along on a city trip. His sheer enthusiasm and sincere joy make it a pleasure to see him at any event.

After Alex’s first PPTQ, he quickly started judging more and more Competitive events, both in the Netherlands and in Belgium. He became a regular face at the Dutch Open Series, soon completed his L2 checklist and thus we scheduled a date for his exam. I was happy to see him pass it with flying colours.

At the Grand Prix level, Alex really enjoys the challenges, and now has become one of the European Special Ops Leads, which suits his logistical expertise and constant need for new approaches to problems.

I look forward to many more events in the near future!

Anyways, when thinking of Alex de Bruijne, I’ll always think of someone with a huge smile and a ‘can-do’-attitude, which I’m happy to play Tichu with.

Happy anniversary to all of you! We look forward to many more years of judging from you all.

About Ronald

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Recent Posts

Magic Judges On…

Recent Comments

Meta