Here are the August 2018 judge anniversaries!
15 years
Nicola DiPasqualeBrian Schenck
Thomas Weber
Michael T McGee
10 years
Arkaitz UlloaEloy Lillo Berga
Travis Miyashiro
Andreas Quvang Jepsen
Anders Schack-Mulligen
Hannes Reichinger
Iliès Bekkar
Simon Hall
John Andreotti
Moisés Sánchez
Julio Vazquez Turnes
Blake Miller
Marco Soranno
Marcello Turati
Abel Jose Maria Flores Najera
Vincent Cligniez
5 years
Johannes KristoffersenJelle Lansdaal
Jonathan ZAJAC
Jason Long
Jason Gonsalves
Jose Salini
Peter Kukk Grønbjerg
James Walton
Federico Verdini
Timothy Evers
Audrey Kisilewicz
Nathan Wang
Zhonglin Huang
Vincent Davis
Tom Law
Richard Laurie
Joshua Hawks
Justin Murphy
Lyndon Walker
Tim Hughes
Ryan Carroll
Robbie Schmidt
José ignacio Pérez Janeiro
Rubén Galán
Edgar Magalhães
Andrew Swift
harrison sadd
Adam Shaw
Ryan Layman
Taylor Blanton
Manuel Gomez
Sammy Brent
Josh Pettit
Even Hansen
Mat Carlson
Shintaro Kudo
Austin Brown
Yohei Araki
Omar Zarza
Masato Ando
Kevin Beckman
Claudio Barrera
Michael Stych
Danny Goldstein
Keith Golimowski
Lora Carpenter
Joel Wright
Eric R./judge] from Orlando, Florida, United States of America
[judge dci=60116368]Ryan Radcliffe
Lawrence Bouzane
Andy Moore
Patrick Liu
Naoki Takahashi
Phillip Beightol
Brian Keaton
Don Wiggins
Aaron Garritillo
John Weldin
Jason Justis
John Taylor
Hayes Pierson
Zack Wisner
Gilbert Medeiros
Todd Bussey
Congratulations, and thank you for all your hard work!
This month we are featuring 4 judges: Todd Bussey, Abel Jose Maria Flores Najera, Haitao Jia, and Riccardo Tessitori. Jon GoudI’m so happy to celebrate Todd’s 5-year anniversary as a judge. Todd has been a mainstay on Canada’s west coast and makes his presence widely felt as a rules authority on various online channels. When Todd posts something on the Canadian Facebook group you know it’s going to be a real noodle-scratcher because if HE can’t figure it out you know it’s going to be a puzzle for the rest of us muggles!
Here’s something unique about Todd – he is a great example of how to grow in the program and find your niche. If you take a peek at his exemplar nominations you’ll see he is often nominated more than once by the same person after an extended period. He’s the kind of judge who was impressive when he was new, and then continues to be impressive in the ways he developed as a judge. His reputation as a rules judge is widely known, but he has shown tremendous growth in his community commitments and mentorship chops.
Todd and I spent some time chatting at GP Vancouver when he leveled up to L2. Todd is a little on the introverted side – and I think many judges can identify with that. It’s a common ‘archetype’ of judge – the quiet rules genius! We spoke about how he struggles to see himself as an L2 because many of the people he looked up to were so different from him. He was looking at all of these outgoing, super-charismatic leaders in the program and saw that they were very different than him. He never imagined himself to be like that, so he imagined that advancement in the program would be a challenge for him.
But he found his place – and he found it without having to put on some sort of ‘costume’ trying to be someone else.
Each of us has something important to learn from Todd’s story – the judge program is a big place that thrives on diversity of all kinds. Todd really has a gift, and he doesn’t need to be anyone else other than who he is in order to occupy an important role in our community. Cooperative diversity is how we continue to be creative, challenge each other, and lean on each other to complement the areas we need help with. Each of us has something in us to contribute – and each of you and your unique talents have been and always will be valuable to the rest of us.
Congrats Todd – and keep being you 🙂
Next up, CarlosI certified José María back at Guatemalan Nationals in 2008. I think he was the first certified judge in the country, and he eventually became L2 and certified the next generation of judges, leaving a great legacy before real life took him away from the Magic scene. He recently was re-certified by Eduardo Lee, who remembers him fondly from those old days, when José María helped and encouraged him as he was starting to play this game we love. I asked Eduardo to share a few words about José María now that it’s been 10 years since that Nationals:
I met José María, aka “Chema” approximately 9 years ago, when I was starting to play and get into the cardboard world. At that time, Chema was the only certified judge in Guatemala, and was a highly esteemed member of our community, always ready to help anyone.
Back then, he always encouraged me to dive into the rules of the game, saying that I was cut out to be a judge, something I never believed.
As time passed by, he opened the doors to more opportunities for our country. Since the first Nationals, he was always a mentor for many of the young players. However, there are always hard decisions to make, and in this case, his family was a priority, so he paused his participation in the Magic community.
In his absence, Guatemala kept growing, more judges were certified in the country, more stores opened, we had more tournaments, and the community grew. Ironically, I ended up becoming the judge he always wanted me to be.
During several conversations we had, he always mentioned wanting to come back to the Magic world, that happiness that he never forgot about. After thinking about it, and watching his family grow, he decided to come back Into the Fray, joining his fellow judges, and I had to honor to recertifiy him.
In this, his anniversary month, I look back and remember the long road that we all walked, and notice that he opened this road to many of us, and I’m extremely happy and honored to congratulate him on his anniversary as a judge, and I hope that he’ll stay with us for many more prosperous years.
We have two Level 3 anniversaries to celebrate this month. First, Hans Wang“Haitao, I don’t know how I can appreciate you more for all these years we have worked together in the program, for everything you have done for the community, for the region, for the fellow judges and for me. I can still remember that GP Bangkok, and the joke we made on your panel in Beijing earlier that year. Now it’s already five years, five years. How many more five years we can have? I believe I’ve written this in your Exemplar several times, but I would still like to thank you for all the help you have given me these years. Those insights you have on regional plans, those standards you made for our regional financial structure, the knowledge you shared with judges in conferences, and all the feedback you have given me about how to become a better judge. Well, no one knows what the next five years will be, just like none of us could have seen five years ago where we are now, but let’s keep our faith, do what things should be done, and so on. Happy 5-year anniversary!”
Next, we hear from Italy’s RC, Cristiana Dionisio“In the last 15 years Riccardo has touched every single aspect of the judge program: sharing his knowledge and support worldwide, while still contributing within the Italian Community, helping me a lot in my RC role, and sharing with everybody else his knowledge, wisdom and unique experiences.
He has written tons of articles, head judged countless GPs and PTs, served a lot of judges, TOs and players. His notoriety has spread worldwide.
When players or judges talk about rules and policy the phrases “Tex said that” “Tex ruled that way” are very often in those conversations. He has been part of the judge program and especially of the Italian Community since the very beginning. I’m extremely proud of having him in my Region. Congratulations and thank you for what you did for me, for Italy and for the whole Judge World in these 15 years!”
Best wishes to both of you for your years of service as a Level 3 judge!