Club Vista Cue Sports Adjunct

 

 

February 2019 Newsletter

 

At a recent meeting of the 2019 Adjunct Committee, a few proposals were considered and some changes were agreed:

 

Subscriptions

Firstly, it was decided to reduce the annual Adjunct subscription to $10.00, which I am sure many of you will welcome. To replace the drop in revenue from subscriptions, all competition entry fees will be levied 10% before calculation payouts. This will apply to all events.

 

Subscriptions for 2019 ($10.00) are now due and can be paid to Treasurer Graham Stevens or by internet banking to Club Vista Cue Sports Adjunct 01-0731-0087779-007. Please include your name as reference.

 

Monthly High Break

To allow other lesser mortals an opportunity to win the A Grade high break, Ian Macdonald has voluntarily imposed a handicap of 30 on his breaks, so for him to beat someone’s break of, say, 40, Ian would have to have a break of higher than 70 to beat it. Thank you Ian for this very sporting gesture.

 

A and B Grade Singles Club Night

It was proposed and agreed that alternate Monday and Wednesday club nights be changed to allow A and B Grade players the opportunity to play more serious competitive snooker. These nights will be only for A and B grade players, as determined by handicap (more on this to follow) and will primarily be singles play, though some pairs play may be included from time to time. Handicaps will apply, i.e. matches will not be “off the stick”. All other players will still have a minimum of one night per week (as it used to be before the RSA merger) and two nights on many weeks. A schedule will be drawn up and distributed before this commences early in March.

 

Singles Handicaps

I has been decide that in addition to the pairs handicaps used on club nights, all players will, if be given a singles handicap. The handicapping will be based around the number 7, and follows the system used by many clubs, and recently adopted by the Otaki RSA. A Grade will be divided into three groups: A = 0, A+ = -7 and A++ = -14. B+ = 7, B = 14. C++=21, C+ =28 and C = 35. Please note that these handicaps are for singles play and do not affect the pairs handicapping at all.

 

Closure of Cue Sports Area

The long awaited seismic strengthening work is due to commence on 14th February and will necessitate to close of the cue sports area for approximately two weeks. Club nights will, of course, be affected, however arrangements are being made to provide a bus to transport players to the Otaki RSA, who have agreed to host our club night on at least one of the Wednesday night closures. It is likely that a few Otaki players will join in too, and with 6 tables, it should be a very enjoyable evening with plenty of snooker.

 

Exact details of timing etc have yet to be finalised but will be available soon. The transport is being provided by Club Vista, free of charge.

 

2019 Club Championships

This year’s championships are being organised by Club Captain Craig Steinmetz. It has been decided to play these events as part of club nights, and this should ensure that all matches are played in a timely fashion. More details on this will follow in due course.

 

Our Facilities

At the recent under 21s training camp held at our club, Neil Whalley, the National Coach, remarked that Club Vista has the best three tables of any he has seen anywhere, which is quite a compliment. You can all help to keep our tables up to this high standard by observing a few simple things to keep unnecessary damage and wear to a minimum. These are:

 

• Keep your hands off the table except when playing your shot. Every time your hands and arms touch the cloth, they leave behind dirt, oils and skin particles which, over time, build up in the cloth. Once deposited on the cloth, these cannot be removed, so please keep hand contact with the cloth to a minimum.

• Don’t rub the cloth unnecessarily. If you do need to flick away a heavy chalk mark, use the back of your fingers and rub only in the direction of the nap, which is from the baulk cushion toward the top (black spot end) cushion. Never rub across or against the nap.

• Please don’t walk around the table dragging your hands along the cushions. Doing that results in very premature failure of the cushion cloth.

• When racking the balls, please don’t use the triangle as a net to drag the balls in, or drop the balls into the triangle. Gather the 15 reds against the top cushion and use your forearms to form them into a triangle. Then, slip the triangle half way down the balls and roll them into position. Don’t slid the triangle on the cloth as this not only causes unnecessary wear, it also pushes against the nap of the cloth, bending and breaking the fibres.

• Take care not to drag your cue tip across the cloth. Doing so bends and breaks fibres and causes instant and permanent damage. Contact when playing shots is unavoidable but other contact is, and should be avoided.

 

Annual Trip Away

There will be a trip away this year. James Hutton will be organising it for later in the year and further information will be sent out in due course. Thank you James for taking this on.

 

Otaki RSA Visit

I have liaised with the Convener of the Cue Sports Adjunct at the Otaki RSA and we have agreed that Otaki will visit Club Vista on Sunday 7th April, with a team of twelve players. If you’ are interested in playing in the Club Vista twelve person team, please let Graham Stevens know as soon as possible.

 

Chris Barnett

Convener - Club Vista Cue Sports Adjunct

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