SCRABBLE: Taking The Plunge
I get emails; I get phone calls. People call me and they tell me that they love the game of scrabble. They tell me that they play with friends and family all the time.
They tell me that they’d like to come play at Club #350 or at a 1st Sunday Tournament.
Then they ask some question of me. I normally become very animated in my voice, excited to find potential additions for our club and community. After a question or three they become quieter, if not completely silent. As I explain the differences in the ways that people usually play at home, compared to competitive scrabble, I can hear their enthusiasm wane, I can imagine them wilting in their chairs at the other end on the phones.
At times, callers will ask me if they can just come to club to watch. I never say “No”. But then I suggest that they stop talking about it and simply ‘jump in’ by ‘taking the plunge’.
Have you ever been at a lake where there was a gentle slope from the beach into the water? Where you might have to wade out 100 feet from shore before the water hit your waste? When the water felt cold against your skin and colder yet as it inched up your body? (For me that experience was always painful. Sometime, before the time that the water hit my knees, I chickened out and returned to shore to avoid the coldness reaching my stomach and shoulders.)
Remember the time when you dove into the water off of a dock or the edge of a swimming pool? Recall the initial shock of the temperature of the water to your body? Remember how, within seconds, your body adjusted itself to the water temperature and there was no escape; so you swam and had a great time?
Scrabble observers will visit a club, focus on all those strange words that they do not know, think to themselves, “This too difficult” or “All these folks here are geniuses”, then disappear, never to be heard from again. Only about 6 % of first time players come with a willingness to play, giving the game their best shot. Wise players understand that they will grow their knowledge, that the first several club visits will be a learning experience. The 6-perccenters are willing to ‘take the plunge’ and return many times, becoming better and more competent players session by session.
Play at SCRABBLE CLUB #350 and/or The 1st Sunday Tournament. CLICK HERE