This column will arrive, I hope, after many of you just finished playing a lot in the Santa Clara Valley Fall sectional. You’ll be tuning up for the nationals, which will end the month of November in San Francisco.

Local units are providing volunteers to make the nationals run more smoothly. Our Unit 507 is supplying volunteers on Thursday, November 29. Imagine the fun of handing out prizes, putting together new partnerships, or registering new attendees. It’s a chance to make new friends. Then come down to sign up at the San Jose Bridge Center. Our goal is to have 30 volunteers from our 714 members.

Bridge beginners should make a special point of attending. It was the San Francisco nationals in the fall of 1996 that first made me realize how many other people share my interest in this endlessly challenging card game. Check out the ACBL’s welcome to new and intermediate players at http://web2.acbl.org/documentLibrary/nabc/nabcwelcome.pdf. Players with fewer than 5 masterpoints can play free on Friday, November 23. Local teacher Lynn Yokel will be speaking at the nationals that day during the dinner break. Contact her at lynnyokel@comcast.net or (408)499-2011 for more information about what is available at the nationals for new and intermediate players or pick up a flyer at the San Jose Bridge Center.

At the Eureka sectional, Kit Humphrey & Henri Farhi had a section top. At the San Mateo sectional, a knockout team with Yul Inn, Peter Friedland & Ed Barlow won the top bracket. In the pair games, stratification tops were earned by Nongyu Li, Michael Callahan & Cassandra Leung. Linda Rallis & Marilyn Cox came very close to winning a trophy for the top pair under 100. Cheryl Mandala’s Swiss team won the top flight. Fortunately, the last place team isn’t reported on the ACBL website.

Due to the timing of ACBL updates, I have a double dose of congratulations for our newest Masters: Karen Hunt, Barbara Roupe, George Roupe, Rajeeva Sharma (Junior); Han-Yu Chang, Philip Freiberger, Judy Kaplan, Joan Lynch, Mo Maxfield, Douglas Weber (Club); Marilyn Cox, Linda Rallis, Bob Reinthaler, Jennifer Sheppard (Sectional); Edward Lin, Barbara Tiernan, Donna Webb (Regional); Ronald Baron, Michael O’Connor, Ken Rosenfeld, Jay Xu (NABC); Selma Chastaine, Peggy Sprague, Robert Steiger (Life); Sherry Waki (Bronze); Erin Gove, Eugene Hung (Silver); Dee Clinch (Gold). You can find photos of the newest Life Masters at http://www.thewesternconference.com/.

It saddens me to note that two of our directors recently passed away, Bernie Bertonis and Jean Becht. Bernie and Rita Tingley took over the Wednesday morning game from Jean and developed it into a two-section game, both open and newcomer. Lynn Yokel is now running the game.

Any ideas for improving attendance at unit and club games would be welcome at rayyuenger@comcast.net and (408)379-7717.