We have a Scrabble Club that meets at school once a week, plus we can play at lunchtime in the library. Scrabble tournaments are really cool as you get to play against people of all ages. Some of the older players don’t like young people playing especially when you beat them, but most are really kind and helpful. Going to Scrabble tournaments is great because I’ve got to travel to different places and make new friends. I like it when people share fun memory tricks with me, such as the end hooks of KO being the letters in “wasp brain”. You get to learn so many really cool words and you can soon get to the point where you can beat your parents. You don’t need to know what all the words mean, but it helps sometimes so you know whether you can add an “s” “ed” or “ing”. Every year in November there is an inter-school Scrabble tournament held on a school day. Maybe you would like to represent your school at this event? There’s another tournament held every year at a small town called Bundanoon. Its held in a public school on a Saturday. Its popular with schoolkids – we even get to play soccer and cricket in between the Scrabble games! I love it when I get to play a bingo. That’s when you make a word using all of your 7 tiles. You get a 50 point bonus which is very useful to win games. Also, you may get a high word prize. Sometimes they even give you a little envelope with some money in if you do really well - or get lucky. Maybe you’d like to play this great game of Scrabble because you’ve heard how much fun it is and you don’t have a Scrabble club at your school yet. Don’t worry because there are people at Scrabble NSW who can help. You can send an email to Mr Tony Hunt, who is the National Youth Scrabble Coordinator. He will let you know what you can do. Or you can ask your teacher or a parent to make contact.

Maybe one day we will see you at a Scrabble tournament.

Here are Mr Tony Hunt’s details –

Email Tony Hunt : audiolifeportrait@gmail.com

Mobile phone Tony Hunt : 0417 470167

Here is a link you might like to check out. It links to the World Youth Scrabble page

http://www.youthscrabble.org/

Here’s a link to the Australian Youth Scrabble Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/scrabbleworkshop/

A little bit of history:

The very first World Youth Scrabble Championships were held in New South Wales back in 2006. And it was won by an Australian named David Eldar. He has gone on to become one of the world’s best Scrabble players and even has his own Wikipedia page.

Wikipedia - David Eldar

So does the World Youth Scrabble Champs

Wikipedia - World Youth Scrabble Championships

By the way, a ko is a Maori digging stick.