BECOMING AN EMERALD LIFE MASTER
by Jeff Aker | August 2017

Carlos,

Thanks for the congratulations. I wish I could report that I reached this plateau by winning a major event, but in fact the last few points came from match awards in a regional Swiss Teams event at the recent Toronto NABC. However, what made it particularly rewarding was that it was in partnership with my wife Kate. We play together only occasionally, but she really gets the credit for encouraging me to test myself against the best players at the national level and to start attending all the nationals as well as the team trials. This led to my team winning the slot as USA2 in the Senior Trials in 2015, and a 4th place finish in the D'Orsi Senior Bowl in Chennai, India.

In response to one of your other questions, I think that both the District and Unit do a great job. I know that finding space in our expensive area is a big challenge. It would be great if Westchester could get back to running sectionals, but I know that the costs can be prohibitive.

Regards,

Jeff