A home for dominoes, the establishment of a welfare committee, the addition of two new tournaments and card games for senior citizens.
These were among several new initiatives revealed by new president Cedric Alleyne in his report at the annual awards ceremony of the National Domino, Whist and Hearts Association last Sunday at the Masonic Centre in St George.
“For the last 12 years, you would have heard the former presidents speaking about our home and I would like to tell you at this stage, it is knocking at the door,” Alleyne told members.
“In the coming weeks, we will need the complete support of all members to see our home become a reality.”
The president said the association was requesting a special donation of $20 from each member “as a part of your symbol for the love of this sport”.
He didn’t disclose where the new home would be located, but said more information would be given in the association’s newsletter.
In relation to the welfare committee, Alleyne it would assist “the many domino players who end up in the hospital with many types of ailments”.
“I am therefore appealing to each individual for a token of $20 to start this venture so that we would be able to help ourselves and not have to seek outside assistance in certain areas,” he noted.
Even with the already crowded calendar featuring Three-Hand, Four-Hand League and Knockout tournaments; men’s, women’s and mixed pairs; village tournaments; Queen and King of Domino competitions; 125 and 185 Points Tournaments and the Champion of Champions, there will be more slamming for domino players.
“We are introducing a new tournament, the Banks Royal Three-Hand, which would be [held] after the Banks League where the top nine teams from each division slam against of each other to see who is the best three-hand team of the time,” Alleyne announced.
Alleyne also said the association would like to introduce a select Barbados North, South, East and Central competition in Four-Hand and Three-Hand in November in which nine select teams from the 81 in the Three-Hand League would compete.
The president said those teams would be chosen based on their record and reminded officials to use their scorebook, so that the scores could be scrutinized at the committee’s request.
Alleyne said it also wanted to introduce a Sunday evening session for card games and other games once every two months to which senior citizens would be invited to join in the fun.
He said the year ahead was going to be challenging and urged members not to stay on the sideline.
“I am appealing to all of you to lift up our sport . . . so stop dragging our sport that we love so much down the drain. Think about some way how we can make some positive contribution toward the sport,” Alleyne said. (EZS)
